I think a lot of the fast runners are now competing in triathlons (these are the same people who seem to think a 2hr Olympic distance race is so reachable). Thirty years ago endurance athletes really had only one choice - distance running. Then marathons stopped being athletic events and became “celebrations of life.” With the emergence of triathlon, however, endurance athletes have a choice. The cycling boom started by Lance (and to a lesser degree Greg Lemond in the early 90s) has made the menu even longer. Adventure racing probably siphons off a few thousand more. Wanna know where the 3 hr marathoners have gone? The next triathlon in your neck of the woods is probably a good place to start looking…
In Reply To I hear what you are saying but I don’t buy it 100%. Ironically, relativly speaking there were more sub 3:00 marathon runners in the big marathons 20 years ago. Now with 100X the number of runners out there, there are LESS sub 3:00 marathon runners.