The Marathon Distance in Perspective
“How long is a marathon?” If you are one of the over 500,000 runners who completed a marathon in 2013, you already know it is 26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometres. However, many non-runners or curious individuals have no idea. And even if they know the numbers, they have a hard time understanding exactly how long it really is.
To help put the the achievement of completing a marathon in a different perspective, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series broke down the distance in a few different ways. The infographic below lists different food items, their estimated calorie counts, and the amount of time you’d need to run to burn off the calories from pigging out on those foods.
RnR also compared running a marathon with everyday tasks like taking notes in class or sitting at your desk and typing at work. And for the travellers out there, they included a few comparisons of famous tourist stops to get an idea of the number of steps you’d have to walk to equal the historic distance.
