A marathon is 26.2 miles. Chances are you will not win unless you are a professional runner from Kenya. Many people, myself included, do marathons simply to say they finished it. :)

The marathon distance is 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195). See here

Non-professionals run the distance mainly in order to prove they can do it ;-)

I will not be so bold as to claim that running a marathon is fun. But I do claim that it is fun having done it.

I thought the four-month, 4 times a week, training before the marathon was tons of fun, though hard. the marathon itself was terribly painful but also fun, and rewarding like nothing else!

Good luck. I was FAR, FAR from first in my category, but I still “won!”

As already stated, 26.2 miles is the standard answer you will get. The competition is rarely with anyone else but most always with yourself and winning means simply finishing the race which, in itself, is not all that simple of a task which is what makes finishing equivalent to winning in the first place. Best of luck! :)

You should be really committed with the goal of running a marathon. It’s the race of races and a runner finishing a marathon is the happiest person in the world that day.
However, physically speaking, it quite a hard race and can leave you painful side effects during weeks and months. If you want to finish a marathon, don’t set any goal appart from it (time, pace, etc). Try to prepare it following a good training plan and, above all, plan the recovery after it taking massages.
The first time I run one, it worked for me. The second time, everything is different as your motivations change and your goals are more ambitious.

I’d recommend you pick your marathon carefully and choose one with a lot of runners so there will be lots of other people running your pace. Then it’s more about finishing and camaraderie than competition. One with good support for the runners is nice too- it’s a long way.

You can go and run 26.2 miles on your own but the benefits of running a marathon in a race is that its easier and more encouraging to run with other people (and supporters) and races also provide water stations (and sometimes energy drinks/food). Most people not at the pointy end of the field are not competing, but just there to finish.

Mark, a marathon is 26 miles. There are many organized races around the country. Most cities have one or two nearby in a year. Some are big like New York City where over 30,000 people participate. Others can be quite smaller, only a few hundred people. And noit everyone runs the race. There can be a category for walkers. The accompishments are personnal for most.

Good Luck in your goal. It is well worht the effort. Check the interent for a race near you.

Running a marathon is awesome. You should use marathonguide.com to pick your marathon. The website is good in that it reviews various marathons. Its not a competition against everyone else, its a competition against yourself. The finish line for a marathon is an accomplishment in itself.

Running a marathon was a fantastic experience for me…like everyone else here, I was racing no one but myself. My husband and I did an 18 week training program (Hal Higdon) and the marathon became an event that spanned months, not just the one day of the race. We ran the Chicago Marathon, which was great for a beginner, it is a relatively flat course with huge crowds, entertainment, and a wide variety of runners. Before you commit to the marathon, ask yourself if you are committed to both the physical and mental challenge that it will be, and you can rest assured that if you do commit – you will be so happy you did when you are crossing the finish line!

A full marathon is 26.2 and a half is 13.1. Keep in mind that very few people run a marathon to compete with others. For 99% of people on the course, it’s about achieving a personal goal in the company of thousands of others.

Also, the hardest part of running a marathon is not the physical challenge of it, but the mental challenge. I’d recommend picking up the book “The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer.” It’s a great book for beginning marathoners. It includes a concrete training plan and discusses both the physical and mental aspects of distance running. As long as you follow the plan to the letter, you’ll be able to finish the race. Consistency is key. Good luck!

A marathon is about
four miles too far
and eight miles too
far if it’s a flat one.

))){

It is about 26.2 miles and often they stick a hill right at the end of it.. cheeky so and sos.

Now you know how far it is.
Now ask yourself how far YOU’RE willing to go. From reading some of your other posts, it seems like you might be building a wall of excuses to NOT attempt something of this magnitude. Marathons are no joke.
Winning is not really the point for the majority of marathoners…finishing is. Describing the feeling you get from crossing that finish line is something you truly can’t describe to most people. It’s like telling someone about a dream you had. It’s just extremely personal. ESPECIALLY the first time it happens. You won’t know whether to laugh, cry, scream or just fall over. Finishing means different things to different people. What I can tell you is that for those who dream of completing those 26.2 miles, train for it, run it and cross that line, it can be life-altering. Suddenly you’ll start asking yourself, “What else am I capable of?” It will literally change your perspective of what YOUR capable of.
One of the most amazing things that happens is that friends and family will call you insane, give you hundreds of reasons NOT to run that far, be impressed that you’re training regularly, get just as nervous as you as the race gets closer, come out to root for you on race day, watch you finish, hear your story and those same insane people that originally nay-sayed you will begin to ask you how they can train to complete their own marathon.
The only thing that will stop you from completing the 26.2 miles is YOU. When you’re out there and see people who are worse off than you physically, you’ll realize you just made up any excuse you could to keep from throwing yourself into something unknown or outside your comfort zone.
You’re not there to race and be the first person across the line. You’re doing this to learn more about you, the possibilities that lay ahead if you simply toss yourself under the bus instead of worrying about other peoples’ opinions and that WHATEVER you dream about doing is well within your reach once you act on it.
Good luck. If you’d like a great place to start for the average, first-timer I HIGHLY suggest you read John ‘The Penguin’ Bingham’s book, ‘Marathoning for Mortals’. Bingham typically runs in the back of the pack and waddles like a penguin when he runs. He’s in his mid-fifties and has run countless marathons. The training process outlined in the book is taught by ‘Coach’ Jenny Hatfield and is made to be customizable to ANYONE’S running abilities.
Remember..it’s not about what other people do…it’s about what you’re willing to do.
Take care,
Tijuana Taxi

Its 26 miles, and I’m telling you its a bitch, You can’t just the day before go running, you got to train for it , but Good Luck, its feels so damn good when u finish