Marathon
I've wondered for years why so many people want to re-create the situation where a messenger ran a distance, delivered his message, and then promptly gave up the ghost.
Herodotus ( History VI ) records that the herald Pheidippides ran the 150 miles from Athens to Sparta to secure aid before the battle, but the distance of the modern race was based on a later tradition that a messenger ran from Marathon to Athens (22 miles) with news of victory, but fell dead on arrival. The first marathon race of modern times was run at the 1896 Olympics. The present standardized distance dates from 1924.