8a is the equivalent to.....

From The Usual Suspect

I had an interesting chat with a friend of mine while on the road recently. He was of the opinion that 8a-5.13b-29 is the equivalent of running a 3-hour marathon. I.e. that the amount of effort it would require to prepare and train to run a marathon in under 3 hours is the equivalent to the amount of preparation required to climb an 8a. It's an interesting comparison and something that non-climbers could potentially relate to.
We don't really like to think of climbing as a sport in the same sense but I thought it was an interesting comparison. Climbing of course can have a lot of variables that might have to be accounted for either (say, different rock types, angle, etc.) that runners don't have deal with - although some runs might take place on my hilly terrain.

Honestly, I'm not sure if the grade is exactly right (haven't run a 3-hour marathon either so can't compare :) but I wonder what other people think?
And what's, say, 7a-5.11c/d-23 equivalent to ?

All ideas welcome below


Image Credit: myself training on Metolius fingerboard in my folk's house in 2007. Proof that training and preparation works!