What was your marathon progression?

That's odd. There is no official finishing time of 2:23:37 in the 1983 Boston marathon. Or for that matter 82 or 84.

I guess you can rely on a lawyer to lie.

Fall 2012 (age 21/senior in college) - 2:50

Spring 2013 - 2:48

Fall 2013 - 2:47

Spring 2014 - 3:04 (went out way to fast at Boston)

Took a gap from marathoning and did halves or didn't race much for a while, then ran 2:42 in 2019.

Looking back I pretty much always trained like I was training for a 10k and threw in some long runs but that never really stopped me from hitting the wall. I think I was on pace for around 2:37 in pretty much every one of those races for about 18 to 20 miles.

So you scanned through, did some research, and resurrected a year-old thread to call out a hobbyjogger in his 60s who is just referencing a PR rather than claiming a record or something?

1988/ 2:49

1989/ 2:44

1992/ 2:40 (spring) 2:33 (fall)

1999/ 2:33:02 ran 2:33+ 4 different times.

September 2013- 5:33- completely clueless, First marathon and first race of any distance, no fueling or training, walked in from 17

September 2021- 3:20- started running in 2020, ran more shorter distance races and was probably somewhere in the low 30s mpw

June 2023- 2:53- had a couple injuries since my last marathon but ran more consistent mileage, learned a lot how to train and fuel

October 2024- 2:43- did the daniels 2Q plan peaking at 70 mpw

Lol, he has been claiming to be a big shot in Colorado for years and even his hobbyjogger pbs are a lie.

2019 - 3:36 First marathon (45 mpw)

2022 - 2:46 Second marathon (65 mpw)

2024 - 2:56 3rd Marathon at Boston (80 mpw)

First marathon I was dumb and went out way too hard, walked the last 2 miles and barely finished. Second marathon trained well and raced smart to qualify for Boston. Third marathon trained as hard as I could and thought I could run a 2:37. I never felt good from start to finish and choked. Don't plan on running more for a while but that's what I said in 2019.

I don’t remember the seconds for all entries, but should be close to accurate:

Delaware 2016 (age 24): 2:51:25

Boston 2017 (25): 2:33:01

Austin 2019 (26): 2:31:17

Milwaukee Lakefront 2021 (29): 2:23:19

Grandma’s 2022 (30): 2:23:27

Chicago 2022 (30): 2:22:18

Indianapolis 2022 (30): 2:23:49

Houston 2023 (30): 2:25:06

Grandma’s 2023 (31): 2:21:19

Chicago 2024 (32): 2:26:46

Houston 2024 (32): 2:20:41

When you put it this way… maybe too many marathons! This is also why I think it’s silly (in general, not in all cases!) when runners break 2:30 and see OTQ as the immediate next goal. When I ran 2:23 at MKE, I thought I had the world ahead of me. 4+ years later and I’ve “only” chipped 3 minutes off that time, and they’ve been hard-earned. That time does not come easy. Once (if) I break 2:20, I may be done for good. We’ll see!

Edit: Just because Letsrun let you edit, and I’m waiting for a call back from a client, I’ll add a little color - I ran MKE without breaking 60 miles/week (and an average below 50). Thought it would be easy from there. Not so. Some races (Houston ‘23, Chicago ‘24) really went off the rails with conditions and my stomach, but some (Boston ‘17, Milwaukee ‘21, Indy ‘22, Houston ‘25) I really feel like I ran to the best of my ability on that given day. So who knows what’s to come.

From 3:14 in 2020 to 2:43 in 2023. I spent 4 years running 70-110 MPW I think that is close to my genetic limit. I’m more of a 800m runner. I can only be so efficient at 6’2” 165lbs over 26.2 miles. In my late 30s and can still clock a 1:57 800m.

1994 - 4:20

1995- 4:12

1996- 3:25

2005- 3:01

2006- 2:58

2008 -2:53

Various marathons after, but never got faster

May 2022 3:50. I was completely new to running and did only the higdon novice 1 training plan

September 2023 3:50 again. This one was awful. I thought I needed to pay for a plan to go sub 3:30, and I did, but I didn't stick to it well enough do to vacations and injury, and for some reason I did minimal race pace stuff. I'd also been inconsistent about running for about a year before it, but man I bonked horribly. It was such a miserable experience I took a break from marathons that I won't end until December 2025. In the break though, I've gotten to a 1:22 half marathon and low 18s 5k, so I'm gonna go for 2:55. I know I'm gonna a have to train very consistently to get it.

You'd better aim for sub-3; 2:55 seems too lofty for you (imho, I could be wrong of course).

Toronto 1980 - 3:21

Toronto 1981 - 3:36*

Vancouver 1984 - 2:55**

*Got dumped by a girl the week before, couldn't sleep....until I sat on the the sidewalk at 20miles here, then I walked/jogged the rest of the way.

**I jumped into this to pace a friend to halfway, but I was having so much fun that I did the whole thing.

These experiences taught me an invaluable lesson:

Do the 1500m.

Age 18 - 2:39

Age 19 - 2:36

Age 20 - 2:35

Age 21 - 2:26

After that, I ran 18 more - the best of those was a 2:36 in my early 20s. The last was a 3:20 at Age 47. At least they were all BQs.

One thing I have going for me is that I have 9 months to train, and I don't need to become all that much better of a runner, just a better marathoner. I know half marathon time doesn't always translate just right, but it is equivalent to 2:52, and I should be faster in 9 months. The 1:22 was a 6 minute PR after a year, so I'm still taking off chunks of time. I don't expect to improve at that same rate, and I'd probably go for sub 3 if I was starting the marathon training cycle now, but I'm not so I have more time to improve.

I hope you can pull it off.

.

I'll chime in with my marathon progression.

2016: 3:56 (bonked hard)

2017: 3:36 (gradual fade after halfway)

2018: 3:21 and 3:19 (a BQ !)

2019: 3:25 (Boston - the rolling hills in the first half killed my quads and I had no power on the hills) and 3:13 and 3:13

2021: 3:13 and 3:13 - so 4 times in a row 3:13.

Then I started training 4 times per week.

2022: 3:10 and 3:03 and 3:26 (sub 3 attempt with epic fail)

2023: 3:07 (London) and 3:03 (Berlin)

Then I continued training 4 times per week, but upped my training to >40mpw.

2024: 3:26 (sick, shouldn't have run) and 3:21 (no time goal, just jogging it in) and 2:59 (sub 3 in my 17th marathon).

3:17 3:21 3~~ 3~~ 253 251 250 247~ 234 238 238....56 tries