Stamata Revithi inspiration from Pheidippides, who, according to legend, ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia at the Battle of Marathon, and died immediately after giving his message. En route to Athens, Revithi encountered a male runner along the road. He gave her money and advised her to run the marathon to become famous, and, consequently, earn money or more easily find a job. After this discussion Revithi decided to run the race: she had enjoyed long-distance running as a child, and believed she could beat the male competitors. The 1896 Olympic Games were the
Twenty-Five Miles inclusion on the Motown compilation album, "The Original Soul of Michael Jackson", in 1987, with Michael Jackson being given sole performer credit for the track. It was not the original recording, however, as it included drum machine overdubs; the original featured a hard-driving drum track by Uriel Jones, one of the Funk Brothers. Jackson's version of "Twenty-Five Miles" was released as a single in the US to promote "The Original Soul of Michael Jackson". The single was backed by the song "Up on the Housetop". The original recording of the song was included on the 2009 set, "". A shortened