Well, the marathon was inspired by a hero who died from exhaustion after running.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides
Note that in the only reasonably-close-to-contemporary story of the run, the marathon run itself came at the end of a multi-day run from Marathon to Sparta and back, about a 300 mile round trip. The marathon run was just the last 26.2.
alt Hacker News
Note that in the only reasonably-close-to-contemporary story of the run, the marathon run itself came at the end of a multi-day run from Marathon to Sparta and back, about a 300 mile round trip. The marathon run was just the last 26.2.