The exact distance of the marathon race is 26 miles and 385 yards or 42.195 kilometers which is the distance from the Battle of Marathon to Athens from which Greek Pheidippides ran to announce that the Persians had been defeated. In memory of this historic event of pure exertion, there are over 500 marathon races around the world, with this road race becoming an Olympic event in 1896. Marathon training is a long process and pushes your body to the limit requiring a lot of stamina for recreational athletes to keep running. The fastest time has been by a Kenyan runner and is 2 hours 3 minutes.
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