Trackraz
Guide

Running distances in miles and kilometres

Race distances are metric, most training talk in Britain and America is imperial, and pace flips between the two depending on which watch you own. This guide lists every standard distance in both systems, explains how to convert pace rather than just distance, and gives the split figures worth memorising.

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Distances, pace and why pace is the harder conversion

The standard distances are fixed by World Athletics and are all metric: 5 km, 10 km, the half marathon at 21.0975 km and the marathon at 42.195 km. In miles those become 3.107, 6.214, 13.109 and 26.219 — which is where the famous "26.2" comes from.

Distance conversion is a single multiplication: miles to kilometres multiplies by 1.609344. Pace is trickier, because it is time per unit distance, so the conversion runs the opposite way. A pace of 8 minutes per mile is not 8 × 1.609 minutes per kilometre; it is 8 ÷ 1.609344, which gives 4 minutes 58 seconds per kilometre.

The practical shortcut most runners use is that 5 minutes per kilometre is very close to 8 minutes per mile, and 4 minutes per kilometre is roughly 6 minutes 26 seconds per mile. For race planning, work in the units the race is measured in and convert only for reference — mixing them mid-race is how people miss target times.

Key facts

Marathon

42.195 km, or 26.219 miles — the origin of the shorthand 26.2.

Half marathon

21.0975 km, which is 13.109 miles.

Pace inverts

To convert pace, divide rather than multiply — 8:00 per mile is 4:58 per km.

Handy anchor

5:00 per km is almost exactly 8:03 per mile.

Track distances

A standard outdoor lane-one lap is 400 m, so a mile is four laps plus 9.34 m.

Course measurement

Certified courses are measured along the shortest legal line, which is why GPS watches usually read slightly long.

How to get it right

1

Convert the distance

Multiply miles by 1.609344, or divide kilometres by the same number.

2

Convert the pace correctly

Divide minutes per mile by 1.609344 to get minutes per kilometre.

3

Work out the splits

Multiply your target pace by each distance marker to build a split table.

4

Race in local units

Set your watch to the units used on the course markers to avoid mid-race arithmetic.

Questions people ask

26.219 miles, from the official distance of 42.195 km. Race organisers round this to 26.2 miles.

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Convert body weight between kilograms, pounds and stone accurately — including why the 2.2 shortcut fails at higher weights.

Convert a distance now

Mile and kilometre pages cover every race and training distance.

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