What happens to marathon quitters ?

I have run two marathons now and know the pain and agony you go through when your body revolts beneath you. In both of them I considered quitting. Back here at my desk I was wondering, what would have happened if I quit the distance. Dialing for a cab without a mobile ? Get your relatives to pick you up somewhere in the middle of nowhere ? Being brought back to the finish line by medics ? My quick internet research shows, that there are not many reports about what happens when you quit before the final line. Most people make it to the finish line, if they make it to the start. It seems that most of the quitting population do not even show up to race day.

Who are these quitters ?

The articles I read suggest that the biggest group of quitters are the ones who feel under trained or get injured in the preparations for the big event itself and not the ones who actually quit the race. The reasons can be failure in preparation in terms of mileage run, personal bests achieved (or more accurately PRs missed) in the called for preparation races or muscle and tendon fatigue. It also seems like the older you are the more likely you are to quit the race, which makes sense because of higher risk of severe consequences of you pushing through.

What do the statistics say ?

I got my hands on statistics on the Boston and New York marathon which both have high numbers of participants and roughly the same "culture mix".As this post is more about qualitative rather than super scientifically exact data take these numbers with a grain of salt.

Roughly 15% - 20% of entrants are no shows. Of the remaining 80% - 85% a mere 2 - 5% does not finish the race depending on weather conditions on the day and their age.

This is firstly based on the numbers of NYC 26.2 miles where an estimated 45.000 out of 60.000 entrants showed up. Of these 45.000 fewer than 2.000 did not finish. Secondly on the data of the Boston Marathon in 2011 and 2012 which were between 9.5% and 15% for no shows and between 1.8% to 4.1% for quit rates.

What is the point of it all ?

I set out to find out what happens to people who quit before seeing the final station and how this is being handled. Luckily there is not a lot to be found on this on the surface (I did not research for months on end). The point is that more people finish than you would actually think, covering all different age groups and fitness levels. What I also learned is that it is more likely that you will talk yourself out of being able to do the full length, rather than physically failing it. Not to mention the stories I found of people quitting smoking to go on and run a marathon in Antarctica. If that is not a great story of self improvement, I do not know what is. So if you feel low, do not talk yourself out of it. For all of the ones who quit, I am pretty sure they found their way home, too.