30th September 2013 08:19
Regularly they are staged in major cities but such is the intensity, concentration and desire to win, that those elite athletes hardly have a chance for sight-seeing, even if they are passing some of the most famous landmarks on the globe, whether it be Berlin, Tokyo, London or New York.
Equally, the older a marathoner becomes, it is not so much a case of them slowing down as the 26.2 miles takes its toll on their body. In fact, it can be the opposite, with quicker times achieved because of what the event brings out in you.
Put all those ingredients together, and even now, with 11 months to go, the women's marathon at next summer's European Athletics Championships in Zurich has a special feel about it after this weekend.
On Saturday, the route for the race was officially measured, with the event being staged over a 10km-lap course in the centre of Zurich.
It will start and finish at the Burkliplatz, a boat harbour in the city which, as the local brochures say, is the set-off point for cruises on Lake Zurich.
A fabulous setting, a tremendous place for a race to begin and end but any runner expecting a cruise in 2014 - the women's race on August 16 with the men the following day - is unlikely to find themselves among the medals.
By then Germany's Irina Mikitenko will be a week away from turning 42, but do not expect her to be slowing down.
On Sunday, she broke the Masters World record by 49 seconds with her third place in Berlin in 2:24:54 and as she digested her win, her determination grew to sum up what the marathon can do to runners.
'I am already 41,' said Mikitenko. 'But that doesn't mean anything. I feel like I am 20 with 20 years experience.
'I am happy to have broken the Masters' world record but I am quite sure I can run faster and improve the record further.'
She is unlikely to trouble her personal best time and German record of 2:19:19, because human nature has to play a part somewhere along the way in the ageing process.
But history shows that since it was first run at the European Athletics Championships in Athens in 1982, the women's race has been so much about tactics and not spectacularly fast times.
It was Portugal's domain for the first five occasions, with Rose Mota winning in '82, 1986 and 1990 and then Manuela Machado taking the title in 1994 and 1998.
Mota's quickest winning time was in the second of those in Stuttgart when she triumphed in 2:28:38 while Machado's European Athletics Championship best was from Budapest in '98 when she won in 2:27:10.
Italy's Maria Guida took gold four years later in Munich in 2:26:05 before in 2006 in Göteborg, Germany's Ulrike Maisch was victorious in 2:30:01 and then in Barcelona, there was another Italian triumph as Anna Incerti won in 2:32:48.
The marathon took a break from the programme in Helsinki in 2012 with the championships adopting a different format being in Olympic year but if Mikitenko examines those statistics in the lead up to Zurich she is likely to be further encouraged by what she could achieve next summer.
Infact, she could find herself creating one of the great stories in European Athletics Championship history, even if the beauty of the setting becomes something of a blur.