MarathonGuide.com has come out with its annual review of US marathon statistics. It’s all here: biggest races, AG participation, finishing times and trends, trends, trends.
I can summarize with something you did know — and something you probably didn’t know: Marathons are getting bigger. But did you know that marathoners (meaning the average Janes and Joes) are getting faster? I did not know this.
Races Like a Girl 
Interesting. Not sure if I’m looking in the right place, but the Janes and Joes are only marginally faster than 2008 with a time of 4:35:42.
Our marathoners on average are slower than they were in “the old days.” For example, in my first marathon (’81) the mean finishing time was 3:15:56 (I was well behind that with 3:41). Jane’s time would have placed her 7th last out of 585 finishers. In the 2010 version of that race the mean time was 3:46:43. Joe’s time would have placed him 332nd out of 377.
Note that I didn’t say a lot faster. But faster is faster. And faster is better than slower.
Yes, faster is better than slower!