Screaming fans and clanging cowbells have become the soundtrack to the New York City Marathon and to sporting events around the world.

© Graham Dickie for The New York Times

When the event’s five co-founders first proposed moving it out of Central Park, it seemed impossible. Much has changed in the sport and the city since that 1976 race.

© Paul Hosefros/The New York Times

Thousands of runners will take part in the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Temperatures are expected to be unusually warm for November.

© Johnny Milano for The New York Times

As ruas da cidade de Albufeira encheram-se de cor, convívio e desporto no passado domingo, 11 de outubro, com a realização da primeira edição do Bike Fun Marathon.

O conteúdo Mais de 500 ciclistas ‘invadiram’ a cidade de Albufeira aparece primeiro em Algarve Marafado.

Running with Rachel Entrekin must be pretty wild—she encourages competitors and stops mid-race to pet dogs. But her personality is even bigger off the course. Tough and empathetic, her running success has come after 13 years of hard work and a battle to transform an addictive, perfectionist past into a healthier relationship with food, rest, and herself. And even as success came and ultramarathons were won, she watched opportunities go to her male competitors. Gloria Liu honors the incredible achievement of “smashing records while battling impostor syndrome and the fragility of your own self-worth in a world enamored with men, and their accomplishments.”

The key word, however, is average. As any female runner who’s ever passed a dude working himself into a froth to stay ahead of her on the trail knows, women beat men on an individual basis daily. And as athletes like Entrekin and Dauwalter have shown, they do so, occasionally and spectacularly, even at the elite level. We have an understandable reflex to point to categorical advantages that might explain why women can do this, Malcolm says: “It’s inherently feel good, the David and Goliath aspect of a woman winning outright.”

But in searching for the advantages we hope all women have, we may be missing a simpler truth: Most men are faster than most women, but some women still beat most men. The point is not that we have any advantage. The point is that they have almost every advantage—and we still win.