Brian Rock 
Feature photo by Marc. A Hermann of the MTA – CC BY 2.0 The New York City Marathon is run on what is typically considered the toughest course of the original six Majors. Between the bridges and the hills into Central Park, there’s quite a bit of elevation gain throughout the race, and it doesn’t … Read more
Feature photo: Martineric from Lille, France., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons In the lead up to the 2025 New York City Marathon, the Economist published a piece about the race. A central claim of the article, based on an analysis of finish times going back to the 1980’s: as the race fills with amateurs, … Read more
Last weekend was the 2025 Marine Corps Marathon – the 50th anniversary of the People’s Marathon. It’s consistently among the largest races in the United States, although it’s been somewhat smaller in recent years. After all of the Majors, I collect the results and write up a thorough analysis of the data. The most recent … Read more
When everything clicks on marathon morning, there’s no better feeling than crossing the finish line knowing that you left it all out there. But not every race is like that, and lots of things can derail your performance – the weather, a poorly timed illness, random life issues, or a federal shutdown that cancels your … Read more
The Tableau dashboard below collects data from marathons, tracks the number of finishers who meet their Boston qualifying time, and projects an estimated cutoff time for the 2027 Boston Marathon. I haven’t included the actual projection yet, but that piece of the tracker will go live in late November once there’s enough data to sufficiently … Read more
In early 2028, several hundred of the best runners in the United States will compete in the US Olympic Team Trials Marathon. Meeting this OTQ standard is a lofty goal – one that only the most talented and committed runners can strive for. In recent years, it has also become more difficult to achieve. After … Read more
Lately, I’ve been tracking which marathons are selling out and how early they’ve reached capacity. Last week, another race joined that list in record time. The 2026 Grandma’s Marathon sold out in less than twenty four hours. Over the summer, I noted that the race had been selling out more quickly in each of the … Read more
After my spring race didn’t go as planned, the 2025 Twin Cities Marathon was supposed to be my shot at redemption. But fate had other ideas, and as race day approached it became clear that the weather would not be conducive to a seriously fast race. I adjusted expectations, and I hoped that starting out … Read more
Lately, I’ve been tracking which marathons are selling out and how early they’ve reached capacity. Last week, another race joined that list: the 2025 Eversource Hartford Marathon. Like many races, the Hartford Marathon peaked over a decade ago. But after declining for a few years before COVID, it’s definitely on the rebound. The field is … Read more
The BAA made two changes to registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon. The more subtle change involved the start of the qualifying period and eliminating the ability to use a small subset of races to qualify for two different Boston Marathons. The big news was the new rules for downhill marathons. For years now, (some) … Read more