Is a 3:30 Marathon Good?
A 3:30 marathon is faster than roughly 90% of recreational marathon finishers, at 8:00 per mile.
3:30 finish ≈ top 10% of recreational marathoners (median 4:26:33).
- Finish time3:30
- Approx. percentiletop 10%
- Pace required8:00/mi
- Median (all finishers)4:26:33
Source: RunRepeat percentile dataset (35M results); recreational fields, elites excluded.
The 3:30 in context
Against 35 million recorded results, 3:30 lands near the top 10% of finishers — requiring 8:00/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 3:30 marathon good?
A 3:30 finish is around the top 10% of recreational finishers (median: 4:26:33). Faster than roughly 90% of recreational marathon finishers.
What pace is a 3:30 marathon?
8:00 per mile (4:58/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.