"A Capriccio Of Rome With The Finish Of A Marathon"

An 'oil on canvas' painting by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes from 1788. Saw this at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco, California. It's a bit difficult to see, but, in the bottom left of the painting, there are a few runners presumably finishing the marathon. No timing mats, finish line tapes, TVs, etc. Barely a handful of spectators too.

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Finishing times at the US men's marathon Olympic Trials

This is an interesting table of the last qualifying finishing time for the men's marathon at the Olympic Trials dating back to 1968. (Three runners qualify.)

1968 - 2:33:09
1972 - 2:20:30
1976 - 2:13:54
1980 - 2:10:55
1984 - 2:11:50
1988 - 2:13:09
1992 - 2:12:54
1996 - 2:13:22
2000 - 2:15:30
2004 - 2:12:01
2008 - 2:11:40

This year the last qualifier was Abdi Adbirahman with 2:09:47. That would make it the fastest third place qualifying time since before 1968. Probably the fastest ever.

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Here's to a great new year

What does 2012 have in store for us? Is Usain Bolt going to set the London Olympics ablaze with a new WR or two? Will Haile Gebreselassie or Paula Radcliffe win Olympic gold and announce their retirement? Will yet another Kenyan bring down the marathon WR yet again? Will we see a sub-2:03 marathon?

Another 364 365 days to go (since this is a leap year) and we'll know the answers. Hang in there for the long run.

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