Are you bummed that you didn’t make it into the Chicago or New York City Marathons? Well, you’re not alone. New York City had 200,000 applicants for its lottery, and only 2-3% got in. There were ‘only’ 160,000 applicants for Chicago’s lottery, so your odds there might have been a bit better. But far more … Read more
It took a few weeks, but I’m finally getting into the groove of training. Last week was a pretty good week, with a solid(ish) twenty mile long run, and an improving pace on my easy runs. Winter is also (mostly) behind us. It’s still chilly in the mornings, but there shouldn’t be too many more … Read more
Last week, I published an analysis of the new Boston Marathon qualifying times. That analysis quite clearly shows that the qualification rate – the percentage of runners in a given age group who run a qualifying time – increases with age. A few age groups in particular – 45-49, 60-64, and 65-69 – had disproportionately … Read more
I’ve had a bit of a rough start with this training cycle. Early on, I don’t think I was quite fully recovered from the Fred Lebow Half. And last week, I had to deal with the heat in Florida. I’ve hit my mileage goals, but I haven’t had any great workouts. That said, things started … Read more
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
Training for my spring races is heading in the right direction. The first week was a little rough, but last week was an improvement. This week will, hopefully, continue that trend. Although it’s shaping up to be the kind of week where I’m more focused on mileage than on quality work. But if I can … 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 was the first in my transition from the Fred Lebow Half to my goal races for the spring: the NYC Half and the Jersey City Marathon. It didn’t go great, and I’m hoping this week goes better. In last week’s long run, I bombed out on the tempo sections. So this week, I’m … 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
This spring, I’ve got two big goal races: the United NYC Half Marathon in March and the Jersey City Marathon in April. I ran the Fred Lebow Half Marathon last month, and from late December through January, that’s what I was “training” for. Although it wasn’t really long enough to be a solid training cycle. … Read more