The race, start to finish.

26.2 miles in eleven chapters, and what each one found.

Stories show one finding each. Analyses answer a question you can set to your own course and time. The Top 100 charts are a hundred findings, one picture each.

Part one · The race

The field
4 hours 11 minutesmedian finish
1. Finish times
2. The race replay
The first 5K
5 minutes 5 secondsbehind same-pace runners at the finish, after a first 5K over 10% fast
1. Starting pace
2. Downhill starts
The shape of a race
59 percentwere Gentle faders or Metronomes
1. Pacing types
2. Your pacing pattern
Halfway to 30K
13 percentof finishes on even 4:00 pace at 30K still got under 4:00
1. From a checkpoint
2. Pass or be passed
After 30K
72 percentof sustained slowdowns began at 30K or later
The finish line
1.7 timesas many finishes as expected in the minute before 3:00
1. Round numbers
2. Your target in context

Part two · The runner and the road

Who holds pace
20 percent and 45 percentof recorded women’s and men’s finishes had a sustained slowdown, at the same finish times
1. Women and men
2. Age and pace
Where you run
59 percentof races traced to their course by pacing shape alone, against 5% by chance
The weather
322 of 361same-course pairs: the warmer year had more sustained slowdowns

Part three · Your race

Your race
23 percentof finishes just over 4:00 had a sustained slowdown
1. Split check
2. Analyze a past race
The next one
43 percentof the minutes improving finishes gained came after 30K
1. Where runners improve
2. Plan your race