My my. Isn't this an interesting chart? I found it over at the Cowtown Marathon website on their expo page. Fascinating, no?
Notice how women outnumber the men. Nothing too surprising there. The percentage of female marathon runners in the U.S. has increased over 20 percent since 1986. In Iceland, 59% percent of runners (of any distance) are women. The U.S. is close behind at 58%. Contrast that to nations like Switzerland (16%), Korea (21%), and Japan (17%).
In the past two decades, completion times have also gone up for both men and women. The average marathon finish time for women is 4 hours and 51 minutes. The average for men is 4 hours and 21 minutes. At the same time, marathoners have never been older.
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| He's merely 100. |
Baby Boomers (like moi) are going to the gym, doing yoga, cycling, and running. 80 percent of marathoners have a college education. 75% report a household income of more than $75,000 a year. 75% are married. As it's grown in popularity, marathons have become increasingly commercialized. Again, no surprises there. Today there are marathons for everyone, including the bucket-list types. As more and more of us embrace the healthy benefits of running, marathon sponsors are sure to see their coffers get fuller and fuller. I have no problem with that. It's good old capitalism at work.
If you want to see in-shape people, go to a marathon expo. Ostensibly we're there to pick up our race bibs. But I always end up buying something, even if it's only the official marathon sweatshirt. Think of an expo as one big gift shop, and you'll understand exactly what I'm saying.
