Yesterday I ran my first marathon. It was a large one with 20.000 participants.
I started in the 3:40–3:45 block, which matched the goal I had when I signed up. Since my training went quite well, I felt like I could push for 3:30–3:40. The block before mine was for 3:31–3:40, so I figured I should be good if as long and I managed to stand a bit in the front of mine.
Frankly, I was a bit surprised and annoyed by the pace of many runners in the blocks before mine. Where I had expected that I'd mainly have to focus on not starting out too fast, it felt like I spent most of the first 10 km weaving and slaloming around runners nowhere near a 5:20 km/ 8:35 m pace. This included many relay runners, and even some in costume.
I'm curious to hear about other experiences, and how and why you 'choose' the block you start in.
- Do you give the organisation your best-cast scenario time, or a more conservative estimate?
- Is it common at large marathons that people give unrealistic finishing times in order to start a bit earlier?
- Do big marathons always involve this much overtaking? I'm starting to think I should stick more to smaller ones in the future
I managed to finish in 3:35, but did not come across many people running at a similar pace as I did. I can't help but wonder if I should have gotten in the 3:29 block, but feel like I would have been holding up people behind me then...