When I ran the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon, I was disappointed in my finisher's time, but I took solace in the fact that many people reported a total Garmin distance of 26.6 miles. Factoring in the extra mileage, I had actually averaged a pace of 9:37, rather than the 9:46 that 26.2 penciled out to. "The course was long!" I was telling all my friends and family. "Can you believe it?" I was indignant.
This past Sunday, as I was pacing our group, I leaned over to my co-leader and said, "My Garmin is off. I keep hitting the mile marker almost a full .10th early!" After thinking we had caught up to our pace, because I was using the Garmin, I realized that we still had to adjust to what the course mileage said. What is wrong with these race directors, I wondered. How hard is it to make a course that is 26.2 miles?
Playing in the back of my mind, though, was some advice that pace leaders in the Eugene Marathon had provided us. "Run the tangents," they urged. "Cut the corners, find the shortest line. You'll save a few steps every time. Those steps equal time on the clock."
Hmm.
And then, finally, a wise pacer put it all together for me. Here's the secret.
To get certified as a marathon course by the USATF, the course MUST be at least 1% longer than 26.2 miles.
Your Garmin will always measure long on an official course.
And that's where running the tangents come in. If you can cut those corners, run the shortest line, do it, because the course is based on that shortest measurement. It is not based on swinging wide, dodging in and out of people, and heading all over the place. Which means if you run in the big pack of people, your Garmin is probably always going to measure long. The RDs didn't screw up the course - they were just doing what they were supposed to do.
Which, I suppose, is encouraging to know, but sure bums me out on my average pace in Seattle!
Oh man.
ReplyDeleteI needed this post.
I swore my garmin was off the first 4 marathons I ran. Now I cut corners like nobody's business. Way better but yet - - - - no corner cutting will get that 1% back. :(
:)
I know many people care about this issue, but I really can't get worked up about a course being a little long. I might feel differently if I were trying to qualify for Boston. And trails can't be certified (and are hard to measure accurately) so it's common for them to be long (or short.) Not to mention the whole getting lost ("bonus miles") issue. ;) :)
ReplyDeleteMy garmin said 26.48 for the marathon... I was a bit frustrated to also be about .10 off each mile split but I tried not to let it bug me too much... but when I hit 26.2 and still had .2 - .3 to go, that is when i was like - seriously where in the heck is the finish line?? :)
ReplyDelete