How Long Is a Marathon and Other Interesting Facts

The word “marathon” is often used for any long-lasting activity, but it primarily denotes a long-distance race. In fact, the standard marathon involves a very specific distance that has to do with ancient Greece.

The Olympic marathon is 26.2 miles or 42 kilometers long, inspired by the legend of an ancient Greek messenger who ran from the plains of Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. He announced a Greek victory in a crucial battle against Persians, collapsed, and died.

This answers the question, “How long is the marathon?” But if you would like to learn more about the origins of the marathon, important records, and more, keep scrolling!

Exciting Facts and Stats About Marathons

Now that you know the key element regarding the length of a marathon race, let’s look at some additional info you might find interesting.

1. The Boston Marathon, first held in 1897, is the world’s oldest annual marathon.

(Guinness World Records)

US long-distance runner John A. Kelley crossed the Boston Marathon finish line 61 times, winning in 1935 and 1945.

2. A half marathon is 13.1 miles or 21.1 kilometers.

(Marathon Handbook)

This piece of information is evident once you know the standard marathon distance is 26.2 miles or 42 kilometers, but we did the math, so you don’t have to. Applying the same logic, a quarter marathon is 6.55 miles (around 10.5 kilometers).

3. There are also shorter races, like 5K, 10K, and 15K marathons.

(Openfit)

“K” stands for kilometer. In miles, that would be 3.1, 6.2, and 9.3 miles, respectively.

4. Any run longer than 26.2 miles is an ultra-marathon.

(Half Marathon For Beginners)

For example, that would be a 30K race (18.64 miles), a 50K race (31.07 miles), and a 100K race (62.14 miles). Those distances are very extreme, so people running a 100K marathon can experience hallucinations, hypothermia, and other health-related issues.

5. Global data show that the average marathon time is 4:32:49.

(Marathon Handbook)

It means an average marathon pace of 9:57 minutes per mile (6:12 minutes per kilometer). In contrast, the world’s longest marathon race took nearly 55 years, and the story is a rather motivating one.

6. The fastest marathon time ever is 2:01:09, achieved by Eliud Kipchoge.

(World Athletics, Olympics.com)

The Kenyan runner set the record in Berlin in 2022. The previous record had also been set by Kipchoge at the Berlin Marathon in 2018.

7. A study shows that women are 18.61% better at marathon pacing compared to men.

(RunRepeat)

The data covers 1.81 million results from 131 marathon races from 2008 to 2014. Speaking of gender-based differences, we also know that male marathon runners earn $10,000-$141,667 while female marathon runners earn $1,667-$200,000.

8. Kenya’s Brigit Kosgei holds the women’s world record with 2:14:04.

(World Athletics)

Kosgei broke the world record in 2019 at the Chicago Marathon, which was a mixed-gender race whose result was contested by both women and men. The IAAF also recognizes the women-only record set by Kenya’s Mary Keitany, who ran the London Marathon in 2017 at 2:17:01.

Conclusion

As you can see, running a marathon is no small challenge. To be able to run 26.2 miles in just a couple of hours, most runners need several months to prepare by following a strict training plan. It also takes a few weeks to recover, so we applaud anyone who does it!