There’s an old saying that if you want to qualify for Boston, you don’t have to get faster. Just get older. When I analyzed the qualifying times last year, I found that to be generally true. The qualification rate – the percent of runners in a given age group who meet their qualifying time for … Read more
This weekend, I published an analysis of the new Boston Marathon qualifying times – and whether they hit certain age groups harder than others. As I concluded that analysis, I noticed that the distribution of runners in the Boston Marathon and across all marathons in the United States were quite different. The 45-49 age group … Read more
Last week, I put together an analysis showing the average marathon times of runners throughout the United States in 2024. A question tangential to that analysis was how the average finish times changed from 2023 to 2024. Specifically, as I’ve analyzed data for the Boston Marathon Cutoff Tracker, I’ve noticed that a slightly higher percentage … Read more
Since the fall, I’ve been collecting data to project the cutoff time for the 2026 Boston Marathon. I’ve put together a Tableau dashboard to help you explore the data in real time, which you can play with here. While that tracker is updated on a weekly basis, I take a step back from time to … Read more
Ever wonder what the average marathon time was? Well here’s a meaningless number: 4:25:33. That’s the average time for all marathon finishers in 2024. But marathon performance varies quite a bit along two dimensions: age and gender. If you don’t group runners by age and gender, that average tells you more about who the runners … Read more
Last week, two runners set new American records in the half marathon in Houston – Conner Mantz and Weini Kelati. This was hyped up. When the Houston Marathon Committee announced the professional field for the race, they called out both Kelati and Mantz as contenders. Although Kelati only made a vague reference to “hop[ing] this … Read more
The Houston Marathon is the premier event of the early marathon season in the United States. From January to March, it’s one of the biggest races in the country – and it’s known for having a flat course and a fast field. This year’s race made the news for the half marathon. Conner Mantz set … Read more
The Abbott World Marathon Majors are more popular than ever. The original five races – Boston, New York, Chicago, London, and Berlin – has now been expanded to a total of seven races. Tokyo joined the list in 2013 and, starting in 2025, the Sydney Marathon will also be an official Major. These races attract … Read more
An updated tracker, focused on the 2027 Boston Marathon cutoff time, is now live.The BAA announced the cutoff time for 2026 would be 4:34. Here’s a reflection on their announcement, along with my latest prediction and my original prediction. The Tableau dashboard below collects data from marathons, tracks the number of finishers who meet their … Read more
Last week, I published a brief analysis of the Valencia Marathon’s field – comparing it to other large races like Berlin, Chicago, and London. The takeaway – the Valencia Marathon has more sub-3:00 finishers than any other race in the world. Drilling down to young men, it has a very high percentage of runners going … Read more