Marathon running

The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.

Pheidippides (; ; , , ) or Philippides () was a 5th-century-BC Athenian running courier who was the central figure in the story that inspired the marathon race.

French philologist (1832–1915)

memoir by Haruki Murakami