What this site is
A short, hand-crafted overview of the marathon — meant to be readable in an evening.
What you'll find
The Marathon covers the race from a few angles: where it came from, how the distance settled at the strange-looking 42.195 km, who has run it fastest, where the most storied courses are, and the practical side — how to train for one, how to fuel, and how to recover.
It's deliberately concise. Each section is a single page you can read in a few minutes. If a topic deserves a deeper dive, the page links out to authoritative sources rather than trying to be encyclopedic.
Who it's for
- The curious. You've watched a marathon on TV and want a quick read on what makes the event what it is.
- First-timers. You're thinking about training for one. Start with Training.
- Returning runners. You want a refresher on race-week fueling or post-race recovery without wading through a 300-page book.
What it isn't
This is not a coaching service, a medical resource, or a substitute for an experienced coach. It's a starting point. For training plans tailored to your fitness, history, and goals, work with a coach. For health questions — joint pain, persistent fatigue, anything unusual — talk to a doctor or physiotherapist.
How it's built
The Marathon is a static website: hand-written HTML, CSS, and a small amount of vanilla JavaScript. There's no framework, no build step, and no backend. The whole site ships as a folder of files served from Cloudflare Pages.
The source is on GitHub. Issues and pull requests are welcome — particularly corrections, missing nuance, and pointers to primary sources.
Editorial principles
- Cite primary sources when claims are specific (records, dates, distances).
- Mark uncertainty. Some history (the 490 BC run, the exact origin of 26.2) is contested — say so.
- Round numbers are usually wrong. Marathon records are kept to the second; we don't smudge them.
- Be useful. If a section can't help a reader make a decision or learn something concrete, it shouldn't be on the site.
Built with care. Deployed via Cloudflare Pages. Back to home.