What is the significance of the 26.2 miles? Has it always been this distance?
It’s probably the point at which a normal person (like myself) would fall down dead from running.
It was originally an even 26 miles. The last 200-some yards was an extra half-lap added inside a stadium after the initial 26 miles. This was so that the finish line would be in front of a queen who was watching the event.
IIRC it was the London Olympics that extended the course by 385 yards so the runners woould pass in front of (Buckingham Palace? Windsor Castle?) so Queen Victoria could watch from her window.
http://www.encyclopedia.com sez
As far as I’m informed, it’s simply the distance between antique Marathon & Athens. (42.195 km, in fact - and if you think the last 0.195 doesn’t make a difference, you’ve never run a marathon!)
Pheidippides died after delivering his message, by the way.
S. Norman
Classically, there was a runner who brought news of the Athenian victory over the Persians from Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 25 miles. The current distance was set in the 1908 Olympics; it’s the distance from Windsor Castle to the royal box at the stadium used in that Olympics (As AWB noted, they wanted to finish in front of the King (Edward??))
LL
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There is an classical Greek legend that is the origin of the marathon race and name.
The Persians invaded Greece and chose a small town named Marathon for their initial landing. Because the Marathonites were vastly outnumbered, they sent runners all over Greece asking for help.
The runner sent to Athens had to run 26.2 miles of mountainous terrain. He made it in some sort of record time (2-3 days, IIRC) and with Athenian help, the Persian invasion was repelled.
It seems like there was something about the messenger dying of exhaustion, but that may be confusion from another legend.
At any rate, in honor of that valiant run, the original Greek Olympics had a ‘marathon’ race 26.2 miles long. When the Olympics were started in the last century, the marathon race was one of the events chosen. It has since become an entire sport in its own right.
Just checked it. Yes, Edward VII. Vicky died in 1901, guys.
LL
On the plain of Marathon in Greece, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Athens, may be seen a great mound nearly 50 feet (15 meters) high. Beneath it lie the remains of 192 gallant Athenians who gave their lives in 490 BC to preserve Greece from conquest by the Persian forces of Darius the Great (see Persian Wars). The mound raised by their fellow citizens to commemorate these heroes was excavated in 1890 and the relics uncovered.
There is a legend that the runner Pheidippides brought news of the victory to Athens, where he died shouting, “Rejoice! We conquer!” To honor that legendary runner, the marathon race was made a part of the modern Olympic Games, first held in Athens in 1896 (see Olympic Games). In later games the distance for the race was set at 26 miles 385 yards.
Excerpted from Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Which gets back to my post. 
Getting an answer around here is like taking a drink of water from a fire hose.
MAN, I love this board.
Ahem. Well, yes then. Lordy, what a load of simul-posts. That’s gotta be the new Pheidippides record.
http://www.marathonguide.com/history/index.cfm
http://ctc.columbia.missouri.org/marathon.html
The distance of 26 miles was the distance between Athens and Marathon. This was the last leg of the trip that Philippides did after running 140 miles and fighting in full armour the day before. He died after reaching Athens to tell them of the victory. This is all legend and some historians say quite unlikely, but it is the distance that the modern marathon is based on.
Yer pal,
Satan
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Modern scholarship has determined that what he actually said was “Just do it”…
I’m thinking about having a t-shirt made that has “WWPD” on the front and “What Would Phidippides Do?” on the back.
Here’s a good thread wherein to tell you all (Satan already knows) that I’m attempting my first marathon, the Atlanta Marathon, on Thanksgiving Day this year (just a couple weeks from now, yikes!).
If I finish, expect a new MPSIMS thread commemorating my accomplishment. Hell, expect a personal email written to each and every person in SDMB. My joy will know no bounds.
What I don’t get about the whole Phidippides thing is his urgency. He ran so hard that he died! It’s not like he was running back for desperately-needed reinforcements, he was just delivering news of the victory! Take your time, Phid! Smell the roses!