half-marathon

noun

half-mar·​a·​thon ˈhaf-ˈmer-ə-ˌthän 

-ˈma-rə-

plural half-marathons

: a footrace run on an open course that is half the distance of a marathon (13 miles, 192.5 yards, or 21.1 kilometers)

Then, in late September, … Goucher ran a U.S. best in the half-marathon, beating the women's marathon world-record holder, Britain's Paula Radcliffe, by nearly a minute.

—Alexander Wolff

Having just completed a half-marathon in the UK's Great North Run on Tyneside, I was surprised to find that my legs felt stiffer two days after the event than they were the following day.

—Melanie Trickett

Examples of half-marathon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On Saturday, Beijing hosted what’s being called the world’s first humanoid half-marathon—a footrace that pitted human runners against human-like robots. —Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Apr. 2025

But keep your goals personal, like finishing your first half-marathon or beating your previous pace. —Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, Outside Online, 11 Apr. 2025

Men can score plenty of deals as well, including these Brooks Men’s Glycerin 21 Road-Running Shoes for 30 percent off, which are ideal for training for that summer half-marathon. —Anne Taylor, Travel + Leisure, 28 Mar. 2025

Despite road closures nearer to the city centre owing to the Liverpool half-marathon earlier in the morning, traffic nearer to the stadium appeared to flow steadily. —Greg O'Keeffe, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for half-marathon

• agamemnon
• automaton
• diencephalon
• panopticon
• phenomenon
• aileron
• antiphon
• autobahn
• carillon
• castellan
• celadon
• cephalon