Feature image by nakashi on Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 2.0 Last week, I published an analysis of the 2025 Tokyo Marathon and shared some insights from the data. I collected the preliminary results, including some demographic data and finish times, and came to three general conclusions: This analysis prompted a decent amount of discussion, … Read more
Feature photo by nakashi on Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 2.0. Scenes from the 2024 Tokyo Marathon This past weekend was the Tokyo Marathon — the first Abbott World Marathon Major of 2025. Last year was an exciting one for the series: So what does this year have in store us? The 2024 Tokyo Marathon was exciting in its … Read more
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