So, I’ve always been curious about how long a marathon actually is, like, to the exact number. I mean, everyone says it’s long, but how long exactly? I decided to find out for myself.
First, I hit up the internet. Turns out, there’s a bunch of info out there, and it gets a bit confusing with miles and kilometers and all that. But I dug in.
I found that a marathon is 26.2 miles, which is the same as 42.2 kilometers, give or take. But wait, there’s more! It’s actually 26 miles and 385 yards, which is a tad more precise at 26.218 miles. In kilometers, that’s 42.195, or 42,195 meters. Okay, that’s a lot of numbers, but I was getting somewhere.
Then I started reading about why it’s that specific distance. There’s some history there, going all the way back to the 1908 Olympics in London. They set the race to start at Windsor Castle and end at the White City Stadium, right in front of the Royal Box. Apparently, some queen named Alexandra had something to do with it. So, that route ended up being 26 miles and 385 yards, and that’s the distance that stuck. It seems like in May 1921 the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) decided to adopt that distance. I guess.
- I learned that the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which is now called World Athletics, officially made that the standard marathon distance in 1921.
- They just took the length from the 1908 London Olympics, which was 26 miles and 385 yards.
So, there you have it. I went from just wondering about the distance to learning all this history. And now I can say a marathon is 26.218 miles or 42.195 kilometers. Pretty neat, right?
