Hi bloggers,
Last Saturday, Olathe held its annual marathon. A guy from Minnesota won the race, ran it in less than 3 hours. I ran the half-marathon, 13.1 miles. My friend, Ric and I finished finished 400th out of 600 some odd runners. The winner ran the race in about an hour-15.
As you can see in the pic, it was cloudy and cold. Pefect for a marathon or a half-marathon. I found this article on-line, on research done into the best weather for running a marathon. It comes from www.poweringmuscles.com.
"Researchers gathered many years' worth of results and weather data from six major North American marathons and performed stastical analyses to determine the effect of air temperature on finishing times among runners at various levels of performance. Specifically, they looked at year-to-year comparative finishing times of the top three male and female runners at each event, as well as the 25th, 50th, 100th, and 300th finishers.
The results showed a clear trend toward faster times at colder temperatures. For example, the finishing times of male races winners were, on average, 1.7% slower than the course record when the air temperature was between 34 and 50 degrees. The finishing times of the top male runners were 2.5% slower than the course record, however, when the temperature was between 51 and 59 degrees. And at higher temperatures, finishing times fell off even more dramatically.
Runners at all levels were slowed by warmer air, but higher temperatures had a smaller effect on faster runners. The ideal marathon temperature, according to these analyses, was a bone-chilling 41 degrees. Think about that when you sign up for your next marathon!
My next marathon will likely be one in Maryville, MO in June. I'm thinking it will be a lot warmer than 41 degrees. Also, wanted to pass along this sunrise snapshot from Mike Penley in Gilman City, Missouri. Gilman City is up on the Harrison/Daviees county line.
Great picture, Mike thanks!
Have a great day,
Brett