Jogging in the morning is extremely useful, although not everyone has enough desire and willpower to exercise regularly. Even those people who are far from sports hobbies know that the marathon distance is about 40 km, a little more.
In fact, the length of the marathon is exactly 42,195 meters, which is surprising. Why not 42, not 43 km? Why it was impossible to stop on a beautiful, even number? To understand this issue in detail, you need to look into history.
Where does the marathon race start from?
According to history, in 490 BC, the Battle of Marathon took place, in which the Greeks won. And a messenger was sent to Athens, who ran more than 30 km at the limit of his speed just to tell people this good news. The hero's name was Phidippides, and having completed this race, he shouted out the words included in the legend with all his might, urging the Athenians to rejoice at the victory. According to legend, after that he fell dead.
Of course, modern athletes end the run with a more positive outcome, although they also run to the limit, hoping to break the record and get into history, to get a prize. Most likely, the ancient Greek hero fell due to the fact that he laid out first on the battlefield, and then took on the burden of a messenger. The story is silent about this.But the distance from the Marathon to Athens became memorable, which is why it is called the marathon.
Modern Olympics
Since the Olympics began to be revived as sports holidays in 1896, the marathon distance was remembered again. But they decided to change the path, paving it along another road, a longer one - this time it was about 40 km.
When it came to the Fourth Olympiad, which was held in the UK in 1908, the distance for marathon athletes changed again, amounting to 26 miles exactly. In terms of more common units of space, such a path is 41 843 meters. The race took place near Windsor Castle, but the distance ended with the Big Stadium.
Interesting fact: initially it was thought that the athletes would stop near the lodge, but then decided to add another 352 meters to the original distance. This was a major milestone in shaping the modern distance.
The English track was taken as a sample, and by 1921 the final decision was made in the Athletics Federation regarding the length of the distance. If history has not preserved the exact mileage of the first marathon runner, it was decided to require athletes to run a distance of 42,195 meters.
The first marathon distances
Until this rule was taken as a golden rule, marathon distances varied from one Olympiad to another - however, the difference between the distances was not too significant. So, in 1896 exactly 40 thousand meters fled in Athens, and in Paris in 1900 the athletes had to overcome 260 meters more.In 1904, the St. Louis Olympics took place, where they ran 39,996 meters, and only then the 1908 London Olympics took place, within which the norm of 42,195 meters was formed.
However, after this incident, two more Olympics were held with "floating" distances, because the norm was approved a little later. In 1912, athletes gathered in Stockholm, where they had to overcome 40,200 meters, and then, in 1918, a sporting event was held in Antwerp, with a distance of 42,750 meters.
Jogging for record holders and ordinary athletes
Inquisitive people would be interested to know how long it is possible to overcome this distance. At the moment, the world record belongs to Dennis Kimetto, a native of Kenya. The record was set on September 28, 2014 - the athlete was able to cover the distance in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 57 seconds. Having made the simplest calculations, we can understand that he developed a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour.
The marathon distance is not only for professionals in the world of sports. It is available to everyone, such competitions are held in most countries several times a year. Amateurs of all ages are welcomed to the races. There is an opportunity to compete with professional athletes and prove themselves. But not all marathons are publicly available - the most prestigious of them gather so many potential participants that you have to arrange a lottery, play open places between those who wish.
Thus, the marathon is 42,195 meters, because it happened historically. And not because the ancient Greek messenger ran so much, but for the simple reason that the English marathon has taken root in sports, which has become classic, universally recognized, and it was such a distance.