Running is built on booms. In the 1970s, the original explosion introduced people to something called jogging. In 1994, Oprah Winfrey ran the Marine Corps Marathon, spurring millions of women to flood half-marathons and other races.
In 2024, the marathon boomed. The Paris Marathon in April set an all-time record for biggest ever with 54,175 finishers. That mark was broken not once, but twice—first in September by Berlin (54,280), then in November by New York (55,646). And hundreds of thousands more people entered lotteries to get into those races, a sign that demand for spots is outstripping supply.
No longer the exclusive domain of super-slim Type-A’s, the 26.2-mile distance has drawn in runners of all sizes and speeds and, notably, younger ones. While the number of marathon finishers remains below the half-million who ran in 2019, new groups of people are taking on the distance. The share of finishers between ages 20 and 24 has grown from about 5% to 8% since 2021, according to leading industry tracker Running USA.
Avery Katz, a 27-year-old airline pilot in Palm Coast, Fla., illustrates the 20-something embrace of distance running. He began training seriously earlier this year for health and weight management, and ran his first marathon Dec. 14 in Jacksonville.
He said that running a Halloween half-marathon a few months earlier, which featured people bounding along in costume, inspired him to tackle the longer distance. Across his range of pursuits, which have included alpine ski racing and skydiving, Katz said running is the most welcoming.
“People have the most fun with it,” he said. He added that he’s found supportive runners in groups he’s joined on Facebook and other social media.
Gen Z’s embrace of long distances is a departure from Millennials around the same age. Some drifted away from timed runs a decade ago, opting for boutique exercise classes or yoga.
Gen Z women in particular appear to be embracing marathons. On Strava, a social network where runners and other athletes track workouts, 20% of marathon runners were Gen Z women in 2024, outpacing Gen Z men, who made up 15% of marathoners.
Also spurring marathon sign-ups are run clubs around the country. Some 25% of regular runners on Strava belong to a club, up from 19% since 2019, according to the company.
More than 150 people show up for Koreatown Run Club’s weekly track workouts and long runs in Los Angeles. A record number of the club’s runners finished marathons in 2024, says co-founder Duy Nguyen. About 300 people showed up in November for the kickoff of its community assisted marathon program, or CAMP, a training program for the L.A. marathon in March.
“If they’re training with a group of people, they get this high of it, they want to keep going for it,” says Nguyen, 35, who began running in 2016.
Two very different events have provided tailwinds to the current marathon boom. The coronavirus pandemic spurred stir-crazy workers from home to seek out exercise they could do alone and outdoors. Many took up running.
Also, a design overhaul in running shoes has been especially welcoming for first-time runners and people putting in serious miles. Newer, high-tech foam material allowed shoe companies to make models with super-cushioned soles without adding weight. Brands like Hoka and On have driven, and taken advantage of, the rise of marshmallow-bottomed shoes.
Companies also developed “super shoes,” often with a springlike carbon-fiber plate embedded in those thick soles. The new category helped runners go measurably faster without expending more energy.
Some races are finding that running influencers on social media are their best advertising. Others mine their own race data to better market their events.
A few years ago, organizers of Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., discovered that it wasn’t just drawing people from the Upper Midwest: 55-70% of participants were first-timers in the event. So in 2022, organizers expanded their marketing, mainly with Facebook and Instagram ads, to running hotbeds like Boston, Flagstaff, Ariz., Boulder, Colo., and San Francisco.
The 2025 edition of the race, which traces the shore of Lake Superior and takes place in June, sold out in scarcely a month—faster than ever.
“What we’re learning is that Grandma’s Marathon is a bucket-list race for many people,” said Zach Schneider, the event’s marketing and public relations director.
The biggest bucket-list race of all, the New York City Marathon, hints at the future of the 26.2-mile distance. While runners aged 20-39 made up about 43% of finishers in 2019, this year they were over 52%. Those young competitors still have years to run.
Write to Rachel Bachman at Rachel.Bachman@wsj.com, Nikki Waller at Nikki.Waller@wsj.com and Alana Pipe at alana.pipe@wsj.com