If you set a half marathon PR in the middle of a full marathon, does it count as your PR?

Of course it doesn't count. Did you get an official time for your HM in this race? No. It doesn't count.

The arguing of semantics, you could consider it a personal best but not a PR until you do it in an actual half. Or you say screw it and call it what you want.

Why would it not count? Whatever your fastest time of covering 13.1 miles is your half marathon PR.

That being said, if you do it in a race it’s more “official”. But if your friend says you can’t call it a “personal” record than perhaps there is a doctor that can help with his small-brain syndrome?

Given that virtually no one but yourself cares about your PRs I'm not sure it matters all that much what you count, more so if you add the qualifier that it was run as part of a longer race.

For several years my two fastest half marathons were the second and first half of my marathon PR respectively. This was due to not racing the half very often, using them as marathon pace training runs in a race setting, and a series of disastrous outings when I was going for time.

Okay, so where does the fastest HM start? At the start of the full marathon? After 21.1 km? Or 1 km in? Maybe after 460 meters into the 4th km? OP has a lot of data to go through to figure this one out.

I wouldn't count it as my PR no matter how much faster it was than my former time. No decent, self-respecting runner would. Particularly as the circumstances would make it clear an even faster HM time than your split could be achieved in a proper HM race. So go out and race a HM and enjoy your new PR when you cross the finish line.

If there was a timing mat at the half marathon mark then yes it can count as your half marathon PR.

lollerama wrote:

I wouldn't count it as my PR no matter how much faster it was than my former time. No decent, self-respecting runner would. Particularly as the circumstances would make it clear an even faster HM time than your split could be achieved in a proper HM race. So go out and race a HM and enjoy your new PR when you cross the finish line.

"No decent, self-respecting runner would" lol bro what? You gotta get over yourself. Op don't overthink it man, no reason to not count it

Similarity, my half PR was the first 13.1 miles of the Philadelphia Marathon and lasted for 2 years. I tend to race more 10 milers than HM, so never had a combination of fitness and “putting it together” in a half. Going into that marathon, my PR was over 69 minutes for the half, but I was tasked with pacing the marathon for the 2:18 B standard for as long as possible. We came through the half a bit faster than pace under 69 minutes and continued rolling for several more miles before I called it quits.

I counted this as my PR because (1) running and racing shouldn’t be serious to the point in which you’d penalize yourself because it didn’t happen during an official HM race and (2) it was an official split and a race director did accept the official split as entrance to a race field that required a 68 minute or faster HM for entry. Unless you ran a strange race that was total downhill for the first half before climbing the second half, I would absolutely count it — just as your “8 mile PR”, “9 mile PR”, etc. would have likely come during splits of other races.

I may or may not be decent...I am definitely self-respecting though....

...and my fastest elapsed time for the half-marathon distance is a first-half splits. I cite this as my best

Further, my four fastest HMs are halfway splits. I have run a number of HM races but most of them were during marathon cycles, and, like another poster, I was 100% focused on marathon performances.

Hope that doesn't make me a liar.

It happened to Bekele with his marathon. His half marathon was shown as his half way split. Although he never made an attempt at a fast time in a half marathon. He is a 58 minute guy. I wish he would go for the world record in the half mary

As long as it was the first half of the marathon.

If someone set the WR in the half-marathon in a full-marathon race, as long as the timing mat was certified, it would count as a record

Just remember that your GPS watch isn't nearly as accurate as a certified course.

I don't think it counts if it's in the middle. What is that, from mile 5 to 18.1 or so? It definitely does count if it's the first half of a race and the split comes from a timing mat.

I'd count a second-half split too as long as from timing mats. It's not like age-group chip-timed runners are starting the race from a standing start

Based on you saying ‘the middle’ infers that it was not from the start to the official 21km split.

Therefore it is not accurately or officially measured as thus, means nothing.

Citizen Runner wrote:

Given that virtually no one but yourself cares about your PRs I'm not sure it matters all that much what you count, more so if you add the qualifier that it was run as part of a longer race.

This is exactly the point which probably applies to 99.9% of us non-elite runners. No one, and I mean NO ONE gives a rat's a$$ about your own PR except YOU! If you set a PR in any distance while competing at a longer distance than it is your PR. Is it official? No, but who cares as no one else cares anyway.

If you had PR'd by like 2 seconds I'd agree with your friend since that could have been due to a variety of errors with your watch etc. But 4 minutes is large enough that I'd say you can count it.

A caveat that I've seen other people mention: My post assumed that your half PR came from the start to 13.1 miles. If this were not the case I personally would not count it.