Statistics can serve as a source of motivation. That is, as long as they are in your favor and point in the right direction. So, I spent some time with the Marathon Austria database to see how my current marathon PR stacks up with other Austrian runners. The site holds the most comprehensive collection of marathon results of Austrian citizens, dating back to the 1960s.
One of the possible dimensions to evaluate your personal finish times is the all-time Austrian ranking of marathon runs. My marathon debut of 2009, a sub-4 completed in 3:58:47, is ranked number 107,819 amongst all recorded marathon runs, 61.6% of all recorded runs were completed in a faster time. That is a respectable position. However, it does not come close to the 50% mark, a time of 3:49:05.
With my New York finish time of 3:37:29, I managed to leave the second half behind. Still, a substantial 37.1% of faster times remained ahead of me. The difference between Dubai 2009 and New York 2009 in terms of ranking is astounding - a mere 21 minutes and 18 seconds account for 24.5% of all results. Then again, considering the bell curve the result distribution roughly resembles, that should not come as a surprise. While targeting a sub-4 was doable with low-mileage training, 3:37 did require a more substantial time investment that not everyone is willing or able to commit to.
With the most recent race, Dubai 2013, the finish time of 3:20:40 reduced the leading pack to 19.6%, which still represents 34,341 or less than one fifth of all performances remaining in front of me. So, I'm down from 61.6% to 19.6% in the national marathon competition. Even though there are still quite a lot of times ahead of me, these numbers spur motivation to continue the quest for faster marathons. I'm not particularly talented when it comes to running. Before taking up running, I've never really been involved in sports of any kind unless you count taking out the trash. In my opinion, it comes down to putting in the work required for a specific goal. For Dubai 2013, the first training week involved 80 kilometers of running in around 7 hours, the peak training week covered a distance of 121.47 kilometers in 11.5 hours.
I love challenges! That's what's driving me, that's what keeps me interested. Needless to say, I will attempt to further reduce the percentage. The next long-term goal is breaking the 3-hour barrier which would reset the percentage to 6.5% or 11,320 out of 175,275 marathon runs. This figure alone speaks volumes about the difficulty of reaching that very goal, though. It will take an uncompromising commitment to complete the training. Frankly, it will certainly take a healthy bit of insanity. Well, let's just say, the challenge has come to the right place ;) I'm ready for it!
What would it take to go even further? The next milestone statistics are as follows: 2.5% below 2:49:59, 0.79% below 2:39:59, 0.17% below 2:29:59. I'm not going to worry about these numbers because they're hopelessly out-of-reach anyway. However, I do think that I can finish a marathon in a time that only 6.5% have managed to break. After all, believing is the first step in successfully pursuing and reaching a goal.
