Brian Rock 
Feature photo by Mayor Garcetti on Flickr This week, two major marathons sold out: the Los Angeles Marathon and the Detroit International Free Press Marathon. This is a trend I’ve been tracking since last summer. It started when I noticed that the Philly Marathon sold out in early July and the Twin Cities Month sold … Read more
For some reason, it can be hard to find solid information on the largest marathons in the United States. A few years back, I was looking for a list of the largest races in the country. What I ended up finding was a collection of listicles that mixed different methodologies for counting the field size … Read more
Feature photo by Steven Pisano on Flickr – CC BY 2.0 When I did a deep dive on the data from the 2025 New York City Marathon, I included a breakdown of where runners were from across the world and across the country. Just over 30% of runners are international. Of American runners, the biggest … Read more
Last weekend was the California International Marathon – along with the USATF Marathon Championship. It was a day for records and blazing fast times – although one record that wasn’t set was for field size. CIM is typically among the largest races in the United States. But after peaking above 9,000 finishers in 2023, this … Read more
Last weekend was the 2025 Valencia Marathon. In the last few years, it has grown to be one of the largest races in the world. It’s not a Major, but it’s on the same level, and it competes with Berlin and Chicago for the title of the fastest marathon. It hasn’t yet produced a world … Read more
Feature Photo by Steven Pisano from Brooklyn, NY, USA – 2014 New York City Marathon, CC BY 2.0 For some people, the NYC Marathon is a once in a lifetime experience. For others, it’s part of a routine that takes place year after year. New York Road Runners maintains a list of runners who have completed 15 or more … Read more
Vladimir Andral knew that something was wrong when he saw the 23 mile marker. His watch said he’d only run 21 miles. “I realized I was misdirected, and I was absolutely crushed.” Vladimir made a wrong turn at this year’s Seattle Marathon. As a result, he missed a loop and didn’t run two miles of … Read more
Last weekend was the Philly Marathon. The last few years, the race has had over 10,000 finishers, and it’s once again one of the largest races in the country. I ran the race back in 2022, and it also happens to be one of my favorites. Although I didn’t run the race this year, I’m … Read more
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