Marathons are enormously popular, though goodness knows why. All over the world, millions of people take part in these races. They line up alongside hundreds of thousands of others just to run as fast as they can for forty-two kilometres! The fastest of them take more than two hours, while others stagger over the line hours later.
About the only thing that today’s marathons have in common with the original one is the distance. The first ‘marathon’ was not a race. Only one runner ran the distance. And he dropped dead at the end of it. This all took place back in 490 B.C. In that year the Greeks won an important victory against the armies invading from Persia. The battle was fought on the plains of Marathon, forty kilometres north of Athens. News of the victory was carried by the messenger, who ran all the way back to Athens before he died. Every marathon run since has commemorated his great feat – and his great feet!
Picture Credit : Google
