It was an interesting read. What I thought was interesting is looking at the "fastest" marathons, several of them pride themselves on be "runners only" marathons. The Dexter Ann Arbor half marathon has a minimum pace of 13 min mile or a 2 hr 50min total time and looking at last years results, it looks like there were only a hand full of people in the 2:50 - 3:00 time frame. Comparing that to a race like Disney that is listed in the slowest catagory, it has a 16min pace and 3:30 time limit and prides itself on being "walker friendly". Of course Disney is going to have a slower median time, it allows slower runners/walkers. People shouldn't take from the survey that Ann Arbor is the "faster course" just that it shuns slower people (which is perfectly in their right). You could use the same logic on the slower median finishing times over all. People in general are probably not getting slower, they are just drawing from a larger population. It reminds me of when I was in college and the college was bemoning the fact that the average pass rate on the CPA exam had declined in recent years. It made the college look like is wasn't as good as it used to be. The quality hadn't changed at all, the college was just really encouraging more people to at least try to take the CPA exam. Given the amazing increase is half marathon participation I'm surprised median times haven't slowed evev more.
