@Pete Prince
Regardless of the anecdotal "evidence" that I mentioned, the basis of my post was the formula for wind speed and how it related to Eddie's time. Nor do I think everybody ran 4-5 minutes faster because of the wind - per the formula, on average a 2-4 minute benefit was achieved with diminishing returns as you get faster - but yes, everybody benefitted from the wind, just not everybody was in PR shape that day. It's the same as Drug Trials, candidates are screened out as possible examples of worthy test subjects if they do not meet certain criteria - in this case, it's impossible to see the effect the tailwind had on a person's time unless they set a PR because only then do you have a baseline to compare to.
With regards to where the wind was calculated, you'd have to ask NYRR where they get their data from. My assumption is in Central Park since the National Weather Service has a testing site there (the other two in the city are at Laguardia and JFK Airports). That being said, the wind speed in the park is always less than the tunnel effect within the streets of NYC and along the waterfront. So if 12mph is the reading in the park, and a wind tunnel effect is created between the buildings (physics shows that when wind travels between two buildings a positive pressure is created on the entry side and a negative pressure on the exit side, thus forming suction and increased velocity), and then along the water the wind increases even more with the open-water effect of lateral forces, 12mph may very well have been on the low side with larger gusts occurring.
Yes, the route runs east-west from Times Square to the West Side Highway, not to mention it is entirely downhill. The wind will still have an effect because of the positive/negative pressure created within the buildings and the closest negative pressure to that 42nd street location is west at the river's edge rather than the southern-most edge of the city.... so yes, the wind still helped there. Again, physics (this is like math, right?).
I see where you're going with your argument regarding wind effect during the first loop, but I do not believe it is relevant. During the opening miles, there is a peloton effect when running with the wind, and when running against the wind it was still early enough that Eddie (and most everybody else) was able to benefit from other runners being nearby to draft off of. I'm sure he is a smart enough runner to tuck in behind somebody - and in doing so would be able to duck most of the headwinds he'd face. It was only later in the race that he had vast separation from the people in front of him and behind him, but at that point, there is no need to draft. So no, I do not believe the open loop had an effect on his pace.
I'm not questioning that Eddie has improved since Footlocker - he ran a sub-15 5K indoors a few weeks ago. But again, that was indoors and on the fastest track in the country. His Footlocker race is more applicable because he trained specifically for it, tapered for it, was racing against his age-group peers (scholastic pride on the line) thus giving what a max effort would be. I just do not believe though that Eddie would have hit the same time he did on Sunday if it had not been for the tailwind - he'd have gotten a PR for certain because he was in shape to do so, but his jump was too much based on recent races (and no, a 9:09 indoor race is not comparable because of the perfect conditions).
I'm (not really) sorry I offended you with my statistical analysis, but calling it poor is a stretch. Maybe you should have your 9th-12th grade math classes do a semester-long project to statistically analyze the race and you can teach them how to do it properly. I never thought of turning this into a research project by analyzing a statistically relevant number of runners, but since you want them, here are a number of local elites that set PR's that day (it's easy to check past performances for NYRR races on their website):
Local Elites New PR Old PR
Gian-Paul Caccia (NYAC) 1:04:46 1:10:10
Jorge Real (AMPM) 1:07:52 as a 40yo 1:08:56
Peter Quinzio (NYAC) 1:09:48 1:13:37
JP Montes (NBR) 1:12:58 1:16:34
Rob Gill (CPTC) 1:13:43 1:19:12
Ricardo Cualhuizo (WSX) 1:13:26 1:16:46
Reilly Kiernan (F) (NYAC) 1:13:44 1:20:06
Fabio Cassadio (WS) 1:14:21 1:17:23
Joshua Korth (FRNY) 1:15:09 1:18:39
Betsy Burke (F) (NYAC) 1:16:52 1:23:13
And I guess finally, if you're upset that I'm not celebrating him on this website (which by the way I did congratulate him on his race time), perhaps his coach, Mr. Busch, should not go beating his chest saying that he set the American Record until he gets confirmation from USATF. Mr. Busch opened Eddie's time up to analysis by posting it on Letsrun, and Eddie's other coach, Mr. Montes, goes on a rampage (As a HS teacher and coach, were you offended by his demeanor?). However, even if the time saved was only 88secs like you suggest along the West Side Highway, would that be enough to get the American Record like his coach is trumpeting?
FWIW, people are also talking about Galen Rupps splits on another thread, and even Malmo is reminding them to take it with a grain of salt because of the tailwind. Do you want to discuss the merits of a tailwind with Malmo?