The Data
Here are the numbers
Over 22 years of running marathons gave me a pretty good dataset on how well I did. I was able to slice the numbers to see how well I did overall, including my top finishes, my pace, and average times in my age groups. In "The Data" section of this site, I will share with you a timeline of my marathons, age bracket results, my top 10 finishes, my Boston Qualifying races, and all 50 States.
Boiling it down to a few stats
When I put this chart together I know the last few years and first few years really bumped my average up. I am still happy with these results.
Timeline
There were 3 years I ran zero marathons: 2003, 2011, and 2020. I trained for Chicago in 2003, but got injured (at least I thought I was injured). In 2011, I trained a lot, but 4 kids under the age of 7, it was sort of hard for me (and my wife). In 2020, we all know what happened then. I actually was supposed to run a marathon in March, but pulled out. In 2018, I would do 6 marathons, my highest in one year. In 2007 and 2022, I would top off at 5 marathons.
Normal Distribution? Sort of
Ideally it would be to see a huge stack in the first few time categories. Another read of the data would be how I really wanted to get the 4:00 - 4:09 lowered. In other words, break 4 hours!!!
Hard to beat Father Time
Right smack in the middle of my marathon racing reveals where I performed my best, well for the most part. Between 40-42 I found my best performance. As I aged, I began to slow down, which is normal, but I still don't like it:)
Opportunistic Races
Twice in my marathon journey I would run a marathon within a week of one another. The first time I did that, I remeber being sick during the week after the Salt Lakc City Marathon. I would go to the convenient care to get checked out for bronchitis. The doctors were a bit worried since my dad a few years before would have a blood clot in his lungs. They ended up sending me to the ER to do a scan to see if I had any more issues. I was at there for hours. Pretty frustating. I would get the green light and I would run the Kentucky Derby Marathon just a few minutes slower than Salt Lake.
Close to 11 years later, I would be on a family trip to Yellowstone. One of our best family trips of all time (according to me, but maybe not my kids:). After crossing the finish line in Montana, I was so sore, I thought there would be no way to run Idaho 6 days later. I somehow healed up and would run it almost 15 minutes faster. I am just stressing thinking about all that!
Revision - June 2024 - When I thought about this a bit more, I did run 2 marathons within 8 days apart. Hartford Marathon on 10/8/2022 and Mount Desert Island on 10/16/2022 (Kerry's Birthday). So funny I thought of this a bt later. I should update this slide:)
My Fastest Races
In November 2012, 10 years after my first marathon, I would finally peak at the Philadelphia Marathon. I remember that day very clearly, It was super cold, may below 30 degrees at the start. I was trying to find warm shelter, but could not. I would have a long sleeve shirt over my short sleeve, gloves, and hat. All the extra layers would be peeled off later on during the race. Looking at the final numbers today makes me smile. I still think I had a sub 3-hour marathon in me back in the those days, but did'nt quite reach it. I am happy with this top 10 list!
The Grand Daddy of them All!
It would take me over 9 years to reach my top running goal, to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For those of you that don't know what that means, qualifying for Boston is done by time and aged based. The younger you are, the more diffiicult it is to qaulify. Up until then, I would come up short. It was not until my 17th marathon that I would finally qualify for the Boston Marathon. The funny thing is that I would start off fast when I ran the Disney Marathon, and remember the urge to pee!!! I had that urge as soon as I crossed my 6. I kept thinking I would stop at the next porta potty. Then I would pass 13.1 and cursed a bit, and just kept going (not recommended). I would finally pass the finish line and head right to a porta potty (I know for some of your TMI...okay, got it), and would be thrilled with my Boston Qualifiying (BQ) time. I would end up qualifiying for Boston a total of 5 times in my 22-year performance. The last time at the age of 45 at the Oklahoma City Marathon.