The modern marathon began in the 1896 Olympics, held at Athens, and has been a part of the Olympics ever since. The event commemorates the legendary 25-mile run of Pheidippides northeast from Marathon to Athens to let the Athenians at home know of their warriors great victory over the Persians in the 490 B.C. The Athenians, despite having 4,000 less soldiers than the invaders, halted the first large-scale Persian invasion of Greece.
Though the runner, Pheidippides, ran 25 miles, today’s marathoners run 26.2 miles.
The longer distance was first run at the 1908 Olympics in England (when the organizers wanted the race to start at Windsor Castle and finish in front of the royal box at the stadium in London and In 490 B.C., an Athenian runner named Pheidippides ran the 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the Athenian victory over runners race 26.2 miles in commemoration of legendary event. was standardize at the 1924 Olympics in France. Well-known United States marathon sites include New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass: and Big Sur, Calif.