Fastest Marathon and Half-Marathon courses to qualify for the US Olympic trials?

Chicago

Cal International

Grandmas

Houston

Vermont City

Bayshore

Twin Cities

LA

New York

Boston

NY and Boston are hilly, but always have good competition.

If you have the money, you could run London, Berlin, or Dubai. Also, I think there may be a decent crowd between 2:10-2:19 at Tokyo.

CIM in December is probably your best bet. Allowable net downhill, consistently good weather, and generally a pack chasing the standard.

Chicago is great too - flat and a group to pull you along.

I'm sure some of the fast European marathons could work as well, if that's your thing. Amsterdam and Rotterdam always run pretty fast. Copenhagen, Paris, Frankfurt, and Prague are all good choices as well.

Lots of great competition at some of the Japanese marathons as well. Check out Fukuoka and Lake Biwa.

Tokyo, London, Dubai, and Berlin are fast courses with good competition, but you might get stuck in a corral for hours before the race unless you are elite, which isn't the best racing experience.

Forgot about Houston - great race for PRs/standard chasing.

Personally, if I knew I was on the edge fitness-wise, I wouldn't chose NY, Boston, or Grandma's, due to the hills. I also wouldn't choose LA, since it's liable to be pretty hot. But I guess you could say the same about Chicago lately...

Stegosaurus wrote:

Forgot about Houston - great race for PRs/standard chasing.

Personally, if I knew I was on the edge fitness-wise, I wouldn't chose NY, Boston, or Grandma's, due to the hills. I also wouldn't choose LA, since it's liable to be pretty hot. But I guess you could say the same about Chicago lately...

Grandmas has two very small hills, but is net downhill and is a very fair course because there are very few turns so you don't run a lot of extra distance. The danger with Grandmas is that every couple of years it is 70 degrees with 90%+ humidity.

The answers have to be cim or houston. The others arent as consistent with the weather. Chicago if you were lucky to have good weather. Or 2011 boston

Indy Monumental is almost guaranteed good weather (1st weekend in Nov) and flat. Usually at least 1 person you could race for the win at that time of 2:19 or better

I think many of you OT hopefuls should get together at Indy Monumental so that there can be a pack of you chasing the standard. It really is an amazing course, but lacks competition at your ability, but I see no logical reason why this is so. You fast people should flock there for a fast time.

Eugene Oregon, unless you suffer from allergies. Flat, fast and ideal temperatures.

One benefit of CIM/Houston is that they are only about a month apart, so if CIM is going poorly before mile 20 you can abort and go all in for Houston, the half or the full.

reed wrote:

One benefit of CIM/Houston is that they are only about a month apart, so if CIM is going poorly before mile 20 you can abort and go all in for Houston, the half or the full.

I like the idea above Indy needs more OTQ love and is a perfect distance from Houston to reload and try again if things don't go well at Indy or you barely miss. I think CIM and Houston are a touch close if you don't bail early enough.

Indymonumental1 wrote:

I think many of you OT hopefuls should get together at Indy Monumental so that there can be a pack of you chasing the standard. It really is an amazing course, but lacks competition at your ability, but I see no logical reason why this is so. You fast people should flock there for a fast time.

Indy won't gain much traction because potentials OT Qualifiers won't want to run alone the whole way.... not that it isn't a fast course, it is. It's a well supported course. Just not a lot of sub 2:19ers in the field.

Will Jacksonville be the place to go for the 1/2 marathon qualifying again? 41 qualified last time there.

Houston has a sub elite development program in 2019 if you have run faster than the following in the past 18 months:

Marathon:

Men – 2:35:00

Women – 2:55:00

Half Marathon:

Men – 1:13:00

Women – 1:25:00

You get a free entry and get to start behind the international field. As we get closer to the trials, Houston usually expands the program to provide more support for runners who are within striking distance of the standard.

CIM is the US marathon championship. Top 10 get a free pass to the trials regardless of time. If conditions are tough, it can be worth it to stick it out and see if you can finish top 10 even if your time is above the standard.

Ottawa and Toronto Waterfront are also excellent options for people seeking the standard. Both are very flat races and the weather is usually good. There are often a few international athletes trying to hit 2:15 to get the Olympic standard. Between those runners and invited runners falling off the lead, there should be a few runners in the 2:18 range down the stretch.

It's not about a (soft) course but your desire to compete.

What if you bypass other races just to get crappy weather, protesters in the streets, a bridge collapse, timing system failure or other occurrence that you will grip about that ruined your day? Then what?

That is my point. The many potential OT qualifiers should use this forum or another one to discuss racing there. If 20 could get together there, that would be a great race on an almost always fast course and they could all work together to meet the goal.

CIM always has the potential of a direct headwind the entire time. Houston is good, but can be hot.

They could start a thread to discuss logistics. This Letsrun forum could actually be quite useful.

My plan is to run Indy, female so that changes who would want to join me. I'm sort of bias as its particularly close. I do believe there is a nice compesation for athletes who meet the standard. Not sure how many of the other races listed above also payout for qualifiers but it definetly sweetens the deal.

Like I mentioned before, I also think its perfect timing from Houston if you get close or need to drop.

What if cold weather is more important to me than a smoking fast course? I run my best marathons with temperatures in the 20s and 30s and tend to overheat if it's even in the mid to high 40s (even carrying my own water and pouring water on myself at every opportunity).

Indianapolis Monumental is usually cold, Richmond as well. Rocket City in Huntsville AL also has a good history of being cold. I went to CIM in 2014 and dropped out due to overheating, as it was in the 50s and 60s and humid, so I'm hesitant to bank on the weather there since I'd need to fly across the country.

Any other good options?

somelikeitcold wrote:

What if cold weather is more important to me than a smoking fast course? I run my best marathons with temperatures in the 20s and 30s and tend to overheat if it's even in the mid to high 40s (even carrying my own water and pouring water on myself at every opportunity).

Indianapolis Monumental is usually cold, Richmond as well. Rocket City in Huntsville AL also has a good history of being cold. I went to CIM in 2014 and dropped out due to overheating, as it was in the 50s and 60s and humid, so I'm hesitant to bank on the weather there since I'd need to fly across the country.

Any other good options?

THIS RUNNER GETS IT! there are more variables to consider than just running downhill

Indymonumental1 wrote:

I think many of you OT hopefuls should get together at Indy Monumental so that there can be a pack of you chasing the standard. It really is an amazing course, but lacks competition at your ability, but I see no logical reason why this is so. You fast people should flock there for a fast time.

Because during the fall/winter marathon season, people will opt for Chicago, CIM, Houston, Philly, or even Toronto to run fast times. Indy Momumental is also a week after New York, which attracts a lot of sub-elite talent.