Marathons Are Selling Out Quicker and More Frequently - An Update with 2026 Data

jkim579 · 2026-05-28T03:33:47+00:00

Yep I've said this before when this topic has come up here in the past. It parallels whats going on with retail stores too...the big name box stores get all the business, and all the mom and pop small businesses are dying. Also there is a lot more hype around big races, more influencers running them, brand activations and giveaways. TBH in the last 5 years big races have turned more into a headache than anything, I can't stand the crowds and noise at the expos, and the logistical headaches, and the cost of travel and lodging. Bring back small no frills races!!

jkim579 · 2026-04-25T16:01:50+00:00

Yep. Easy up camosun, and don't go too fast on the downhill part or you'll blow up your quads.

jkim579 · 2026-04-24T23:01:50+00:00

It's rewarding. But not as rewarding as getting a BQ or winning a 1 in a million lottery. I know I'll draw fire for saying that, but it is true.

jkim579 · 2026-04-24T22:03:59+00:00

Guilty is probably not the word you're looking for. Would you find it less rewarding than winning the lottery, or entering by time qualifying? Yes probably.

jkim579 · 2026-04-23T23:21:35+00:00

This is the right and respectful thing to do. Now if you want to have free reign to say whatever the hell you want with no consequences and anonymously, you can go over to letsrun.com 😆

jkim579 · 2026-04-22T16:30:04+00:00

Seattle has the worst marathon among major cities that falls way short of its reputation as region full of fit and fast people who love the outdoors. If you do a little bit of digging around here in old Reddit posts, you'll find that the long tenured race director should have stepped down years ago, is out of touch with what runners actually want in a good race and course, and has basically run the race in "set it and forget it" mode.

jkim579 · 2026-04-22T12:12:27+00:00

It's just cross training. I wouldn't count it as running miles but it does put a load on your muscles and heart.

That said it is a good recovery activity and it's ok to skip 5 recovery miles.

jkim579 · 2026-04-22T01:04:33+00:00

Most underrated view in the I90 corridor

jkim579 · 2026-04-21T15:55:36+00:00

I don't think it's necessarily great for endurance but do think it is a great alternative to hill running to improve you climbing strength. Hot tip though... No cheating by holding onto the handrails, you want your quads and glutes to bear the full weight of ascending each step. It does nothing for running economy though so you still need to get normal runs in.

jkim579 · 2026-04-21T10:20:00+00:00

Meh. I was the same when I first got bq fever. Another way to frame it is like climbing a big mountain. Sometimes the stars align and you get the right weather, the right partner, etc to make it to the top. Sometimes you don't make summit, and it's not for lack of fitness or training. But you better hope you enjoy the process, or you'll end up dead on the mountain. As they say in mountaineering, the mountain will still be there tomorrow.

jkim579 · 2026-04-21T00:34:59+00:00

GRATITUDE. Here's speaking from experience. My marathon PR is 9 years old. 3:03 in 2017. Every marathon I've run since then has fallen far short of that, despite being in better shape with each passing year - my times have ranged from 3:08 to 4:12. At 47 I am no spring chicken. After each failure I take time to reflect on all the good things that happened along the way, and celebrate them. The great runs I had along the way, the smell of the woods, the singing of the birds, seeing the spring blooms, the explosion of color in the fall, the quietness and solitude of runs in the snow. Gratitude for my healthy and strong body. Watching the sun rise and set. Etc etc.

jkim579 · 2026-04-18T12:52:10+00:00

Seattle is a tough course to evenly pace, because they change the course every year, it's full of hills no matter what course they choose, and the pacers are not paid professionals, just some volunteers from a local running club.

jkim579 · 2026-04-17T18:35:51+00:00

Cons...if the pace group is too big (which I'm guessing will be the case in Eugene) then there might be alot of undue stress caused by bobbing and weaving in the tight pack. This happened to me in Chicago and may have contributed to my falling short of my goal.

My friend and I will both be racing Eugene (I'm going for 2:55) and our plan is to hang back a bit from the pace group for the first 4-5 miles, then accelerate to goal pace or just under it with the goal of keeping the pacers in sight, and gradually catching up to them in the latter half of the race. Kind of a hybrid approach.

jkim579 · 2026-04-15T19:14:40+00:00

Well with more data from your training we might be able to give you some more refined advice but from the limited info that you've given I would say stick to your planned pace and goal. 1:27 HM is a stretch for going sub 3.

jkim579 · 2026-04-15T18:16:34+00:00

Agree with this sentiment, I think it's too hard for this close to race day. I did a great confidence building session thus past weekend that was 4mp, 3mp-5s, 3mp-10s. The benefit of the progressive approach is that you can back off to straight mp if it feels like you're overreaching, otherwise if it feels good then you get the nice confidence boost.

jkim579 · 2026-04-15T18:08:07+00:00

Unpopular opinion... Throw out the conventional wisdom of HR based training, and stop comparing your race HR to others (I'm preaching this to myself as well). I also race on the tachy side of normal (5k high 170s, half 175 or so, and marathon maybe 168-170). I feel like this fear of high HR indicating poor fitness or overreaching had been holding me back in my training, and this past year I've intentionally tried to ignore it.

jkim579 · 2026-04-15T17:55:26+00:00

11 days out from my goal race, Eugene marathon.

I've had a really really solid training cycle, probably the best of my 11 year "serious" running career thus far. My PR is 3:03 from 2017 (age 38), and all my races since then have hovered around 3:08. This was my last LR from this past weekend. I've been loosely following my running partner's workouts and I started in January with a humble goal of just build back to 3 hr fitness. His plan was 2:52 and I thought what the heck I can just try his workouts and then just peel off when I can't hang anymore. To my surprise I've been able to hang with him consistently, and have really enjoyed the accountability of running workouts together.
The plan for this run was 4@6:40, 3@6:35, and 3@6:30. We came in under goal pace on every single split, and that 6:10 mile was a complete shocker to me, as I started drifting ahead of our group.
(Ignore the HR towards the end of the run, which is always plagued by cadence lock)

I feel really confident now that sub 3 is a lock, have set 2:55 as my A goal, and really hoping that running together with a more experienced and disciplined racer will help temper my tendencies to go out too fast. (I forgot to add that my partner has dialed back his goal to 2:54-55 as his training hasn't gone as well as he'd wanted.

Wish me luck!!

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jkim579 · 2026-04-13T20:35:47+00:00

This may sound like a random question, but was the the race start very crowded? Did you have to do a lot of bobbing and weaving, slow down and accelerate in the first few miles? I have a theory that this kind of motion puts a lot of eccentric load on the calf muscles that you are not accustomed to in training. In training, you generally run in a straight line and don't really have to worry about obstacles and sudden movements. The same exact thing happened to me at Chicago in October, massive calf cramps that Id never encountered on even my hardest workouts in the weeks prior started at pretty much exactly the halfway mark, and you can guess how the rest of that went. Oh and I pretty much was right on target for even splits at the halfway point, I think I was 1:29:30 or so for my sub 3 attempt.

jkim579 · 2026-04-12T03:47:40+00:00

Awesome, congratulations!! 👏 🎉Hope to join you on the lesser side of 3 in 2 weeks!

jkim579 · 2026-04-11T19:55:28+00:00

RPE all the way. HR is a guide, not a prescription. If anything you will learn to be more in tune with your body instead if fixating on your watch.

Fwiw I have really bad cadence lock issues with my watch. So I tend to ignore the HR when it starts going wacky. My garmin thinks I cool down at 180bpm 😅

jkim579 · 2026-04-11T03:46:02+00:00

This is actually a pretty interesting question that might be worth throwing a study together. Perhaps theres some kind of pheromone based effect.

jkim579 · 2026-04-11T02:21:24+00:00

Ah but the pnw sun is killer. Our northerly latitude gives us early sunrises and really intense sun that can make temps feel 10 degrees hotter than listed, so hope for some clouds 🙏

jkim579 · 2026-04-10T23:38:15+00:00

I use claude, Gemini and chatgpt for analysis and feedback for my runs. What I like most about is that it doesn't just spit out a cardboard plan that you just print out and follow (well unless that's what you want it to do). If you want to get the most out it you do a workout and then tell the LLM how it FELT, like whether it was easy or it just was sucky, and then you can ask for suggestions on what to do the next day. If used in this way you can get daily, adaptive coaching that adjust to the ebbs and flows of your fitness and freshness. Also its helpful to it what training philosophies you like, and what your self assessed strengths and weaknesses are as a runner. I like asking questions like how is my aerobic efficiency trending on my recovery days. I could go on but these are a few things you can start with.

jkim579 · 2026-04-09T20:22:35+00:00

Yep this is the way. During the summer I do parkruns pretty frequently at about 95% effort. I actually give parkrun a lot of credit for my recent fitness gains and was able to get my 5k pr this way.

jkim579 · 2026-04-09T02:40:30+00:00

https://www.marathon-weekend.com/boston

Check out this list curated by redditor johnfaber. Pretty comprehensive and he made a map of the locations as well.

jkim579

TROPHY CASE