Nearly half a million marathoner finishers in USA alone

HT to Runner's World.

Running USA's State of the Marathon et al report here http://www.runningusa.org/node/76115  Am quite surprised to discover Boston is 7th on the finishers list. Perhaps they should also show a % finishers vs. starting runners.

It is interesting to see how Boston's getting faster and faster over the years! Median finishing times have dipped 9 mins in 5 years from 3:53 to 3:44...

Fastest Median Times	1995	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Boston		3:53:03	3:44:47	3:48:40	3:46:13	3:44:04

Excellent work by Running USA. Wish they could share raw data for people like me to slice and dice a bit more - For ex., how many men in the age group of 18-34 actually go well below Boston's norms, etc