Must have been a bunch of triathletes clogging up the start of the race and holding the "pure" runners back from their full potential.

It mirrors the relative decline in elite American marathoning. Sure there are some great guys and gals (hats off to Meb and Deena!), but as a whole, the depth just isn't there like it used to be.

I was only 12 in 1982, but runners definitely used to be far faster on average. Now everybody runs and most people think running 30 minutes 3x/week is a fair amount. Enough said. Very,very few people are running 40-50+ miles per week which for many people still won't get them under 3 hrs. Can anybody run under 3 hours with 20 miles/week (without a bigger mileage history?)?

Runners also used to be considered a strange breed - and in many places you'd get weird looks if you were seen running.....(or so I hear from my parents - who each ran 100+ marathons, multiple ultra's....). Only people who ran, ran seriously. Now everybody runs and almost anybody will "run" a marathon (not necessarily a bad thing). Add in the "30 min of aerobic activity is enough" talk and the talk against "mega-mileage".

The era of American running mediocrity? Why run when you can watch TV/play video games/internet (write on triathlon forums).....

I'd love to see a faster running scene. I've seen people discuss this and talk about the lack/decline of serious running clubs, too.

With triathlons - runners can only run 1/3 of the time as they have to swim/bike....

Around here - there are only about 8000 people - 2 of them got olympic medals in the marathon and 1 took 2nd at NYC!

Dave