This is Planet Money from NPR.

You have been running this marathon for a long time.

I have been.

Oh, that's confusing.

Yeah, because people often say you run the marathon.

Yeah.

And you're like, I do run the marathon.

I do, yes.

Michael Kapparaso is the president and CEO of the New York Roadrunners, the organization

that 50 years ago exactly created the New York City marathon.

If you talk about year one, right, 1970, they came up with this idea to run a marathon

all in Central Park 26 miles and to get some people to run a marathon in Central Park

seemed crazy at the time.

For the very first New York City marathon, there were just 127 runners.

But then in the late 1970s, 1980s, there was this huge change.

That's becoming a familiar sound along America's highways and byways.

This audio you're hearing, it is.

From a 1979 NPR special, an hour long special about this jogging thing and the millions

and millions of people suddenly taking this up.

A look at jogging, reduced by David Sullivan.

David, where are all these people running to?

Oh, Michael, they're not really running anywhere, although they seem to be everywhere.

...