How did the Battle of Marathon inspire the modern marathon race?

The modern marathon race was inspired by the legend of an Athenian messenger—often identified as Pheidippides—who is said to have run from the Battle of Marathon to Athens in 490 BCE to announce the Greek victory over the Persians. According to the popular legend, the messenger delivered the news and immediately died of exhaustion.12

While the historian Herodotus records that a runner named Pheidippides actually ran from Athens to Sparta to request military aid before the battle, the story of the run from Marathon to Athens became the basis for the race. This legend inspired the inclusion of the marathon in the Athens 1896 Olympic Games, the first modern Olympics. The race was conceived by Michel Bréal and became the highlight of the inaugural Games. The distance was later standardized to 42,195 meters (26.2 miles) following the 1908 London Olympics.12345