Forums >Racing>Holy Grail Time for Women's Marathon?
Just the facts, man.
It's all relative. For open runners (20-39) who have some talent and maybe ran in college 2:40 (or even 2:30) for males and 3:00 sometimes 2:50 for females. For some it's 4:00. Others a BQ.
Even though the world record diffential is is 9.7%, I think the 2:15 is an outlier--no one has come within about 2 minutes of that. 11-12% is about the difference between men's and women's.
And I'll throw out one more arbitrary number just for kicks. 2:49.
Looking at it a couple other ways. (The math part is most interesting to me, because any of the race times being discussed are beyond my imagination.) I think the Chicago Marathon is probably a good database to use for analysis. 1. Median male finisher was 4:14, median female finisher was 4:42, or 11% slower. Add 11% to 3:00 and you get 3:20. Consistent with some of the other posts here. 2. Male finish time of 3:00 placed at 805/21488 OA, or top 3.75%. Top 3.75% of female finishers placed at 652/17395, and was 3:29. More consistent with the way Boston looks at it, since they use a 30 min differential for all the qualifying standards.
Looking at it a couple other ways. (The math part is most interesting to me, because any of the race times being discussed are beyond my imagination.)
I think the Chicago Marathon is probably a good database to use for analysis.
1. Median male finisher was 4:14, median female finisher was 4:42, or 11% slower. Add 11% to 3:00 and you get 3:20.
Consistent with some of the other posts here.
2. Male finish time of 3:00 placed at 805/21488 OA, or top 3.75%. Top 3.75% of female finishers placed at 652/17395, and was 3:29.
More consistent with the way Boston looks at it, since they use a 30 min differential for all the qualifying standards.
Or, another way to look at the numbers, using Chicago Marathon.
Number of runners under 3:00 = 890
Number of women under 3:00 = 86
Number of master's women under 3:00 = 7
Number of women under 3:20 = 328
Number of master's women under 3:20 = About 47
My blog is JT Running DC. It's awesome. Guide to Washington DC Area Running Routes. Guide to the New York City Marathon. Guide to the Boston Marathon. Guide to Running Gear. Guide to Running Clothes.
From an article in current issue of Running Time:
"Squire pointed out that 2,363 men broke 3 hours at Boston, the most in 31 years. And 2,101 women broke 3:30, the most ever at Boston, up by 243 from the year before."
He uses 3:00 for men and 3:30 for women to make a point.
Ready, go.
Mostly harmless
I chose 3:10 or less solely because it only had one vote and I felt sorry for it.
"It doesn’t matter how often you do it or how much you accomplish, in general, not running is a lot easier than running." - Meb Keflezighi
So what is the equivalent for a 35 - 45 year old woman - - In my opinion it's in the vicinity of 3:15 - And I know the numbers are arbitrary - But before I die I'd like to post a time that starts with a 3 and is followed by a teen :-)
So what is the equivalent for a 35 - 45 year old woman - - In my opinion it's in the vicinity of 3:15 -
And I know the numbers are arbitrary - But before I die I'd like to post a time that starts with a 3 and is followed by a teen :-)
Just shockingly ran a 3:13 - now I can die happy?
Not until you've told the entire world about it. This is a good start, but if it were me I'd probably take out a friggin' billboard or something. That is totally awesome, huge congrats.
Dave
Congratulations. Very cool!
Kalsarikännit
told the entire world about it.
I'm pretty sure this is why people are on the facebooks.
I want to do it because I want to do it. -Amelia Earhart
not bad for mile 25
And no, now you're thinking about a 3 followed by a single digit, aren't you?
Nice!
Congratulations! That's a helluva run. Take some time to recover and relish that accomplishment.
Congrats. Fantastic performance!!
Wow, congrats! Fantastic effort!
PR's 5K: 18:37, 10K: 39:51, 15K: 58:18, Half Marathon: 1:25:51 Marathon 3:19:15
2017 Goal: getting fit and lean again, before it's too late!
Options,Account, Forums
Well to confound things I find running a sub 3 as a (almost) 45-year-old dude way easier than I did as a 32 year old. So there's that.
Geez you're old. Do you use a walker?
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.