Olympic marathon record

The short answer to how many miles is a marathon is 26.2. But there’s so much more behind this popular event than its distance.

In this post, we’ll take a look at how long a marathon is by comparison with other distances and how this event differs from 5k, 10k, and other races.

We’ll also share with you some key tips to help you build the endurance to run a marathon and finish it with a good time.

Ready when you are!

In This Article

How Long Is a Marathon?

We’ve seen how long a marathon is in miles – 26.2 miles.

Why is a marathon 26.2 miles

To be more precise, it’s 26 miles and 385 yards.

If we convert 26.2 miles to kilometers, the marathon distance becomes 42.16481km. But according to the IAAF competition rules for road races, the standard marathon distance for men and women is 42.195km.

Good to know: 1 kilometer is 0.62 miles.

Knowing how far 1k in miles is makes it easy to convert any race distance from km, whether it’s a standard length distance or not.

If you’re thinking about running a marathon, chances are you’v