We need to talk about the other meaning of ‘Sub-3’

When we launched Sub-3, we thought the name was pretty self-explanatory. After all, runners have been using the term for decades. Run a marathon in 2:59:59 or faster and you’re a sub-three marathon runner. It means covering 26.2 miles at an average pace of just under 6:52 per mile, or 4:16 per kilometre, and it remains one of the great milestones of amateur marathon running.

Recently, though, we noticed something strange in our Google search data. Sub-3 was appearing an awful lot in Google searches that didn’t seem to have much to do with marathons. A little investigation revealed that we had inadvertently named our running website after something that means rather different things to different generations of internet users.

What does ‘sub-3’ mean on TikTok?

If you’ve encountered ‘sub-3’ on TikTok or in the world of ‘looksmaxxing’, the chances are nobody is talking about running. ‘Sub-3’ is used as a derogatory label for someone considered to be at the bottom end of an attractiveness scale – broadly, below three out of 10.

The language originated in online attractiveness-rating and incel communities before spreading more widely through social media and looksmaxxing culture. You’ll now find references to ‘sub-3 males’, ‘sub-3 faces’ and endless discussions of the supposed physical characteristics that consign someone to this unfortunate category.

Quite how seriously any of this should be taken is another matter. There is no universally agreed scale, different online communities use the terminology differently, and reducing human attractiveness to a number accurate to several decimal places is perhaps not one of the internet’s greater intellectual achievements. The important point for our purposes is that if a teenager calls you ‘sub-3’, they are probably not congratulating you on a well-executed negative split.

That also explains why Google has occasionally been serving Sub-3 Marathon to people searching for the slang definition. They presumably arrive expecting advice on jawlines and facial symmetry, only to be confronted with marathon rankings, carbon-plated shoes and detailed discussions of whether Valencia is faster than Seville. We can only apologise…

A better kind of sub-3

There is an appealing contrast between the two definitions. The looksmaxxing version of sub-3 is based on the idea that your worth can be reduced to an arbitrary score largely determined by characteristics you were born with. Our version is something you earn.

Running a sub-three-hour marathon certainly isn’t easy. It takes months and often years of consistent training, gradually building mileage, improving aerobic fitness and threshold, getting the long runs done and learning how to pace and fuel 26.2 miles properly. But there is no algorithm deciding in advance whether you qualify, and nobody is going to measure your cheekbones before allowing you onto the start line.

And there’s another pleasing inversion here. Being labelled a ‘sub-3’ in looksmaxxing circles is hardly something to boast about; becoming a sub-3 runner most certainly is. Just 4.5 per cent of marathon finishers broke three hours in 2025, making it a genuinely rare achievement. Runners may care rather less about appearance – performance is king, though a little flair never hurt anyone – but getting into sub-3 shape means coming remarkably close to realising your physical potential. The confidence that comes with that might even make you worry a little less about the things you can’t control. And if someone still wants to taunt you about your face? Well, there’s always the consolation of leaving them for dust in a race.

So if you’ve arrived here after Googling ‘what does sub-3 mean?’, you now have your answer. On TikTok and in looksmaxxing slang, it is an insult about someone’s appearance. In running, it means completing a marathon in less than three hours.

We know which definition we prefer. And if you really want to improve your sub-3 status, we’d suggest starting with a pair of running shoes.