Lets talk about all the runners who ran slow times today. They are worthy too. There, fixed it.
A dude from my hometown ran 20 minutes slower than his qualifying time today. 2:52 guy, started out at 7:00 pace and got slower after 15 miles. Doesn’t seem like the course or the wind helped him much.
It does seem as if some people on the one hand understand that the performances were significantly aided by the conditions, but simultaneously also manage to convince themselves that in fact, those were some of the greatest performances ever, and the marathon is forever changed because humans have made an evolutionary leap. Whereas the reality is, it was a solid Boston Marathon and an interesting race, but very much normal as far as the intrinsic values of the times that were run.
If I were to take a wild guess, I would say that most of the American men ran their lifetime best today and will never come close to doing it again. Same as Ryan Hall's 2:04.
I would love to be wrong and don't want to talk negative, but I would bet my house on it.
I get the generals masses would poo poo on this but for an elite field, your time should only be how far you were behind the winner. That’s how real racing sports do it and it’s dumb as hell running doesnt do it like that
It does seem as if some people on the one hand understand that the performances were significantly aided by the conditions, but simultaneously also manage to convince themselves that in fact, those were some of the greatest performances ever, and the marathon is forever changed because humans have made an evolutionary leap. Whereas the reality is, it was a solid Boston Marathon and an interesting race, but very much normal as far as the intrinsic values of the times that were run.
Yea, the question we should ask ourselves is "If that runner ran X+2 minutes at Chicago, what would we think"
So eg of the Americans, I think Hick's 2:04:35 is still pretty impressive, whereas Talbi/Young/Klecker etc all ran solid but not mindblowing performances
CIM is mostly rolling for the first 15-16 miles. I was surprised when I ran it. Lots of “bumps” as you put it. It’s not really as marketed. It’s fast in the amount of fast racers who run there, and you can rip the last 10k, but you’ll need to be strong. I’ve known a number of runners who underestimated CIM and took on more fatigue the first 25k and couldn’t take advantage of the truly easy part.
Most of the guys I know who typically show up and run 2:30 all ran 2:28 today. Most of my typical 2:35 guys were closer to 2:32.
This would match up with a couple of elites who are probably pretty squarely 2:07 guys going 2:05.
I say worth 2 minutes but possibly much closer to 3. Either way, you run Boston for 10 years and you’re lucky if this happens once, maybe twice
Wasn't the only other "perfect weather" year in recent history 2011, 15 years ago? I know '12 was hot and '18 was a snowfest. I may be missing a few more good seasons, of course.
Lets talk about all the runners who ran slow times today. They are worthy too. There, fixed it.
A dude from my hometown ran 20 minutes slower than his qualifying time today. 2:52 guy, started out at 7:00 pace and got slower after 15 miles. Doesn’t seem like the course or the wind helped him much.
Did he figure out why? 7:00 pace at least gets him a sub-3.
CIM is mostly rolling for the first 15-16 miles. I was surprised when I ran it. Lots of “bumps” as you put it. It’s not really as marketed. It’s fast in the amount of fast racers who run there, and you can rip the last 10k, but you’ll need to be strong. I’ve known a number of runners who underestimated CIM and took on more fatigue the first 25k and couldn’t take advantage of the truly easy part.
Agreed on CIM, I actually think CIM and Boston are more similar courses than made out to be. Boston is harder because of the placement of the hills, but CIM is pretty rolling until the last 10K or so which is pretty flat. I think people underestimate the course. It's certainly not pancake flat. I think most of the miles are similarly rolling.
I think what makes CIM a fast PR course is a few things. 1) The weather is usually perfect in Sac in December, 2) There's a lot of quick people especially at the faster recreational end to run with. It's run by a track club and it doesn't draw people the way the majors do for the experience of running through a city. People usually have some goal they want to chase after, and it feels like a runners race. You have good packs to run with and people who are there to run fast. 3) The logistics are really easy compared to Boston/Chicago/New York/whatever. Busses are easy, you don't need to sit around forever before the race, it starts at a normal time, there are plenty of porta-potties, and you line up with the pace group you want to run unless you are in the elite corral (no time qualifiers to get in specific corrals or anything like that). It just feels much more low key and less logistically complicated.
Don't get me wrong I like seeing fast times, but let's not pretend that everyone blew it out of the park today.
Yes people ran fast, because they had a downhill course with a tailwin gthe entire way.
Subtract at least 2 minutes from their times.
Meb just said "a clock is a clock"
The tailwind conditions were almost identical to those in 2024 and yet the winning time for that race was only 2:06:17 by Sisay Lemma who has a best of 2:01:48 from 2023. Sure the tailwind would have been of some benefit but there’s many other factors which come into play over such a long distance event.
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Desipte being in course PR shape AND perfect running conditions, she still fell a minute short.
You know she is obsessing over the splits (even though she says she doesn't do this) and trying to figure out where she could have saved 40 seconds. It's probably driving her absolutely nuts...which I think is hilarious.
She's turned to talking about "Heartbreak Hill PR" and "Last 3 miles PR" and "Fastest Boston segment I've done on (insert name here)".
