Slow is the new fast in marathons

At age 38, Latoya Shauntay Snell of Brooklyn has finished 27 marathons. Her secret? She completes them at a very, very slow pace.

Snell, a content creator and motivational speaker, considers herself “super back of the pack” and takes pride in the challenges slow marathon runners face. Back-of-the-packers are not only moving for hours longer than their faster counterparts, but they also often endure more difficult race conditions.

They don’t have the cheering crowds to buoy them, and sometimes hydration and aid stations close before the slow runners get there. Back-of-the-packers are followed closely by “sweeper” vehicles with race officials who insist on giving them a ride to the finish line if their pace slows.

Snell completed the Chicago Marathon this year in 9 hours 19 minutes and 5 seconds by alternating running and walking, finishing well after the 6 hours, 30 minutes cutoff for the race. For much of the race, she ran without course markers or aid stations, Snell said. (A friend rode a bike along the course and provided snacks.) By the time she got to the finish line, it was too late to receive an official finish time, but Snell was greeted by race volunteers with a finisher’s medal.

“I’m competing against my own body to see how it can perform, see the amazing things that I can do, and I try to celebrate it in real time,” she said.

MARATHON SLOWDOWN

Runners like Snell are increasingly common at marathons and other large races, and the result is that marathons are getting slower.

In 2022, the average time at the New York City Marathon was 4:50:26, nearly 23 minutes slower than the 4:27:45 average in 2000.

When Carey Pinkowski, the executive race director of the Chicago Marathon, started in his role in 1990, just 6 out 6,168 runners — about 0.1% — crossed the finish line in over six hours. Earlier this year, about 7% of the 48,000 finishers of the Chicago Marathon finished in 6 hours or more.

Race directors cite potential reasons for the slower pace. More races have introduced charity fundraising programs, which often attract someone who wants to

participate and raise funds, but is less concerned about finish time. The average age of marathon runners has increased, and the sport has also attracted more women, who, on average, run slower than men. At the New York City Marathon, women now account for 44% of the runners, up from 28% in 2000.

“The stigma of being a back-of-the-pack runner is slowly going away,” New York City Marathon race director Ted Metellus said.

TIME LIMITS

For race directors, slow runners present challenges. Hosting a marathon requires permits, street closings, volunteers and a finish line kept open for hours after the first runner crosses. The Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., held Sunday, started at 7:55 a.m. and runners had to reach the 21-mile mark, near the 14th Street Bridge, by 1:15 p.m. to allow the bridge to reopen to traffic soon after.

“To beat the bridge, your slowest sustained pace is 14 minutes per mile,” which is about a 6-hour marathon pace, said Marine Corps Marathon race director Alex Hetherington. Runners who can’t keep up were picked up by a sweeper bus that dropped them off at the finisher festival in Rosslyn.

The New York City Marathon on Nov. 5 accommodates a 15-minutes-per-mile pace, Metellus said.

[All the races of the Little Rock Marathon also have time limits, but the 26.2-mile event accommodates an 8-hour finisher by allowing participants who know they would not make a six-hour cutoff to start — officially — two hours ahead of the rest of the pack. The general start is at 6 a.m.; the marathon finish line closes at 2 p.m. According to littlerockmarathon.com, “if participants choose to continue after the course opens to traffic, they do so at their own risk. The police department will ask you to move up to the sidewalk.”]

Slow runners are on the course longer than faster runners, exposing the body to more stress, said Laura Richardson, a registered clinical exercise physiologist at the University of Michigan. “It’s longer time of impact on your feet, which can lead to blisters,” she said

Being on the course for six hours “is a feat in itself,” said Martinus Evans, the founder of Slow AF Run Club, an online running community. “It takes so much mental fortitude to do that.”

BACK OF THE PACK TIPS

If you’re planning to run a fall marathon at the back of the pack, here’s advice from runners and race directors.

Know the course and rules. Plan ahead to learn time cutoffs and the pace at which you need to run before aid stations and traffic control ends. Evans, a 37-yearold Brooklyn resident, recommends bringing a digital or printed map of the course. Evans said some organizers have taken down directional signs while he’s still out on the course. “As a person who’s in the back of the pack, the race is now a scavenger hunt to the finish line,” he said.

Bring your own nutrition and water. Don’t assume aid stations will be open or stocked by the time you get there. Walter Afable, a 46-year-old living in Santa Ana, Calif., finished the Chicago Marathon in 6:26:50. He wore shorts with pockets to carry energy snacks and stayed hydrated with drinks provided by family members. Some runners use hydration backpacks, but some larger road races have banned them for security reasons.

Bring your own cheering section. One of the biggest differences in the back of the pack is the crowd, runners say. Deb Levy, a 57-yearold Rockville, Md., resident, is typically a middle-of-the-pack runner — her personal best is 4:39:32. But at the Chicago Marathon this year, an injury and illness sapped her energy, and she had to walk, crossing the finish line at 6:19:37. Levy noticed that the crowd had “thinned out significantly” during the second-half of the race. She recommends joining Facebook groups for back-of-the-pack runners and meeting up with people at the race expo.

Know the sweeper rules. Every runner should know whether the race has a sweeper bus to pick up slow and injured runners. At the Big Sur International Marathon, Snell was “swept” at one of the cutoff points, but said race organizers were respectful in asking her to join the bus. When Snell boarded, the other participants applauded her.

Enjoy the view. The back of the pack can feel like a celebration even before the race starts. There are runners in costumes, runners with disabilities, people of all ages and body types, and first-time marathoners filled with nervous excitement.

“We are the party in the back,” Evans said.