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
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