I ran 11 marathons in the last 3 years. I'm aware that I've probably never given myself the chance to perform my very best because of my constant racing. But in each race, I gave my best effort, whatever it was at the time. To me, that's what matters the most. If someone wants to run a marathon while overweight and he gives it his best effort, then I applaud him. If someone only has time to train on 35 mpw and does his best with that on race day, I applaud him. I am not an elite and if running many marathons in one year is my thing, I am not hurting anyone. I'm sorry if some people care that it slows down the average marathon finish time. I myself don't particularly care about that statistic. No one is standing in the way of any world record, so why worry about the average finish time of the masse? If the sport was still what it was in 1975, chances are that I would never have run even one marathon in my life. I'm glad that things have changed.
Finally, even if people are running them for fun, without trying hard, why would I care? Brad ran Boston with a camera in hand and he stopped at every mile and we all thought it was cool. And it was. What difference does it make that the finish time was 3:24, rather than 5:24? No difference at all. Both times could be the result of running a race for fun, and that's fine with me.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
With the exception of elites the quality of all race performances have suffered in the last 30+ years. 294 of all finishers went sub-3. Outside of the elites only two [2] women broke sub-3. The bulk were from the men's 25-29 & 30-34 A/G. The percentage of finishers to go sub-3 was 13.5%. By comparison, my 3:28:13 in the 2009 Columbus marathon placed me 665 overall of 4124 finishers. In the 1981 race with only 2168 finishers that same time would have placed me 832. The winning time for the 2009 race was 2:20:45. The percentage of finishers to go sub-3 was 2.7%.
With the exception of elites the quality of all race performances have suffered in the last 30+ years.
294 of all finishers went sub-3. Outside of the elites only two [2] women broke sub-3. The bulk were from the men's 25-29 & 30-34 A/G. The percentage of finishers to go sub-3 was 13.5%. By comparison, my 3:28:13 in the 2009 Columbus marathon placed me 665 overall of 4124 finishers. In the 1981 race with only 2168 finishers that same time would have placed me 832. The winning time for the 2009 race was 2:20:45. The percentage of finishers to go sub-3 was 2.7%.
Moth - you are right, my original post was completely wrong.
I pulled up results for a marathon in WNY in 1981, the Skylon.
1519 finishers, 253 sub-3. 16.7%
Compare this year's Erie Marathon, a flat course with ideal weather.
977 finishers, 37 sub-3. 3.7%
Runners were faster back then, way faster. Ouch, time to get training harder.
Moth - you are right, my original post was completely wrong. I pulled up results for a marathon in WNY in 1981, the Skylon. 1519 finishers, 253 sub-3. 16.7% Compare this year's Erie Marathon, a flat course with ideal weather. 977 finishers, 37 sub-3. 3.7% Runners were faster back then, way faster. Ouch, time to get training harder.
Weren't there less marathons to choose from back in 1981? Only the very good runners were tempted to participate in marathons back then (I generalize, but you know what I mean). If they had less races to choose from, it would explain why the % of fast finish times would be so high...
Smaller By The Day
or....are the sub 3 runners spread out because there are more marathons now?
Improvements
Weight 100 pounds lost
5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)
10K 48:59 April 2013
HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013
MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013
Labrat
There are 717 marathons scheduled in the United States and Canada in 2013. 648 of these are in the U.S. and 69 in Canada. In 2012, 666 were held, 638 in 2011, and 571 were held in 2010. The USTAF or Athletics Canada have certified 498 of this year's marathons.
In 2012 the median number of finishers per marathon was 169 (169 in 2011). The 10 largest marathons accounted for 37% of the total number of marathon finishers in the U.S. and Canada in 2012.
From link
5K 20:23 (Vdot 48.7) 9/9/17
10K 44:06 (Vdot 46.3) 3/11/17
HM 1:33:48 (Vdot 48.6) 11/11/17
FM 4:13:43 (Vdot 35.4) 3/4/18
Will run for scenery.
Maybe it's all the colored powder, electric shocks, and mud that's slowing people down.
And then there's global warming....
Stupid feet!
Stupid elbow!
8 marathons so far for me and each one was the best I could do then. If I waited to hit a certain weekly average or time in a half I may not have done any. I'm good with that.
The culture must have different. With no internet, runners would have had to either get books or magazines about marathon training, or train with a coach or club. Maybe there were more club affiliations, and so more peer pressure?
I haven't run a marathon, and have no plans to do so, but I'm pretty sure I am partially responsible for the increase in average finish time for every 5K, 10K, and HM that I have run.
As big as the Boston area is, it was hard to find out about races even in the early 80s. The Boston Globe listed some. Other than that running stores had fliers hanging up which was our other source.
There weren't many running clubs back then. I bought every book I could find.
Perhaps this has been said or implied in earlier posts, but I think the average weight of American marathoners has increased as the average weight of the general population has increased. Certainly this has a negative impact on speed.
Just ten years ago, I was considering running a marathon. I never did, but I went on the interwebz and asked if I was ready to run my first marathon. One of the responses I got was this:
"first constraint: if you are overweight (BMI > 23), you are not ready. if you are around 22-23, you should aim to loose [sic] some weight."
I doubt any man would get this kind of advice in 2013, except perhaps on letsrun. My BMI today is about 24 and I feel like I am in pretty good marathon shape. I would like to lose another 15 - 20 pounds, but I won't do it before my first marathon. I would certainly be faster if I weighed less, but that won't stop me from running. I am sure lot of others are in the same boat.
2013 goals: 800m: 2:20 | mile: 4:59 | 5k: 18:59 | 10k: 39:59 | HM: 1:32 | Marathon: 3:20
Mmmmm...beer
Perhaps this has been said or implied in earlier posts, but I think the average weight of American marathoners has increased as the average weight of the general population has increased. Certainly this has a negative impact on speed. Just ten years ago, I was considering running a marathon. I never did, but I went on the interwebz and asked if I was ready to run my first marathon. One of the responses I got was this: "first constraint: if you are overweight (BMI > 23), you are not ready. if you are around 22-23, you should aim to loose [sic] some weight." I doubt any man would get this kind of advice in 2013, except perhaps on letsrun. My BMI today is about 24 and I feel like I am in pretty good marathon shape. I would like to lose another 15 - 20 pounds, but I won't do it before my first marathon. I would certainly be faster if I weighed less, but that won't stop me from running. I am sure lot of others are in the same boat.
That's a very interesting point. I see a lot of people running, but I also see a lot of overweight runners. I'm definitely not saying they should stop, or shouldn't race, because not too long ago, that was me. Plus, I love seeing peole being active, no matter what their weight/fitness level. But that would certainly help account for the slower average times.
For me personally, I've already conquered the distance, so now I've held off on doing my first official marathon because I want to put forth what I feel is my best race effort. Part of that for me is dropping another 20lbs before my race in March. It will be difficult, but for me to say that I gave it my best shot, then imo it's just as important as all of the miles that I'll put in over the next five months.
But as others have mentioned, I don't care why/how/when people are running/racing. I don't care if you only do color/electric/mud runs, or if you're an uber-competitive runner, there's room for everyone.
-Dave
My running blog
Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!
Let's just all stop racing unless we think we can win. I want to see if Chicago will shut down roads for 10 people, or if sponsors will pony up dough for a marathon with 1976 participation rates. People should be careful what they wish for.
Former Bad Ass
I'd like to commission a study to understand why people care so much about other people's motivations in the same hobby they partake in. I'd follow that up with a study on why those same people care so much about why others may not really care about their finish times. But more than likely I'm just going to run and do my thing and not worry so much about what anybody else may be doing. I am going to enjoy the increase in popularity of running and all the people it brings as there are more opportunities to race today than there were 10-15 years ago and ultimately that is a good thing.
I'd like to commission a study to understand why people care so much about other people's motivations in the same hobby they partake in.
I'd follow that up with a study on why those same people care so much about why others may not really care about their finish times.
But more than likely I'm just going to run and do my thing and not worry so much about what anybody else may be doing. I am going to enjoy the increase in popularity of running and all the people it brings as there are more opportunities to race today than there were 10-15 years ago and ultimately that is a good thing.
I was just going to say this. Who cares if marathoners have become slower?
Is it bad anyway?
I do 10-15 marathons a year. I am an eventer.
Damaris
And the guy who just broke thw world record in Berlin would not have gotten over $100k if not for the eventers, bucket listers and mid to back of the pack runners.
I was just going to say this. Who cares if marathoners have become slower? Is it bad anyway? I do 10-15 marathons a year. I am an eventer.