On the morning of Aug 10 in France, 32-year-old programmer Huang Xuemei, an amateur long-distance runner, stood near the finish line of the Paris 2024 Olympics marathon course, eager to witness the world's top distance runners as they completed the race.

"This was my first time seeing such incredible speed and passion in a marathon up close. It was truly overwhelming," she recalled.

"The finish line was within reach, and although exhausted, every runner dug deep to sprint the final hundred meters. I was moved by their determination," she added.

The enthusiastic cheers from the spectators lining the course also left a strong impression on her.

However, later that evening, when Huang became the first female runner to finish the 42.195-kilometer route in the public marathon at Paris 2024, she was so focused on her run that she didn't even notice her husband, Chen Zhiming, just a few meters away, cheering her on with shouts of "Come on, Xuemei!"

The Marathon Pour Tous (Marathon for All) event at Paris 2024 offered 20,024 amateur runners a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to follow in the freshly laid footsteps of their Olympic heroes.

They could run the same course where the world's top athletes had competed just hours before — a demanding route with steep climbs and quad-crushing downhills that make it one of the most challenging marathon courses in the history of the Games.