🏃‍♀️ 26: A Marathon Challenge (2025)

26: A Marathon Challenge
Cooperative challenge
Start date: 1/1/25
This challenge will be run on both sites!

A certified marathon course must be 26.2 miles. This race was inspired from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Persians had landed near the town of Marathon and they planned to take Athens. A messenger was sent to spread the word and call for help.

The 1896 Modern Olympic Games proposed a long distance run between Marathon and Athens inspired by this legend. In 1897, the first Boston Marathon took place inspired by the Olympics of the year before. In 1921, the official distance was formalizes as 26.2 miles even though there seems to be no explanation as to why that distance was chosen. 2024 marks 100 years since that ruling.

For this marathon, it is all about the number 26. We will be doing a marathon of twenty sixes. As a group, we will be reading books and trying to make it to the end of a very long marathon. There are a lot of tasks we need to achieve as a collective. You will submit your completed book on the wiki link below.

Submit books here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/26:_A_Marathon_Challenge
If the wiki is down or you are unable to access for any reason, please enter your book in the thread below and I will enter it when the wiki is available.

Challenge Rules:
*Books must be a minimum of 100 pages
*Books must be completed on or after the start date (use your time zone)

Marathon Tasks

26 books by different authors
26 Fantasy Books
26 Romance Books
26 Mystery Books
26 Horror Books
26 Science Fiction Books
26 Graphic Novels
26 Game Lit Books
26 Action/Adventure Books
26 books with green covers (min 50%)
26 books with red covers (min 50%)
26 books with blue covers (min 50%)
26 books with purple covers (min 50%)
26 books with brown covers (min 50 %)
26 books with yellow covers (min 50%)
26 books with pink covers (min 50%)
26 books with gray covers (min 50%)
26 books with orange covers (min 50%)
26 books with black covers (min 50%)
26 books with white covers (min 50%)
26 books with rainbow covers (min 3 colors)
26 books from the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards
26 books from the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards
26 books from the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards
26 books over 800 pages
26 books over 500 pages
26 books under 300 pages
26 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐star books
26 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ star books
26 ⭐⭐⭐star books
26 ⭐⭐star books
26 ⭐ star books

GR ONLY
26 books with over 100,000 GR ratings
26 books with GR ratings between 50,000-100,000
26 books under 50,000 GR ratings

LT ONLY
26 books with popularity over 100,000
26 books with popularity between 50,000 - 100,000
26 books with popularity under 50,000

Wow! You guys are making nice progress on this. Keep up the great work!

It's fun. and a great idea for a challenge.

I'm glad you think so. Keep up the reading!

🔹 Friendly Reminder! 🔹

Just bringing this post back to the top in case you missed it! 📚✨ Check it out and join the discussion. Let us know your thoughts! 👇💬