September 12^th BC 450, a Greek messenger was sent from the battlefield of Marathon (name of the city) to Athens to report that Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon, which took place in August or September that year. According to the Greek messenger, he ran the entire 42.195km(26.1miles) without stopping.

He exclaimed, “We have won” before he collapsed and died.

In 19^th century, the marathon became one of the Olympic events. The marathon is one of my favorite events in Olympics. The most memorable marathon I saw on TV was in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. I was in first grade. An amazing runner from Japan Naoko Takahashi won the first gold medal in marathon. She said,” It was the most enjoyable 42.195km I’ve ever ran.” She smiled and waved at the crowd. Why is she not tired? Didn’t she just run 26 miles? It was very inspirational. I wanted to start running.

Today, many marathon races are held all over the world. I see many people run and train for races.

The marathon is one of those rare events related to history. Marathon is associated with the Ancient Greeks in the name “marathon” and the distance that is run still remains the same.