How Many Miles Is a 5K, 10K, 15K, Half Marathon, and Marathon?

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5K | 10K | 15K | Half Marathon | Marathon | Ultramarathon | What Is a Good Pace?

If you’re new to running, or you’ve never run a race before, a 5K is a great place to start. But before you add a 5K to your bucket list, you may be wondering: How far is a 5K run, really? And how long will it take you to run it?

First things first: The “K” stands for kilometer, so a 5K is 5 kilometers long. But if you live in the U.S. — one of the last three bastions of the imperial system of measurement — there’s a chance your brain deleted any info about the metric system immediately after completing middle school math, so it might be easier to consider how far a 5K is in miles.

Let’s break down the distance of a 5K — and longer races, such as a 10K, 15K, half marathon, marathon, and ultramarathon — to give you a clearer idea of the distance each one covers, and how long it’ll take to cross the finish line.

 

How Far Is a 5K Race?

A 5K is 3.1 miles long. To put it in perspective, that’s equivalent to running 45 laps around a baseball diamond. At a 10-minute mile pace, it’ll take you about 31 minutes to run a 5K.

 

How Far Is a 10K Race?

A 10K is 6.2 miles long. If you’re considering training for a 10K, that’s about the same as running the length of 91 football fields, including both end zones. At a 10-minute mile pace, you’ll finish the race in about an hour and two minutes.

 

How Far Is a 15K Race?

A 15K is 9.3 miles long. That’s the same as running the length of an NBA-regulation basketball court a little more than 522 times. At an 11-minute mile pace, it will take you about an hour and 43 minutes to run a 15K.

 

How Far Is a Half Marathon?

A half marathon is 13.1 miles long — just less than 53 laps around a standard outdoor 400-meter track. At a 12-minute mile pace, it will take you about 2 hours and 37 minutes to run a half marathon.

 

How Far Is a Marathon?

A marathon is 26.2 miles long. That’s about 105.5 times around a standard outdoor 400-meter track (and that last half of a lap will be the worst). At a 12-minute mile pace, it will take you about 5 hours and 15 minutes to run a marathon.

 

How Far Is an Ultramarathon?

An ultramarathon is any race that’s longer than a marathon. These can range from a 30-mile trail race to a 200-mile Ragnar Relay.

 

What’s a Good Running Pace?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. A “good” running pace differs from runner to runner, and it depends on things like your age, fitness level, terrain (e.g., whether the race is flat or hilly), and distance (you might have noticed the mile times increase in the examples above). However, a running pace chart can help you get a sense of what might be a good pace for you during your next race.

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