We received a testimonial from a great local runner in France. We were excited to learn how the VDOT Calculator helped him achieve a time in the marathon he never imagined he could run. Simon has granted us permission to share his kind note. We’re excited to see this young runner continue to progress as gains more and more experience.

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My name is Simon and I’m a 26-year old french runner who lives near Paris. I began to run 3-years ago. My first race was a 10km in 48-minutes and I told my girlfriend that I never will run a marathon.

3-years later, I ran the Paris Marathon with a time of 03:21:32. I expected a sub-3h for my first participation but I was really really optimistic. In the end, I was happy enough to run another marathon this year (the Reims marathon, on October 9th).

I worked harder following my training plan (same as Paris marathon) and I fixed a target of 03:10:00 for my second marathon. According to the training plan, I ran a half marathon one month before the big event in 01:23:32. Just after that, I checked my expected time in VDOT Running Calculator and I saw that I might be capable of running a marathon in 02:54:00!!! What’s a surprise for me! So, I updated my target for this marathon to 03:00:00 because I thought that 2:54:00 was a very big step.

But, the results are here, your Running Calculator predicted the right time, because I finished the marathon in 02:54:07!!!! [Full results] (13/813 in overall category and 6/263 in my category). So, I would like to say thank you to you and your Calculator and your excellent book Daniels’ Running Formula!

Yours faithfully,

Simon MICHAUT
French Runner