Add another camp:
3. Misrepresentation of the facts.
The times were' t slow by recent comparison. In fact, this years race was the deepest to 10th place in race history. Obviosly weather didn't hurt the times. To the contrary the overcast cloud cover and cool temperatures were a benefit. Pacing has never been an issue at NYCM. The least year that the marathon had pacers was 2006. It was also the first year that the agents/coaches/athletes all figured out how to crack the code of the NYCM. They finally realized tgat a fast first half is almost always certain doom, so in 2006 the entire field ignored the pacers and ran a 1: 05:30 first half despite perfect marathoning weather.