Why marathons are 26.2 miles (not 26)

The modern marathon’s arbitrary distance is thanks to the British royal family

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.

The marathon’s roots can be traced back to a Greek myth

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.

The marathon was not an event in the ancient form of the Olympics

The ancient Olympics started with just one footrace, a roughly 3-mile jaunt dubbed the "dolichos." Over the centuries, it blossomed into multiple running events, field events, combat sports, and equestrian events—all performed in the nude. This list showcases eight more lesser-known facts about the ancient Games.

The marathon is only getting more popular

The marathon has become a part of popular culture, with races in nearly every major city. The largest is the New York City Marathon, which started in 1970. Over 55,000 runners participated in the 2024 race. Its popularity doesn’t appear to be slowing, with younger generations increasingly lacing up their shoes for the race of a lifetime.

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 (via the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon or the Kilimanjaro Trail Marathon), 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.

Frank Shorter was the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon

The running legend became the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon in 1972 at 2:21:19. The televised race contributed to a nationwide running boom and helped popularize the event.

An ‘ultramarathon’ is any race longer than a marathon

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.

Runners typically burn 2,600 calories during a marathon

They also burn between 5-10 pounds of water weight, often feel more focused and elated (thanks to increased neurotransmitters), and, oddly enough, temporarily grow about a half-inch shorter due to back muscles tensing.

The 1904 Olympic marathon was a bizarre spectacle

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.

The oldest marathoner was 100

Fauja Singh was 100 when he completed the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2011 at 8:11:06. Incredibly Singh didn't start running until the age of 89.

The Adidas shoes that helped break the marathon's 2-hour barrier

Two men broke the two-hour mark at the 2026 London Marathon, a feat previously unofficially achieved only by Eliud Kipchoge, thanks to a number of aides not permitted in an official race. Both men who broke the two-hour barrier in London wore the same shoe, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, a new model that weighs just over three ounces.

The beer mile blends running and drinking

The event requires competitors to drink a 12-ounce beer for every lap around the track. It may sound like fun (or a nightmare, depending on your disposition), but for some it's a serious business, with an annual world championship.

Women were prohibited from the Boston Marathon, so Bobbi Gibb snuck in

Race directors assumed women could not handle the physical demands of the race. In 1966, Bobbi Gibb hid in the bushes near the starting line, then hopped in the race after it began, and became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, albeit unofficially.

Since 1983, the meter has been defined based on the speed of light

The 1875 Metre Convention established the unit as the length between two lines inscribed on the surface of bars made by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Advancements in the measurement of light redefined it as the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

The most bizarre numbers in the universe

Even for math-y types, some numbers are incomprehensible. This article dives into several kinds of numbers more complicated than even irrational numbers with endless decimals like "pi" or Euler's number: Noncomputable numbers. Read the bizarre...

The MLB consist of 30 teams

The league is home to the National and American leagues, which include 780 active players. The MLB season is the longest in professional sports, with 162 games played during the regular season, typically from April through September, ending with the World Series championship in October.

Tennis' weirdest rule (only for women)

At all but one Grand Slam, men and women played with the same tennis ball. But at the US Open, women were required to use a different ball until a change was made a few years ago. We break down the story behind that strange anomaly.

The Triple Crown, explained

Only 13 horses have ever won the Triple Crown—one of the most elusive titles in American sports. This explainer breaks down how the series works, why it's so difficult to win, and the legendary horses that defied the odds across the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.

What was the longest year in history?

In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar declared the year would last 445 days. This four-minute podcast and accompanying article explain why. Caesar wanted to make the following year start after the winter solstice, an achievement attainable due to his tinkering with the Roman calendar. But to start the year right, Caesar had to stretch the transitional year, leading to the creation of Caesar's Year of Confusion, the longest year in history.

The Channel Tunnel consists of an underwater network of over 200 kilometers in length

The passage beneath the English Channel between England and France includes three tunnels, crossover chambers, emergency passages, and air ducts. Burrowing teams in either country consistently checked their coordinates to ensure they would meet within two centimeters of each other.

Why Men's Legs Were Everything

From codpieces to cotton hose, here's the surprisingly loaded history of men's legs, and why 18th-century Europe couldn't stop staring at them.

Explaining why the Earth wobbles

Astronomers going back to Hipparchus in the 2nd century BCE have noticed our planet has a distinct wobble. More recently, scientists have observed that the Earth is 26 miles wider at the equator than from pole to pole. The wobble results from our...

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains 26 overseas military cemeteries in 16 countries

The cemeteries honor more than 218,000 American war dead, with the majority of sites located in France and Belgium, where some of the heaviest fighting of both World Wars took place.

Metastasis: When cancer cells begin to travel through the body

Metastatic cancer starts in one part of the body and moves to another over time. This is known as metastasis. Such cancers are much more harmful since they attack multiple parts of the body, adapting new metabolic changes to suit the various environments found throughout a body.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

Marburg virus, related to Ebola, is also extremely deadly, and has no available vaccine.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.