The marathon website ‘26.2’ is hosting the first ever online survey to find out what percentage of marathon participants actually meet (or even come close to) their time goal. One just has to watch the later stages of any large marathon event in cities like New York or Chicago to see many runners struggling along or being forced to walk. Even experienced marathon runners fall into this category.
There are many possible reasons for runners ‘hitting the wall’ (a popular term for running out of energy) during the race. The premise is that the average runner is too optimistic about their ability to complete the marathon in a given time. Many marathoners do not make allowance for adverse weather conditions and push ahead at their original pace.
Marathon finishers are being asked to complete a short survey asking for basic demographic data such as age group and gender, and their target marathon time as well as the actual finish time. The goal of the survey is to capture key data that can affect the marathon outcome, and identify the common factors. Some of these include things like the target time itself (is it too optimistic?), gender (are women runners better than men at predicting their finish time?), age category, and previous marathon experience.
Basics & Backgrounds
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