Fractional "Marathons"

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Route 66 Marathon organizers have a Quarter-Marathon held at a time prior to the November's Marathon/Half-Marathon. In the last two years it was held in August however they are moving it to October in 2011 to avoid the "summer heat". The Quarter-Marathon allows runners to run a portion of the Marathon/course. I measured all their courses in 2009 (Marathon,Half,Quarter and two 5km) and then again 2010 when they changed.
The Quarter Marathon events drew 2,000+ runners in 2010. The Marathon events drew 9,000+ runners in 2010.

It's interesting that any connection to the (word/idea/aura??) "marathon" is such a big selling point these days. I would like to see a resurgence in the underused metric distances: 20, 25, 30 kilometers, etc, distances that "make sense" in my mind. Why are these used mostly by race walkers, not runners?

There's a quarter marathon in Jim's home state. The Hartford Track Club puts it on. It's even certified (CT07002JHP). Check it out http://hartfordtrackclub.org/quarter_marathon.shtml

There used to be a quarter marathon in Chicago but I don't think it's been run the last couple of years. It was a stand alone event; I wonder if such distances sell better if they're a companion event to a race of a standard length. Otherwise- what's the point of running a race that's a few hundred meters longer than the widely run 10K distance.

The oldest major road race in Chicago was the Chicago Distance Classic. The first one was in 1977- a few months before the first Chicago Marathon- and until 2004 it was a 20K. The race's new owners changed it to a half marathon, and now it's the Rock N Roll Half Marathon Chicago.

Just found the attached in a search on the Chicago Distance Classic- interesting reading that addresses the topic at hand...

WSJ article on "odd" distances

It was nice to see the Wall Street Journal describing the Charleston Distance Run 15 miler. It was one of my favorite races back in the day.

Fractional distances need not be a barrier to running self-assessment. When I started running in the early 1970’s I did a lot of looking at the existing records. This interest grew, and I found a simple formula which allowed me to compare my own performances to each other, even though they may have been set at different distances.

I found that my own personal bests were clustered around a speed which was about 70 percent that of a world-class athlete, regardless of distance run. This led to development of a small circular slide rule which allowed the figuring to be minimized. I wrote a short article which appeared in Runner’s World in August 1977. It promoted a small calculator which allowed comparisons of race time obtained at different distances.

http://www.runscore.com/course...rticles/TechTips.pdf

The calculator sold a few hundred units, and I just about broke even. I recently gave several hundred leftovers to son Tom who now sells them on his jonescounter.com website.

http://www.jonescounter.com/8.html

The RW article was followed by an article in American Scientist which appeared in 1981

http://www.runscore.com/course...nt/Articles/ARHE.pdf

The last of the articles I wrote on the subject appeared in Runners World in 1982.

http://www.runscore.com/course.../Articles/LastPR.pdf

Measurement News contained two articles on the subject, each of which included a chart version of the calculation. The first appeared in 1989.

http://www.runscore.com/course...mentNews/037_89a.pdf

The next appeared in 1990

http://www.runscore.com/course...mentNews/042_90a.pdf

From feedback received over the years the algorithm seems to work pretty well.

Bottom line: Race where you please, at whatever distance you like, and use the calculation to compare performances.

Pete,
Did you run Charleston back in the day?
It used to be a huge deal, but by the time I ran it in '84 it no longer attracted the big names. But I don't think changing it to a half marathon will help that. They may be right, though, that it will attract more of the masses.
Sad to hear that Wheeling will also be changing to a half. I hope they don't take the hills out. The hills were what made Wheeling unique.

Mark,

I ran Charleston five times, from 1975 to 1981. I always enjoyed the ride to Charleston with my friends. The huge hill was not pleasant, but it was part of the experience. It was educational too, as it helped me learn how to deal with hills.

I was indifferent to which big guns came to race, as I was back in the pack.

I think it’s unfortunate when a race organization believes that they must have a huge field to be considered a success, but it’s their call. From the point of view of a middle-of-the-pack runner, I always preferred a small field, as it gave me room to run. On a good day it was nice to turn a corner in a marathon and see somebody a few blocks ahead, who had been previously invisible. It gave me somebody to concentrate on, and hopefully to pass.