Good morning. It's Saturday, Oct. 11, and we're bringing you the latest Society & Culture newsletter. Every week, we provide fascinating deep dives into the worlds of art, music, literature, film, food, sports, entertainment, and more.
Today we're covering the marathon, in honor of tomorrow's Chicago Marathon. We go back to the long-distance race's legendary origins and detail how it grew from a fringe activity into a popular pastime.
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Background
The marathon is a 26.2-mile footrace. It often takes place on closed-off city streets, though it can also occur on trails and tracks. Competitors run for several hours, typically against thousands of other runners, and usually burn around 2,600 calories.
At the 2023 Chicago Marathon, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum finished in 2:00:35, approximately 4:36 per mile, recording the fastest official marathon time.
In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40, though it was part of an exhibition that included numerous aids not permitted in officially sanctioned events. (Watch the final stretch of that run.)
Starting Gun
Legend has it that the first marathon took place in 490 BCE, when Pheidippides, an ancient Greek soldier, ran from the Battle of Marathon back to Athens—approximately 25 miles—to inform his people they’d defeated the Persians. The story is likely apocryphal: No Greek historian mentioned it until over 500 years later.
That didn’t stop it from taking root in the popular imagination. Robert Browning enshrined it for a new generation in an 1879 poem that described the man dying after delivering word of the victory.
The modern marathon was created for the revived Olympic Games in 1896, with the course starting in Marathon and ending in Athens. The race was won by Spiridon Louis, a Greek water carrier who surged in the last stretch to the delight of the hometown crowd.
The next year, the manager of the US Olympic team organized the first Boston Marathon, which featured a field of 15 runners. The race took place on Patriots Day, a holiday commemorating the first battles of the American Revolution.
In 1908, the London Games set the marathon distance to 26.2 miles to meet the British royal family’s request that the race start at Windsor Castle and end at their royal box. In 1921, that arbitrary distance became the official length for the marathon.
Second Wind
In the mid-20th century, Americans grew more interested in running, spurred in part by the 1966 book “Jogging,” which was cowritten by Bill Bowerman, the cofounder of Nike.
That interest led to the increasing popularity of the marathon. Women, however, were prohibited from competing, based on the belief that it was too physically demanding. In 1966, Bobbi Gibb became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon. She hid in the bushes to avoid detection and hopped into the race after the starting gun.
A year later, Kathrine Switzer became the first official finisher, registering under a vague name to avoid suspicion. Race officials unsuccessfully tried to remove her from the race while she was competing. In 1972, the Boston Marathon officially allowed women to register for the first time.
Frank Shorter became the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon in 1972. The race was not without drama, though: An impostor entered the stadium in Munich before him, confusing Shorter (and enraging the American television announcers) as he entered the final stretch. (Watch the race’s conclusion.)
Home Stretch
The marathon has become a part of popular culture: Over 800 happen yearly, though only six are World Marathon Majors, considered the sport's most elite and prestigious races. The largest is the New York City Marathon, which started in 1970. Over 55,000 runners participated in the 2024 race.
The event’s popularity doesn’t appear to be slowing, with younger generations increasingly lacing up their shoes for the race of a lifetime. |
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The 1904 Olympic sideshow |
When the Olympics first came to the US, the race was still a fringe event with few established rules. That led to an absurd comedy, with competitors ingesting poison, hitchhiking 11 miles of the course, and occasionally sipping brandy. Listen to a podcast about the bizarre spectacle. |
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Joan Benoit, an American icon |
Benoit was the first woman to win Olympic gold in the marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, running 2:24:52. She also won the Boston Marathon twice and held the Chicago Marathon record for 32 years. She’s still going, too, running Boston in a blistering 3:04 at age 61 in 2019. Watch a short documentary here. |
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Why are Kenyans so good at marathons? |
The African country has become synonymous with marathon gold, but one small ethnic group—the Kalenjin—accounts for nearly 73% of the country’s Olympic gold medals in running. Studies have determined that the success is thanks to high-altitude training, a healthy diet, and a tradition of excellence. Read more here. |
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The most challenging marathons in the world |
Even on a flat course, the event is a taxing ordeal. Now imagine those 26.2 miles climbing some of the world’s highest mountains, across the Great Wall of China, or trekking up the Inca Trail. These races won’t earn you a PR, but they will make for good stories. See the list here. |
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Rosie Ruiz, the marathon fraud |
In 1980, an unknown runner finished first in the Boston Marathon, cutting her qualifying New York time by over 20 minutes. The world would soon learn, though, that the runner, Rosie Ruiz, hadn’t run the entirety of either race, something that her first interviewer seems to piece together by her strange answers to basic questions. Watch the postrace interview here. |
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The perplexing popularity of the ultramarathon |
The marathon is intense, but an ultramarathon goes much further: The event is a catchall for any event longer than a marathon, with some races hundreds of miles long. Despite the inherent risks, including death, the sport has exploded in recent years. Read more here. |
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Beyond our weekly deep dives, we love finding great takes on the culture currently shaping our lives. Here are some of the best reactions, profiles, and think pieces we encountered this week.
> Dull Razzle-Dazzle From a Star Who Seems Frazzled
The Guardian | Alexis Petridis. You might assume the headline says everything you need to know about this critic's take on the new Taylor Swift album, "The Life of a Showgirl," but Petridis offers an evenhanded analysis of the record, suggesting that the songwriter sounds uncharacteristically exhausted. (Read)
> Percival Everett's Therapist Is Better Than Yours
The Republic of Letters | Pete Beatty. Everett's been pumping out critically acclaimed books for decades, though he didn't fully crack through to the mainstream until this year, thanks to a Pulitzer Prize for "James." Beatty offers a great introduction to Everett's unpretentious and prolific career. (Read)
> AI, Impressionism, and the Fleeting Now
The Metropolitan Review | Denise S. Robbins. Robbins' essay details an afternoon spent studying the paintings of Gustave Caillebotte. In them, she sees an answer to our uncertain future: An appreciation for the present-tense connections that only art and artists can create. (Read)
> Jeff Tweedy on the Lyrics That Changed His Life
Hearing Things | Ryan Dombal. The Wilco frontman is considered one of rock's greatest working songwriters. In celebration of his latest solo album, the massive "Twilight Override," Dombal talks to Tweedy about his favorite lyrics, with discussions of songs from Lana Del Rey, Chrissie Hynde, and more. (Read)
> Slop as a Way of Life
Dirt | Drew Austin. The internet's filled with decontextualized junk, but Austin argues that's nothing new—or confined to the online world. For him, slop is everywhere, though it's not solely because of bad actors: It's often something we choose, whether or not we realize it. (Read) |
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New in 1440 Society & Culture |
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“Marathon running is not a sport for everyone, just as being a novelist isn’t a job for everyone. Nobody ever recommended or even suggested that I be a novelist—in fact, some tried to stop me. I simply had the idea to be one, and that’s what I did. People become runners because they’re meant to.” |
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