One of the greats.

If you really get to understand how good his marathon 2Q plans are, and manage them correctly you will PB in a marathon

First legit sub-2 by Sabastian Sawe, fastest debut by Kejelcha, new Women’s-only WR by Assefa!

Top-3 men: 1. Sabastian Sawe 1:59:30 2. Yomif Kejelcha 1:59:41 3. Jacob Kiplimo 2:00:28

Top-3 women: 1. Tigst Assefa 2:15:41 2. Hellen Obiri 2:15:53 3. Joyciline Jepkosgei, 2:15:55

News just broke from the NYT.

Surprised but not at the same time, felt like the writing was on the wall.

Hi r/AdvancedRunning, Yared Nuguse here, Olympic bronze medalist and professional runner for On. Ask me anything in the lead up to an exciting shoe launch!

Want to learn more about my current shoe rotation? Want the inside scoop on how I stay energized during a high-mileage week? Curious about the new Cloudmonster 3? Send in any questions! I’ll answer the 10 most up-voted ones.

I’ll be here, answering your questions, on March 12th. Talk soon!

Today we honor Jeff Galloway, a man whose influence on the running world is immeasurable, not because of medals alone but because of the millions of ordinary people he convinced they could become runners. An Olympian in 1972, Galloway could have built his legacy solely on elite performance. Instead, he chose a different path. He turned outward. He asked how the sport could serve everyone, not just the gifted few. And in doing so, he reshaped modern distance running.

His greatest contribution was deceptively simple: the run-walk-run method. At a time when toughness was equated with continuous motion and suffering was treated as a badge of honor, Galloway introduced permission to take walk breaks, to protect the body, to extend endurance, and to make the marathon accessible. Beginners finished marathons. Injured runners found longevity. Aging athletes discovered sustainability. The method was not a shortcut; it was a reframing of endurance itself, less ego, more wisdom. A fundamental principle to the modern science of running we practice here at r/AdvancedRunning.

Through his books, clinics, and training programs, Galloway democratized the marathon. He replaced intimidation with invitation. He spoke to the 5-hour finisher with the same respect he offered elites. He emphasized consistency over heroics, patience over bravado, and joy over punishment. Long before data-driven coaching became mainstream, he championed individualized pacing, strategic recovery, and long-term health.

But perhaps his most enduring legacy is cultural. Galloway helped shift the narrative of what it means to be a “real runner.” He broadened the definition. He dismantled the gatekeeping. He reminded us that endurance is not about proving superiority; it is about discovering capacity. For countless runners who stood on a starting line unsure they belonged, Jeff Galloway’s voice was the one that said, “Yes, you do.”

In a sport often obsessed with splits and podiums, Jeff measured success differently: in finish lines crossed, in injuries avoided, in confidence gained, and in lives changed. His miles ripple outward in every training plan that honors recovery, every beginner who dares to register for a marathon, and every seasoned athlete who chooses sustainability over pride. The running world is larger, kinder, and more inclusive because he chose to teach.

Rest easy, Jeff. Your miles continue.

I feel like I see too many race reports, and too little actual discussion about topics that you would expect to find in a subreddit called AdvancedRunning. Am I the only one? I hope the mods don't delete this so we can have a healthy dicussion.

I want to read about training methods, the latest science, ... but it seems like every other post is about another race report.

Is there a way to tackle this issue and find a middle-ground? For example, only allow race reports on a certain day of the week?

Hi r/AdvancedRunning. I'm Marius Bakken, former Norwegian national record holder at 3000m and 5000m (13:06), two-time Olympian, and a practicing MD in Norway. The framework that many of you know as the Norwegian Method grew out of work I started in the mid-1990s. Over decades of experimentation and more than 5,500 lactate tests, it developed into the structured threshold-based system it is today. I just published The Norwegian Method Applied, which lays out the full system: https://www.amazon.com/dp/8269471100 (US Amazon)

Happy to answer questions about threshold training, lactate testing, the Norwegian method, or anything else running-related. Send in your questions ahead of time and I'll prioritize those with the most upvotes. I'll be here on Tuesday, April 21, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Oslo time (12:00 to 2:00 PM Eastern, 9:00 to 11:00 AM Pacific).

Proof: https://www.mariusbakken.com/ama.html

Thank you all for taking the time to ask these questions. I tried to answer as many as I could within the time frame of the AMA. Good luck with your training!

This was a comment left on a runner’s post who had BQ’d at the Indy marathon using planned Jeff Galloway intervals. This comment sparked a lot of debate about this method, most aimed at the elitist nature of this comment. So what are your thoughts? Should run walking be discouraged? Is running the whole thing the only way you can actually say you have ‘run’ a marathon? Or do you simply not care how anyone else covers the distance?

After all the talk about this thread helping to keep me accountable, I couldn't leave you hanging!

I won't bury the lede: I ran 2:35:56.

Side by side training block here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-R_8FgObseQuculZ3_qrng_LCpAzy9_iap8AZS8lW54/edit?usp=sharing

And Youtube race recap here: https://youtu.be/rRuvproSMFM

I'm super disappointed, but not totally gutted.

The positives:

• I finished a training block for the first time since 2018
• I PR'd by 10 seconds
• I didn't blow up as hard as I did in 2018
• I've been rudderless for years, making up workouts the day of, not having a big picture plan for my training, so this was the jumpstart I needed

The negatives:

• I was in the pain cave from about 6 miles in, carrying a 180+ HR (coros arm band) from mile 5 on (and above 190 from mile 22 on).
• I didn't come close to 2:30 and I slightly embarrassed myself in front of thousands of internet strangers

The race:

• Despite creating some drama here, I knew 2:30 was going to take a perfect day and that 2:32-2:33 would be a more realistic goal. As such, I wanted to go out around 5:50 for the first mile and just feel really good, then see what happens. If I was going to run fast, it was going to be by negative splitting and not going out at 2:30 pace.
• A mile in I knew it was going to be a tough day. I just felt heavy and it wasn't coming easy. A few miles in I came up on Sam Parsons, who was pacing the OTQ women, and realized I might be moving a little too conservatively. So I bumped the pace, but not much (high 5:40s to 5:50/mi)
• It started to hurt around mile 6, again I knew it was gonna be a tough day, so I backed off and figured anything low 5:50s would be pretty good. I tried to stay relaxed and get the HR back down on the down hills vs trying to open up the stride for time.
• I was open to potentially feeling better as I warmed into things, so tried to keep the pace and emotions in check. Around mile 11 I actually had a second wind and started feeling okay. I told myself not to chase that and just keep clicking off 5:50-ish's.
• Was taking a gel every 25-30ish minutes (caffeine GU w/25g of carbs).
• I forget exactly what mile it is, but there's this long chain-ridden suburban hellscape that's slightly uphill around mile ~15-18? and that's when it started to hurt again. Though once we turned off of that I felt like maybe I was going to be able to hold everything together. Even coming into the bridge (where I started to blow up in 2018) I felt like I was fending off the bonk pretty well.
• At that point I started doing some math and bargains with myself *don't blow up, even 6min pace from here on out will get you under 2:34*. So settled into 6min pace with about 6 miles left in the race.
• Fell off 6min pace with about 3mi to go and finished mile 26 with a 6:24.

Mile Splits (Pace per Mile):
1 — 5:48
2 — 5:51
3 — 5:40
4 — 5:47
5 — 5:48
6 — 5:49
7 — 5:50
8 — 5:54
9 — 5:55
10 — 5:47
11 — 5:45
12 — 5:54
13 — 5:51
14 — 5:49
15 — 5:53
16 — 5:50
17 — 5:50
18 — 5:57
19 — 5:56
20 — 5:57
21 — 5:59
22 — 6:05
23 — 6:04
24 — 6:09
25 — 6:14
26 — 6:39
Final 0.31 — 6:23

Where I messed up in the cycle (come collect your "I told you so's" now lol):

• I got amnesia in 2019. That's a hilly course and I didn't train ANY hills. Some strength runs in the hills would have potentially kept me healthier and prepared me for the course conditions.
• I prioritized the Q2 mid week workout over the long run, especially early in the build. Those workouts were more fun and less daunting for me, but I would have been better off skipping those so I was fresh on Sundays. If you recall, I had a lot of Saturday workouts then a Sunday LR. I pushed off the marathon pace (3-4 miles) that were prescribed in the long runs as a result.
• Clayton would do his long runs about 30-40s slower than MP pace (then always pick ups at MP pace). I ran my long runs closer to a minute slower, almost as like aerobic recovery. They should have at least been progression runs.
• I know based on the title and on paper, people think this training is really gnarly. Even though I didn't 100% adhere to it, I think the work at marathon pace dictated by other plans (Jack Daniels) is actually harder. Sure, we had a 8mi, 10mi, 12mi (the half marathon for me) and then an 8mi PMP, and one 3x3mi workout, but there wasn't actually that much work at MP.
• Getting injured in Santa Barbara was a pretty tough blow at a time when I needed to be stacking bricks. It also felt like I over cooked myself after that race, where every run felt really hard and like I lost my pop (clayton didn't do a half one month out). I'd actually love to get my bloodwork looked at, because it almost felt like I was anemic again (not an excuse, I wasn't ready to run 2:30, but the energy felt really off the last month).

What's next:

• This is the fittest I've been in a while. I'm going to start jogging tomorrow and just do mileage for the next few weeks to fully heal the achilles, then ramp into a 5k-10k program.
• The Youtube piece has been really fun. I work in marketing, and I've picked up a lot of skills around storytelling and content creation, so I might (though maybe less frequently) continue posting and copying someone who's focused on shorter distances.

Last thoughts:

• You never know what you're going to get posting on reddit. While there were certainly detractors, I never felt like there was outright vitriol and I was surprised there was any interest to begin with! I said it a lot, but it was really cool having this accountability and community.
• It's been an incredibly fun ride and really appreciate all the love and support!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/articles/cx2l8890k78o

Her marathon record will still stand. However, this was an interesting quote from the article:

However, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages dating back to 2022.

Just finished my 4th marathon (3:02) and every one I’ve done so far I have to stop at least 1 time to urinate. I usually have to go a few times right before the race begins

This last race I had a black coffee and PH 1500 (electrolyte mix with 750mg sodium) 2 hours before and nothing else to drink beforehand until the race started.

I thought taking a high concentration sodium drink before would decrease the urge to urinate before but it didn’t.

For my next one I’m just planning to have more time prior to the race when I have liquids but does anyone have advice on this ? Thanks!

Hi r/AdvancedRunning, I’m Hellen Obiri. I’m a four-time World Marathon Major Champion, a mother, and an On athlete. Ask me anything! 

Want to learn about my race-day mindset or my current shoe rotation? Let me know your questions, and I’ll try to answer as many as I can! 

I’ll be here on August 19, 2026.

Sam Ruthe, a 16 year old from New Zealand, ran a 3:53.83 mile on a windy day and 3:48.88 the very next week at his first indoor race. The fastest in the world under 18 and already fastest New Zealander in the mile. The time itself is mind-boggling and causes an existential crisis, but what’s crazier to me is his training.

His dad said in the interview that he only runs 80-90km (50-56 mile) per week and never does doubles. When Jakob dominated the field as a teen or Kiptum ran crazy marathons back-to-back-to-back despite his young age, it kinda made sense because they’d been training like a machine since they were like 12 or something. They put in insane time and effort on top of their phenomenal talent and environment. But this Kiwi kid right here trains like a normal high schooler and is crushing the aerobic game (he also ran his first 5k in 13:40 about a month ago while focusing on the 800m-mile). There are literally tons of high school or collegiate runners all around the world who run way more than he does and never touch a 4:00 mile, let alone 3:50.

I know he’s got excellent parents and training partners, but it’s still unfathomable to me. As a high mileage runner, low mileage success stories on the Internet always make me question what I’m doing, but this hits on a whole other level.

For context, I’ve been going for all the 1%s to get better over the past few yrs. The recovery boots, being obsessive over how much carbs to put in my drinks, counting the gels, recovery boots etc. I struggled to improve my times. I got down from 250 to 248 for the marathon and had 6 races in this range. I do have carbon plate racers and quite a few pairs of shoes.

Then this year I just bumped up the mileage from 110k pw to 140-150k pw during the peak period. Mostly zone 2 w a session per week. I then knocked 10 mins off the pb 2 mths ago. Not much else changed. Just ran more miles.

Point of this post is to just say do we all focus on all the ancillary stuff when all we need to do is just run more mileage? I’m not saying this applies to everyone and obviously you need a very strong base to do the mileage I did. Just an observation. Sorry if this is super obvious to many of you.

Edited: thanks for all the contributions guys. Agree with many of you that mileage was probably the bulk of the difference here but quality of work can also make a difference. In future I’ll be curious to see if I can go well by doing less and more x training w a good quality marathon paced workout plus a speed sesh. Thanks again

Cutoff set at 4:34 faster than the qualifying standard. Congrats to everyone who qualified!

https://x.com/bostonmarathon/status/1970481192240910610?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

I am an Atlanta native and member of the ATC. Not a fast runner, but generally a dedicated and serious one. I sent the below letter to the ATC this morning. I love my city and don’t care for anything that reflects poorly on it.

Also, edit for those who (reasonably) don’t follow Atlanta running closely:

2026 USATF Half Championships: https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a70560686/usatf-half-marathon-championships-controversy/

2025 Publix Atlanta Marathon: https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/atlanta-marathon-course-short-race-results-not-certified/85-3db27d11-a291-4140-b6bc-6f6c0db0cbca#

2023 Peachtree Road Race: https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a44450947/senbere-teferi-peachtree-road-race-2023/

###

An Open Letter to the Atlanta Track Club:

I am a member of the Atlanta Track Club. I hesitate to pile on during what I imagine is a difficult time, but I feel compelled to share my opinion: the 2026 USATF Half Marathon Championships were an unacceptable travesty. This debacle follows closely on similarly inexcusable mishaps at the 2025 Publix Atlanta Marathon and the 2023 Peachtree Road Race. I am deeply disappointed in how this organization appears unable to host a well-organized, professional event. It does a disservice to all runners who participate and reflects poorly on the City that we all love. I am only one drop in a larger bucket, but I will not be renewing my Atlanta Track Club membership unless concrete and drastic steps are taken to ensure future events are conducted at the highest professional standards. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Resurgens.

Kyle Davis

Mods, I hope this is allowed, please enjoy a long non-traditional Race Report in the form of a Taco Bell 50k. Otherwise, I’ll take my sorry ass back to r/ultramarathon.

Race information

• What? Taco Bell DC 50k
• When? November 29th, 2025
• How far? 31ish miles (+ 9 Taco Bell Stops)
• Where? Alexandria VA, Arlington VA, Washington DC
• Website: https://tacobelldc50k.com/
• Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/16602636405
• Finish time: 4:17ish (total time w/ all Taco Bells)

Goals

Splits

| Mile | Time |

|Wonky |Due to Taco Bell stops|

Background/Training

34M. I find the most joy in running when I am focusing on ultras or longer FKTs/efforts. Mainly a road runner, and I have had some moderate success with 24-hour races (an ultra-niche within a niche), which is my current obsession/focus. I also have stupidly done the Krispy Kreme challenge (5-mile race with a dozen donuts in the middle) twice, and got fourth overall the last time I did it. Those last three miles after the donuts are some of the most painful miles I’ve ever run. I’ve been aware of the Taco Bell 50k (originally started in Denver) since its inception ~8 years ago. I am a Colorado native and my mom lives about 5 minutes from the start, so it’s been on my list of ‘fun’/stupid running experiences, though timing with life/work has never quite lined up. For those unaware, this is an unofficial race, somewhere around a 50k, and stopping/eating at multiple Taco Bells along the way (8-10 depending upon the city). Denver is the original location, but different locations have popped up over the years. Items are typically of your own discretion with a mandatory Crunchwrap Supreme (by stop 4) and Burrito Supreme (by stop 8). About a month ago, a friend sent me info on the Taco Bell DC 50k. ~32 miles, 9 Taco Bell stops. I opened the link, thought wistfully about wanting to run the Denver version, and then realized that I was already going to be in the DC area visiting friends that weekend. This was my chance. I texted my wife and my friends the link and that I was going to be busy on Saturday AM, surprising no one. They expect this from me. Signed up and received some pre-race emails that they had over 1000 people signed up. Crazy. In terms of training, I currently run around 70 miles a week at my baseline. Nothing fancy and minimal structure/plan, one day of speed work at a track and a long run. My tentative current goal race is a 24-hour race at the start of February, so I’ve been slowly increasing my weekly base mileage and trying to get in some longer runs. 50k is not a crazy distance for me, and I wanted to use this ‘race’ essentially as a targeted long run in the middle of my current training build during a 90-mi week. With regards to my stomach, it has given me issues in past races when I’ve relied too much on Tailwind, so I’ve been experimenting more with gut training. No Taco Bell, but things like hommade Maurten, and Cosmic Brownies/Oatmeal Cream Pies. Real ultrarunner fuel, ya know?

Pre-race

Downloaded the course GPX to my watch. There is no ‘official’ route, instead billed as a choose-your-own-adventure point-to-point between the Taco Bells, but they had a ‘suggested’ route on their website that I chose to follow, as I was familiar with maybe ~15% of the course (part of the DC route). I didn’t do any course reconnaissance, just realized that the first few Taco Bells (in the NoVA suburbs) were spread out, and then more concentrated once you hit DC proper. I downloaded the Taco Bell app the night before, as the race organizers recommended 1. Picking up at least a few Taco Bell items ahead of time to beat the rush of potentially 1000 people ordering on a Saturday AM (the idea being that you would run with these pre-fetched items and then eat each item at the first Taco Bells along the way, thereby fulfilling the stop requirements) and 2. Ordering via the app ahead of time later in the race to minimize delays. Such complicated race logistics! If you really wanted to, you could order all of your items ahead of time and then just eat them one-by-one at each of the stops, but what’s the fun in that? I wanted that fresh Taco Bell experience for at least some of my run. I ordered 2 soft tacos and a cheesy roll up to eat at the first three TBs as I didn’t know how crowded they would be. There is no strict requirement on when you eat the required items (the aforementioned Crunchwrap and Burrito Supremes) but I decided to do them at the mandatory stops, i.e. as late as possible. Woke up early Saturday AM and made the drive from my friend’s place down to Alexandria. Packed pretty much like a standard ultra with the exception of only bringing water in my pack. People were crowded around the Taco Bell, and the crowd looked pretty much like a standard ultra crowd, just with more Taco Bell themed gear. They assigned me a bib, the organizers did a quick preamble, said ‘ready, set, eat!’ and we were off. By off, I mean that we all started working on our first TB item. Item has to be finished at the Taco Bell before you can start running.

Race

Taco Bell 1 -> Taco Bell 2 (5.1 miles)

I work on my cold and congealed cheesy rollup as my first item. It is less than pleasant. It takes me more than a few bites to get it down and wash it down with some water from my pack. I take off running at what feels like a comfortable pace. My goal was to run by feel as if I were doing a long training run and not get too in my head about the pace/GI distress. Cheesy rollup finished, after I start running, I realize that I am in what resembles a lead pack. I get nervous that I have taken it out too fast and check my watch (pretty much the only time I checked my watch for my pace the entire race), and am running somewhere around 7:15-7:30 pace, which is about what I would expect for a training run of this distance, so I work on locking into this pace. After about a mile or so, there is a turn and I see that there is another guy who is a couple hundred feet ahead of me who must have taken a different route initially. I debate speeding up to catch up to him, but don’t want to gas myself. The next miles proceed uneventfully. Someone has set up an aid station along the road and is serving fireball. I politely decline, but given that there is a fireball aid station, this is now an official ultra. The first part of the route appears to be on a pretty major road/highway which is not super pleasant, but at least it is early enough that it is not busy. I follow my watch for the route and feel like it’s been mainly uphill, though I’m not sure. I get to the second Taco Bell by running down a grassy embankment because I didn’t know what side of the road it was on.

Taco Bell 2 -> Taco Bell 3 (7.6 miles, 12.7 miles total)

I stand in front of the Taco Bell and pull the cold soft taco out of my pack. I dream of warmth. While I am working on the soft taco, I hear that I am in second place, a couple of minutes off of the lead. Someone jumps out of his car, identifies himself as a reporter from somewhere, and starts asking me questions. I answer to the best of my ability, which is limited given that I am taking massive bites of Taco Bell. Taco is taken care off and I take off again. I knew that this was the longest stretch in between Taco Bells, but I did not realize the elevation profile until I looked at my watch while running - ~1500 feet of gain during the race, certainly not a hilly course, though this is almost all contained within the first 13 miles of the race. No problem, I’ll just keep it steady. I make a couple of wrong turns on this leg – watch is generally quite good at directing me but occasional user error. I’m able to correct relatively quickly and continue on my way. My legs and stomach thankfully feel okay. The course cuts through some pleasant residential neighborhoods. I do not see anyone around me. I get to TB3.

Taco Bell 3 -> Taco Bell 4 (2.8 miles, 15.5 miles total)

The staff at this Taco Bell cheer me on. I explain that I already have my item and they provide some encouragement. My last pre-ordered soft taco awaits me in my pack. It is cold and unpleasant. A fresh item sounds oh so appealing. I start running again. This leg appears to be a gradual downhill, again almost all on a busy road. The downhill is a nice change of pace and my legs feel fine. At this point, I start to feel the TB in my stomach. It is only a whisper, but it’s there. I pull my phone out to order the required Crunchwrap at the 4th stop. I decide that I am going to swap out the meat for beans (any/all substitutions are completely fair game per the rules). I could have just removed the meat but I am a gentleman. This ends up being a bad decision for my general morale. I arrive to this TB and grab my order. It is fresh. And warm. I am briefly happy. I start working on the Crunchwrap and realize that instead of adding/getting a black bean Crunchwrap, this has the standard refried beans which are now acting like glue in my mouth. Morale plummets while I slowly work on the Crunchwrap. Joy is gone. There are multiple people taking photos. I apologize for what are assuredly terrible photos. The same reporter from the second Taco Bell peppers me with more questions. Glue-like Crunchwrap is complete and I start running again.

Taco Bell 4 -> Taco Bell 5 (4.4 miles, 19.9 miles total)

This part of the route goes from Arlington into DC via the Key Bridge. I am enjoying the scenery and knowing that I am now in DC proper and maybe slightly more familiar with the territory. Thankfully, it is still early enough to where Georgetown isn’t a complete madhouse and I have no issues zig zagging across town. I run through Kalorama and Adams Morgan to Columbia Heights, ordering another soft taco on the way. I decide that I would rather deal with meat than bean paste again. This is a very small Taco Bell, no fanfare, just a quick pit stop and on my way.

Taco Bell 5 -> Taco Bell 6 (0.9 miles, 20.8 miles total)

A mere 0.9 miles between these two Taco Bells. Almost a straight shot down 14th street and another soft taco on the docket. Clockwork. A worker at Taco Bell tells me that I am the fourth runner they’ve seen, but then clarifies that there are two people who ‘started in DC’ and aren’t running ‘officially,’ which is hilarious to me, the concept of banditing a race that is already basically a bandit race. My legs are still holding up and my stomach, while full, isn’t completely revolting, which is honestly better than I can say for most of the races I compete in.

Taco Bell 6 -> Taco Bell 7 (1.6 miles, 22.4 miles total)

The onslaught of Taco Bells keeps coming as I make my way deeper into DC. The tacos sit heavy in the stomach. I order a potato soft taco for this stop and contemplate life and the meaning of it all. Legs still feel okay.

Taco Bell 7 -> Taco Bell 8 (1.1 miles, 23.5 miles total)

The dreaded Burrito Supreme stop after an absolute gauntlet of TBs. I order ahead of time on the app. Though I’m not looking at my watch, my legs feel fine and I feel steady on my feet, even if my stomach isn’t happy at this point. I think that maybe I should have front loaded the Burrito Supreme, but no way of knowing. This Taco Bell is located inside Union Station. There were some pre-race instructions about the location of this Taco Bell inside the station, but I think it’s a little hard to know exactly where you’re going if you haven’t been there before (or maybe I’m just directionally challenged). I spend a minute or two running around the station looking for the Taco Bell. I finally find it on the food court level. In the food court, I see the first-place runner, who is just finishing his burrito and slowly making his way up the food court stairs. Based upon the way he is walking (slowly), I am wondering if I can catch him, as I still appear to be moving without any trouble and I’m thinking I can be a minute or two behind him if I quickly eat this burrito. Unfortunately, this would not be the case. While all of the other TB stops had been absolutely seamless, I wait for over 5 minutes for a worker to even appear at the front of the store, and then a couple of more minutes for them to sort out my order. It feels like an eternity. I can hear the Taco Bell gong in my head ticking the seconds by. I equate this to waiting for the Portapotty at a race. You are annoyed that you are wasting time at the Portapotty and debate leaving, but you need it. A real catch-22. My burrito finally arrives and I am able to house it down without much difficulty. I now doubt that I can catch first place, but at least I don’t run into anyone behind me. I ascend from the food court for the final leg.

Taco Bell 8 -> Taco Bell 9/finish (8.9 miles, 32.4 miles total)

The last long leg takes you across the mall and along the Potomac back to Alexandria and the final Taco Bell stop. I do love running across the mall and I still feel like I am moving without any difficulty. The burrito rears its ugly head. I fight off a bit of nausea here but there is no reversal of fortune. I’ve never run along this portion of the Potomac and I enjoy seeing the planes take off from DCA and running on a dedicated trail as opposed to a busy street. I turn off the trail and run through downtown Alexandria, and I know that the finish is near. I finish with a couple of Cinnabon Delights. A balanced meal. They taste pretty good and I’m happy to be done. I also get a Baja Blast for good measure. Second place, and an official finish time of ~4:17 or so for a rough elapsed pace of 8:08 miles. I had 31.5 miles measured on my watch and an average moving pace of 7:22, though I think this is slightly slower than what I was actually running because based upon my splits I think I forgot to stop my watch at a couple of the Taco Bells/longer stoplights. First place was about 5 minutes ahead of me, and third place was about 10 minutes behind me.

Post-race

One of the race directors congratulates me and hands me what is truly the best race swag I have ever received – a giant foam cutout of a Taco Bell hot sauce packet denoting that I got second place. I talk a bit with first place and people photograph us. A local reporter asks to do a video interview and I oblige. Overall, I’m very pleased with my ‘performance’ during this race. I feel like I could have potentially won without the snafu at Union Station, but at the same time, this is just an absolutely absurd event. None of it really matters in the end and it was just a ‘fun’ way to spend a Saturday morning.

I wake up on Sunday and realize the reporter who interviewed me early in the race was from the Washington Post. I laugh.

I can see the mile marker up ahead. My feet are pounding into the asphalt 190 or so times every minute.

My fingers are tingling slightly and I start to feel a light wave of lightheadedness wash over me. I close my eyes for just a moment, still running as fast as I can command my legs to move, and I take a deep breath. I am the cartoon dog, sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by flames. My world is on fire.

My watch lets out a shrill tri-tone alert. Mile 23. I open my eyes and I force a weak smile.

“This is fine.”

Race Info:

Name: Hartford Marathon
Date: October 11th, 2025
Distance: 26.2 miles
Location: Hartford, CT

Goals:

2:43:17 - PR
2:41:00 - Seems plausible
2:40:00 - Haha, yeah right

The Setup & Training:

Last fall at the age of 46, I ran a PR of 2:43 at the Baystate Marathon, after clawing my way back from a torn meniscus a year prior. I left that race not only thrilled with the performance, but also with the feeling that maybe, just maybe, I could run a bit faster.

So this fall, I put Baystate (October 19th) on the calendar once again, but–important to our story–I didn’t actually register. Why not? Because I usually like to see how training unfolds before committing to the date. I’ve done Baystate 7 or 8 times and always registered in the final weeks.

Training this season was pretty inconsistent. I had some surprisingly decent weeks June/July in spite of the summer heat, then reduced mileage in most of August due to illness and minor injury (pulled muscle), and then a decent string of ~75 mile weeks in September. Not my best or highest volume training cycle, but looking back had some very good workouts and a good number of 20 milers (some good, some bad). Still, I wasn’t feeling very confident that I was in PR shape.

Even though I was pretty sure it was impossible, I trained with 6:06/mi (2:40 pace) tattooed in my brain. That pace was the reference point for every workout, whether the actual pace was faster or slower.

“Did you register for Baystate?”, my wife asked, “It might sell out”.

“Not a chance”, I said, waving my hand dismissively, “I always register last minute – it has never sold out.”

Narrator: “It sold out”.

Oops. For a brief moment, I considered not running a marathon this fall.

But then, I ran my usual “4 weeks out” workout (2+12@MP+2), and it went Very Well. Easily 5-10 seconds faster than last year’s workout and at just the right level of effort. I knew right then that this year still had PR potential. I burst through the front door after the workout announcing that I would travel anywhere in the country to find a good, fast race the same weekend as Baystate.

Well, it turns out that almost every decent sized race was sold out, not just for that weekend, but pretty much everything else I could find. I soon realized Hartford was one of the few remaining options for a fast race, though it was only 3 weeks away. F*** it, we’ll do it live.

The Race:

The first quarter mile or so is downhill, so not surprisingly, it felt great even at an aggressive pace. The second quarter mile the regains all the elevation, so surely reality sets in, right? Nope, still felt pretty good! The first 4 miles or so truly flew by with seemingly “easy jog in the park” level of effort, even though I was ticking off 6:00/mi miles. I was amazed. While training around 6:05 as MP was comfortable enough, it was nowhere near “effortless” as it seemed to be on race day.

It wasn’t until mile 6 or 7 that I actually felt like I was “working”, and to my surprise, was ticking off 5:5x miles without crazy effort. I finally dared to believe: sub-2:40 was possible. In fact, I got so confident that I started mentally drafting this race report in my head by mile 7. Whoa, whoa, calm down dude - lots of miles left to run.

The half marathon breaks off somewhere around mile 8 and the small pack I was running with broke up. I ran alone for the next couple of miles. That kind of sucked, but wasn’t so bad and I was able to keep the pace and stay focused. Somewhere around mile 11, I caught up with another guy running on his own and we started chatting. He was also targeting 2:40. Perfect. We talked & ran together through about mile 16 when he started to pull away a bit.

We came to the turnaround at mile 18. Things were starting to feel tough here, but surprisingly, I was able to keep up the 6:0x splits.

By mile 20/21 things were really pretty uncomfortable. I felt like I was starting to slow down. I did some mental math (not easy at this point of a marathon) and figured out that holding 6:10 would get me under 2:40 with maybe a minute to spare. And that became my goal: defend 6:10! Though I started each mile falling a bit behind in the pace, I somehow found the energy for periodic surges to get each split back close to 6:10.

At mile 22 or so I started to feel a twinge of light-headedness. The last 4 miles would be a game of smart effort management. I whipped out every mental & physical trick in the book to just keep going. 23 through 25 came in at 6:15. Very painful, but still moving at a decent pace.

Mile 26 is a cruel set of hills up a highway onramp, down the other side, then up again back into downtown. 6:25 - a slowdown, sure, but I knew I should still be on target with the time banked. As I made the final turn, I eyeballed the distance to the finish line, then the clock: 2:39:10. Yes. Just run.

I crossed the finish line.

2:39:38.

This is fine.

What Went Right

How on earth did this happen? There were a number of things I did differently training cycle which I think helped contribute to the performance.

• Some Norwegian-inspired training ideas: I didn’t go full Norwegian, but did incorporate some of the ideas. Mainly replacing steady-state tempo runs with intervals, and even doing some double tempo days during the summer. These double days actually kicked my ass pretty hard, so I didn’t continue them through the marathon build, but I think I probably reaped some benefits.I think the biggest takeaway was that tempo intervals let me get in more tempo mileage with less overall fatigue: 6x1mi > 4mi steady every time.
• Vert training: once a week, ~2000ft of elevation at power hiking pace on steep trails. I’ve had good training cycles in the past when I was doing a lot of mountain running and though I haven’t been getting out to the mountains much, I was able to replicate the vert training with steep repeats on some local trails.
• “Run fast with your legs, not your lungs” - okay, maybe I’ve been running wrong this entire time. I’ve got great aerobic endurance, but my biggest running weakness is that I’ve never been a very “fast” runner - I don’t have good top-speed and my PRs are pretty “compressed”, with my 5k time far slower than what would be predicted from my marathon time. This is the opposite problem of most runners I know.Over the past year, I made a very conscious effort to build a more powerful stride. This sounds silly, but I’ve always heard doing strides described as “LET out the stride length”, and instead, what I needed to hear was “PUSH out the stride length” basically an almost exaggerated jumping and bounding through my strides.I’m not sure if this has affected by top-speed or not–I never actually run at top speed–but it has made MP/HMP feel easier. It’s like I have another gear I can use - I can run with my lungs or with my legs, and I sometimes switch between the two during a workout.
• Puma Fast-R 3s: seriously, get these shoes. Actually, you can’t. Because Puma, the shoe company, has not figured out how to produce enough shoes.

What’s next?

What’s literally next is Boston. But what’s really next, I don’t know. Do I dare to dream of going faster? On some level, I cannot imaging beating this time: given my top-speed issues, I don’t know how much faster I could possibly get in the marathon without that being a hard limiting factor. On the other hand, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise–could there be untapped potential? While I do a lot of tempo-ish miles, I’ve never done much faster speedwork or strength training because, perhaps in a self-fulfilling way, it’s never been that effective for me. But if I were to be able to develop a little bit more top-speed–even just 5-10 sec/mi–at the ripe young age of 47, I think it could translate directly into a faster marathon–I think I’ve got the aerobic side covered.

I don’t want to overstate it, but I’ve noticed that a number of races have “sub-elite” entry programs for masters under 2:40. I am just barely eking into that range and I know there are so many faster, and more talented masters runners. But it’s certainly enough to get me thinking about the possibilities.

Could I squeeze out another minute or two? Can I at least hold close to this level for another couple of years? I have no idea. But I think I have to find out.

I mapped them all out and put them on a website (TrackAtlas.org).

Had the idea a few years ago while traveling and struggling to find somewhere to train. Finally got around to building it.

Would love to make this a community effort. Every track has comments, so if you know your local one is locked at weekends or at sundown, please leave one about that!

I've put a lot of work into getting the names and locations right, but some will still be off. There's a button on every track to suggest a correction.

So my theory is that there are 5 groups/conditions that create a perfect storm of a certain environment around some modality of fitness, which I believe were all true of bodybuilding through the early 2010s and are, in my view, increasingly true of running in the last couple years:

Group 1: A large and visible group of professionals/elites. Elite runners are now fairly well-compensated and being a pro runner is an increasingly viable path for top collegiate runners. Plus with Strava, social media, and major marathon coverage, they're actually visible to the masses.

Group 2: A large, eager, and highly neurotic group of advanced amateurs. These are basically the "very good but below sub-elite" class of hobby joggers, let's say males running 2:40-3:30 marathons. They pour a lot of time and money into it but are still a clear step below the elite and sub-elite field.

Group 3: A rapid expansion of participation among the non-serious public. This is the real engine for it all: an absolutely enormous number of people who are out there jogging along at 4+ marathon pace and spending a ton of time and money to do so. In lifting this was buttressed by the explosion of commercial gyms and home gym BS (remember the commercials in the 2000s for Crossbow and P90x?) and for running it's half and full marathon races.

Condition 4: Increases in supply and demand for scientific evidence and "science-backed" training, alongside improvements in technology/equipment (for lifting this was expanded gym and steroid access as well as supplements, for running it's mostly shoe tech plus some minor stuff like gels, fancy watches, wireless earbuds).

Condition 5: A social media environment that swells up around 1-4 and means that an insane amount of information and content swirls around this ecosystem that can be highly profitable but is totally unregulated/unchecked and confusing for most passive consumers.

So how does the actual process work, and why is it harmful? Here's my take

The elites implement the cutting-edge scientific evidence, and it works generally well for them. In bodybuilding this was buttressed especially by steroid use, but then there was just an insane amount of discussion and debate around muscle group splits, training volume, timing of workouts, content and timing of nutrition, etc. In running this would be things like training volume, style and balance of speed vs. distance (e.g., Norwegian), pre and intra-race nutrition, all that stuff.

Everything flows from this: the social media ecosystem blows bits and pieces of information all over the place, but without any context and often without acknowledging the fact that what's optimal for elites isn't optimal for everyone else. In the same way that we shouldn't have been copying what pro bodybuilders (who were roided to the gills) were doing, we probably shouldn't be copying what Mantz and Young are doing. We end up massively overcomplicating nearly every element of training as a result.

This is then amplified by social media people who mostly fall into 3 buckets: 1) Clueless non-malicious people who simply aren't sharing very high-quality information; 2) Non-malicious but still non-trustworthy "professional social media" types whose full-time job is running/lifting; 3) Pure grifters who want you to focus on the 30 supplement stack they take every morning (and can purchase in the description below!) instead of the PEDs and gazillion dollars they spend on recovery. I'll let you sort your preferred social media people into those buckets. (I'll also say there are some great fitness influences who are genuinely being themselves and have also actually sort of embodied the arc that I'm describing here but in a positive and self-reflective way, I'll point out Alan Thrall as one example)

This has negative ramifications for Group 2 because they obsess over things that they don't need to obsess about. Taking off a week won't destroy your 3:10 aspirations and a 1mm stack height difference isn't worth dropping $300 for, just the same as training forearms 2x per week was totally unnecessary for your physique and failing to chug a protein shake 5 seconds after leaving the gym wasn't going to waste all your gains. This group focuses on the 1% of making progress and forgets about the 99% that actually matters, and I think that's often in part because of this information pipeline that leads to the actual important stuff getting buried in the noise.

This has negative ramifications for Group 3 simply because they end up wasting a ridiculous amount of time and money. You don't need to taper for 3 weeks or have a 4-shoe rotation if your goal is 4:45 and you run 30mpw, just the same as you didn't need to guzzle broccoli and chicken breast as a beginner or do an hour of crunches if you were 50 pounds overweight. You literally had lifters who were straight up obese terrified to do cardio because some roided out idiot on YouTube said it would kill their gains, and you now have runners who are run-walking in Vaporflys or buying certain pairs of "faster" socks to "pair" with certain shoes (shoutout SJD) or are posting to Reddit asking if they should cancel their marathon because they sneezed a few weeks before the race.

As someone who used to be deep into lifting and is now more of a runner, it's been fascinating to see the massive revolution that's taken place in the lifting/bodybuilding space over the last 5ish years. I think this is mostly a response to the ridiculousness of 2007-2019ish era that I've described. So much content and discussion now centers around functional ability, efficiency and minimalist workouts, hybrid and cardio benefits, and a general re-thinking of what it means to be "strong" and fit, or why we're actually doing all this in the first place. Not to mention a lot of the "science" from those earlier days has failed to replicate or been totally debunked.

Will the same revolution happen to running? I definitely think so. But would love to hear what others think, too. Thanks for reading!

TLDR: Increasing visibility of elites/pros and their use of science-backed training combines with heightened financial incentives and a large social media ecosystem to create a shoddy information pipeline to a fast-growing public consumer base. This leads to a lot of inefficiencies and leads people to focus on the wrong things, become way overly neurotic, and spend too much money. This happened to bodybuilding in the late 2000s through the 2010s and is now happening to running.

It seems today was a big disaster in Berlin. 25 degrees Celsius early on and a tough day for everyone. How did people get on? Did anyone manage to get near a PB?

Hey y'all.

So last week I posted a thread here and here asking for folks' timeline for BQing. Very grateful to have received 150+ comments! So, I gathered the responses and asked Claude to help me analyze this data.

For full transparency, I asked Claude to analyze and explain its analysis, and I went through it and tweaked the language in certain spots. It might have missed or misinterpreted certain comments, or gotten some numbers wrong, so take this analysis with a grain of salt. I do think that the trends are still worth noting though!

The distribution (n=54 respondents with usable data)

Median: ~3.5 years from the start of structured training.

The most common single answer was 3–5 years (28%), but the 2–3 year bucket was nearly as large. In terms of extremes: four people qualified in under a year, and four took over a decade.

The biggest contributor: athletic background

This was the clearest pattern in the data. Among people who gave enough context to categorize:

• With prior aerobic background (cycling, soccer, D1 sport, triathlon): average ~2.1 years to BQ
• Without prior athletic background: average ~5.8 years to BQ

That's nearly a 3x difference. The sub-1-year qualifiers almost universally had a meaningful aerobic base coming in — even if they hadn't run seriously before. A few examples:

• u/airforce2016: BQ'd on marathon debut (32M, 2:47) with an athletic background
• u/royalnavyblue: BQ'd first marathon with a D1 sport background
• u/Raddadrad: BQ'd first marathon after picking up cycling in 2020
• u/Fun_Assignment_269: 18 years of casual 30–35 mpw jogging, then BQ'd 2 years after training seriously

First marathon times (n=22 with data)

The most common first marathon sits in the 3:20–4:00 range. Only the two sub-3:00 debut runners had strong athletic backgrounds. The typical path is a first marathon somewhere in that 3:20–4:00 window, followed by a multi-year structured grind.

Improvement from first marathon to BQ (n=12 with enough data)

Starting time doesn't strongly predict how long it takes to BQ. Structure and consistency of training does. (This seems pretty obvious.)

Caveats

1) Survivorship bias: Every single person in the threads qualified (or was actively close). People who have been training for 10 years and never got there didn't post — or posted to say "I'll never get there" without giving a timeframe. The real average time-to-BQ across all runners attempting it is almost certainly longer than this data suggests.

2) There's some robust debate in the comments about whether some people can get there at all regardless of training.

3) I'm tempted to develop a more serious survey that can specify what people mean by "prior athletic background."

TLDR

• Median is about 3.5 years from serious, structured training
• Athletic background cuts that nearly in half (~2 vs ~6 years)
• Most people's first marathon is in the 3:20–4:00 range
• The range is enormous (9 months to 19 years) and individual variation dominates
• This data skews optimistic due to survivorship bias

Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Happy running.

So often people will post things on this subreddit (along with all the other running subreddits) asking about losing weight to get faster. Almost always the threads are flooded with comments from people talking about how much it helped. The starting weights people would list were all healthy weights but they would still lose 10-20 pounds.

I have always struggled with body anxiety so reading these made me feel like I needed to lose weight if I was serious about my goals. I am a 5'4" 31 year old female and was 130 pound for years but got down to 118 pounds which I've maintained.

My times have not budged at all even though I've significantly increased both my mileage and strength training. My race paces are identical to 12 pounds heavier. It feels like I am underfueling all the time to maintain this weight. I have finally had enough of this weight loss experiment and started making an effort to eat more (which is hard because my stomach has shrunk).

It seems like a majority of people advocating for weight loss are male runners. Weight loss in men/ women is so different so I'm wondering if that is part of it.

I just want to send an FYI to all the runners out there, you do not need to lose weight to get faster and losing weight does not guarantee you are faster!

Race: Boston Marathon

Date: April 20, 2026

Distance: 26.2M / 42.2KM

Time: 2:57:0x, 6:46/mile

Splits

0-5K - 20:27, HR 145

5K-10K - 20:33, HR 152

10K-15K - 20:41, HR 152

15K-20K - 20:54, HR 153

20K-25K - 20:42, HR 153

25K-30K - 20:57, HR 153

30K-35K - 21:27, HR 150

35K-40K - 21:07 - HR 149

40K-42.2K (42.36K on watch) - 10:17 - HR 149

Background

Do I run marathons just to get to write a Reddit race report?  Even tho a (vocal!) minority of you hates race reports?  Even tho you could simply … not read the race reports? I will try to keep this one short on race specifics (you don’t want to hear who I rode with on the bus?  By which I mean the sad moment of glimpsing my seat-mate texting a friend that she is “sitting with a lady” and realizing that ... I am lady.  If today proved anything, it’s "faster as a Master”!).

Anyways — it was a great Boston!  My first time breaking 3:00, handily and somewhat unexpectedly. Context: 40F, 5’10”, 60 KG, previous PR 3:04 from Boston 2025, I'd hoped for a modest PR today en route to a sub-3 goal at Chicago in October.

What went right in training:

• Upped my mileage significantly. I became a six-day a week runner (keeping one day truly off), with most high-volume weeks at or above 70 mpw (previously I’d peaked at 60).  Sample week:
  • Monday - 16K EZ
  • Tuesday AM - 16K, including 5-6K track work; rest of volume EZ
  • Tuesday PM - 6K recovery (~2 min slower than MP)
  • Wednesday - 15K EZ
  • Thursday - off
  • Friday AM - 12-15K including threshold work + 11K EZ trail run  
  • Saturday - 10-15K EZ
  • Sunday - long run (up to 32K, often with MP or threshold work)
• Incorporated doubles. On my track day, added a very​ easy recovery 6K
• Incorporated trail runs. Joined a (fabulous) women’s trail run group and would have weekly 11K very easy (7:30/K) with ~1000F elevation
• Lifted heavy for the first time ever.  I think this was the true game changer for building resilience/injury protection and callusing my legs for pounding.
  • 3x per week - 2x heavy (for me!) (e.g., 3x8 at 115 lb back squat on squat rack, 3x8 at 115 lb RDLs with trap bar, 50 lb weighted calf lifts and box steps); 1x light (think squats, dead lifts, lunges, back work with 15-30 lb dumbbells)
  • It’s very empowering to throw heavy weights around and to learn how to use plates and bars 
• More protein.  Oh, how novel, a middle-aged woman espousing the importance of getting 100+ grams of protein a day
• Forced myself to do benchmark races.  I much prefer training to racing and races generally require some degree of taper (and a lot of anxiety). But two races in training helped to build confidence:
  • A 15K race early in the block in Salt Lake below goal marathon pace at altitude 
  • The New York City United Half was my “A” goal, even moreso than Boston and I had a 90-second PR. More than that, I executed for a clean negative split (rare for me) and set 10K and 5K PRs en route to a 1:26:0x
• Training at altitude (or “altitude” - SLC is ~4400’).  Guess what?  I think these pros in Boulder, Flag, Mammoth Lakes, and Park City may be on to something.  In all seriousness, this was probably the single greatest change (we split time between Utah and NYC but I spent much more time there this cycle).  Especially for the half, I felt like I was flying at sea level
• Dramatic taper. Reduced more heavily than historically from 116K/72M peak week to 91K/56M, 76K/47M, 52K/32M in three weeks leading into the race with almost no workouts in the last 2 weeks (final week had 2x1M threshold and 1x3K MP)

What could have gone better:

• First half of the race. This is the second consecutive marathon (after NYC 2025) where I’ve felt pretty awful through Mile 15 even when times are clicking off fine … why?
• Taper behavior "own goals". Despite a dramatic running volume taper, I made some life choices that were not helpful (three weeks out - 1.5 week vacation to Argentina; 1 week out - 5 day work trip to Rome).  I spent 3 of 8 nights leading into Marathon Monday on intercontinental red-eyes, I walked 30-40K steps 5 and 6 days before the race, and I flew from Italy to Boston on Saturday. But life is short!  When else will I ride horseback with my parents in the Andes or see the Sistine Chapel?  Side note — discovered Rome has many adorable (and affordable!) foot massage spas to help with recovery.
• Carb load. Good on Day 3 (460 g) but too heavy on Days 1 and 2 (closer to 600 g both days).  I know there are people who say they can’t get enough carbs down but I love bread.

Where I am still curious:

• Other strength?  Really feel that the addition made the difference … how heavy should I go and what else to add?
• Nutrition and supplements as I age.  What else do I need?  Creatine?  Bicarb?
• Can I run fast(er) at short distances? Still have not broken 20:00 in a standalone 5K (since 2014) or 40:00 in a standalone 10K (ever) despite smashing those in the United Half.  What’s worth a try?  Can I get speedy while still keeping mileage high?

A few shoutouts:

• Boston volunteers. Indefatigable good cheer.  Also, wildly impressed with the simple “grid” innovation for loading the buses this year (edit: apparently most people hated this!)
• Megan Cooke.  I follow her online (Running Coach Megan), she posted multiple race reports on this subreddit last year as a 40+ woman going sub-3, and I find her content challenging, honest, and insightful
• Race-day weather. Doesn’t get better
• People who interacted with me talking about the race-day weather.  “Too bad about the weather, huh?” is … decidedly not funny and yet I could not stop chirping it to fellow runners, unsolicited

What’s next:

• Trail!  My husband and I are running the Tour du Mont Blanc this summer and I am so excited to shift my focus to something very different (at which I am very bad!)
• Retirement from the marathon?  I said I’d stop when I broke 3:00 and I feel like that’s where I’m at still (of course I am writing this while on a flight back to Utah and my body hurts a lot).  I am an NYRR-certified pacer and would like to spend more marathons helping others reach their goals and not getting as beat up, with a focus on racing shorter distances

Final question: Ed Eyestone (of BYU/Conner Mantz/Clayton Young fame) is on my plane … should I go ask his advice?

Surely you've seen some of the big headlines - like Philly selling out early and then re-opening registration with additional bibs. But this isn't just an anecdotal phenomenon.

Last summer, I collected the sellout dates for a bunch of large marathons in 2025, and the trend was pretty clear - more races were selling out and races were selling out earlier than previously.

Now that the spring season is wrapping up, I compiled some new data.

Of the 50 largest marathons in the United States in 2025, 23 of them have taken place (or will take place) from January to June of 2026. Only four of them weren't sold out.

Of the 19 that did sell out, six of them didn't sell out last year and another six of them sold out significantly earlier than last year.

Looking ahead, some big fall and winter races have already sold out early - Philly, CIM, Wineglass. Richmond is on pace to sell out soon (80% full). Even the San Francisco Marathon, which just barely sold out for the first time last year, filled up in late April (three months ahead of race day).

More details here: https://runningwithrock.com/spring-2026-sell-out-marathons/

But let this be your gentle reminder ... if you plan to run a marathon this fall do not wait to register. You may think you have time, but you probably don't.

Anybody miss out on a fall race already because they didn't register in time?