Kim Merritt ran at the inaugural Cleveland Marathon the following month, where she finished second after Jacqueline Hansen. Her next race over the 26 miles and 385 yards distance came at the Oregon Track Club race and she finished sixth while the winner Julie Brown set the fastest time of the year. Merritt's final run of the year came at a race on home turf in New Glarus, Wisconsin, which she won in 2:53:53. Her final year of competition at the top level was in 1979. She ran at the Boston Marathon and came in sixth place, although she was ten minutes
Marathon from the start at Windsor Castle to the royal entrance to the White City Stadium, followed by a lap (586 yards 2 feet; 536 m) of the track, finishing in front of the Royal Box. The course was later altered to use a different entrance to the stadium, followed by a partial lap of 385 yards to the same finish. The modern standard distance for the marathon was set by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in May 1921 directly from the length used at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. An official IAAF marathon course is 42.195 km (42