Tradition has the men's marathon as the final event at the Games. The marathon will be run in the morning of the final day and closing ceremonies will be held that evening.
The Marine Corps Marathon is a 26.2 mile run starting in Arlington, VA. The route takes runners pass historical monuments throughout Washington D.C. and surround areas.
Wikipedia is a very valid source for finding out how long a marathon is. Specifically, a marathon is a long-distance run based around the 25 mile mark.
Athletes in a marathon run 26 miles. Athletes in a marathon run 26 miles.
The event commemorates the fabled run by the Greek soldier Pheidippides from the Battle of Marathon to Athens which was a distance of 26 miles and 385 yards.
Running a marathon is considered an aerobic activity requiring a lot of endurance. The best way to train for any activity or event is simply to perform activity specific training. In this case, training the body to run a marathon would be to run long distances.
In relation to physical education, tapering is where a performer reduces the amount of training they do before an event. For example in the marathon, a performer would not run 26 miles the day before the event as their muscles will nto have time to recover and therefore they will not perform to their optimum. A week or so before the event, they may run a full marathon, but then each day will decrease the distance they run. The day before the event, they may not run at all so their muscles have had time to recover after the training.
The Boston Marathon. It was first run in 1897.
The Marathon run commemorates the run of 18,000 Athenian soldiers, who ran back the 26 miles to Athens after defeating the Persian infantry at Marathon, in order to defend the city against an attack by the Persian cavalry which was being shipped around to Athens by sea while the Athenian army was engaged at Marathon.
The Greeks are responsible for most all the events in the modern day field track meet. The most notable event is the 26K marathon run, in memory of the marathon run to alert the next city-state to the victory of the Turkish war.
The word marathon comes from Greece. After a war a man ran the 26 odd miles to deliver the message that they had won a war, he uttered the message and then collapsed and then died. In memory of this man a marathon is run the exact distance he ran.
The marathon is named for the legendary event in which a messenger ran from Marathon, Greece to Athens to announce the Athenian victory.