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It is a week into the New Year and some folks have made some changes in their daily routines. I started to think of some changes that runners might try. Almost every runner records in their log book how far they ran and how fast they ran. When you read posts from runners all of them have recorded how many miles they ran. Instead of recording how many miles you run each time why not record how many minutes you ran. Instead of saying, “I am going to run three miles”, why not say, “I am going to run for 45 minutes.” Do not be concerned with how many miles you ran in 45 minutes. Just know that you ran for 45 minutes. This takes a little more effort than most runners realize. Many will get in their car and drive the course they ran to see how many miles were covered. Changing the mindset from miles to minutes after years of recording miles takes some changes in how you view your run. It may take several runs using only ‘minutes ran’ before you stop driving the course and wondering how many miles you ran.
This got me thinking of races we enter. Most are 5K, 10K or 15K, or a longer half-marathon, or marathon. When we drive in a car the odometer records the number and speed in miles. When we give directions to another person we tell them it is so many miles to their desired location. Then why do we run races that are measured in kilometers? A rough estimate is that a kilometer is .6 miles. If we put kilometer markers out on the course for a 5K race a large majority of runners would have no idea of how far they were running or how fast they were running. The runners know that a 5K course is approximately 3.1 miles. Why do we have races that are .1 mile longer than the 3 miles we understand? A 10K is 6.2 miles in distance. Who decided that races should be .2 miles longer than 6 miles? A half-marathon is 13.1 miles in distance. Why not stop at 13 miles? A marathon is 26.2 miles. Why not stop at 26 miles? When did we start running 400 meters in track instead of a 440 yards (1/4 of a mile that we understand)? The same for the 800 meters instead of the known 880 yards or half a mile. A marathon is marked in miles but measured in kilometers (42.19 Km). Marking the course in kilometers would throw a large majority of runners not knowing how far into the marathon they are.
The answer comes from International Track competitions. Other than the United States the rest of the countries use the metric system for measuring. In order to compete in the Olympics and International Track meets athletes had to adjust to meters instead of yards (39 inches versus 36 inches), and kilometers instead of miles. The marathon distance comes from a warrior running to Athens from Marathon to report a victory in battle and the distance was 26.2 miles. A few other stories about the distance are also popular. The one exception seems to be the mile distance. It is still the one race measured in miles. Back when Roger Bannister ran a mile under 4 minutes that was the standard. Now track meets are measured as 1500 meters and 5K or 10K distance for international competition. Athletes that wanted to compete on an international level had to adjust to new distances. The 100-yard dash now became the 100-meter dash, or 110 yards.
I can understand the necessary change to the metric system in track meets for elite athletes. But what about the local little races that are put on around the city? Almost every runner is a local runner that is not going to compete in an international track meet. I would guess that most of them only know that after they run three miles they have one-tenth of a mile yet to run. And yet race organizers advertise their race in kilometers — but still mark the course in miles. Why not have a change in the New Year for a few races to be 3 miles, 5 miles, 10 miles, etc. Six miles (a short 10K) is an odd distance when most measurements are like 5 miles or 10 miles. I doubt any of this will happen since the 5K and 10K races have been the standard for so many years. But thinking of starting the New Year and some of the changes a person made with New Year’s Resolutions an idea of changing back to the “early good old days” when we ran the 100 yard dash, the 220 yard dash, the 440 yard dash, and the mile was just a thought that came to mind. You have to be an older runner to understand where all of this is coming from.
