Is a 3:00 Marathon Good?
A 3:00 marathon is faster than roughly 97% of recreational marathon finishers, at 6:51 per mile.
3:00 finish ≈ top 3% of recreational marathoners (median 4:26:33).
- Finish time3:00
- Approx. percentiletop 3%
- Pace required6:51/mi
- Median (all finishers)4:26:33
Source: RunRepeat percentile dataset (35M results); recreational fields, elites excluded.
The 3:00 in context
Against 35 million recorded results, 3:00 lands near the top 3% of finishers — requiring 6:51/mile the whole way. Benchmarks around you: sub-3:00 is ~top 1–2%, sub-3:30 ~top 10%, sub-4:00 ~top 30%, and the median is 4:26:33. Course, weather and age-grading move any single result by minutes — percentile bands, not seconds, are the honest comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 3:00 marathon good?
A 3:00 finish is around the top 3% of recreational finishers (median: 4:26:33). Faster than roughly 97% of recreational marathon finishers.
What pace is a 3:00 marathon?
6:51 per mile (4:15/km) held for 26.2 miles.
How does it compare by sex?
Median finishes run 4:14:29 for men and 4:42:09 for women, so the same clock time sits at different within-sex percentiles.
Sources & methodology
Sources: RunRepeat percentile dataset.