Forums >General Running>5K distance variation
I've got a fever...
That seems silly. The requirement should be that a certified 5k course is exactly 5000 meters. Why go through the cost and the trouble if there is still a fudge factor?
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.
I can never tell when you're serious or not.
"Good-looking people have no spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter." - Lester Bangs
A Saucy Wench
My second reply was the serious one. To me, it's just as unacceptable to be long as it is to be short so I don't understand how a competent certifier can have a small screw-up. If you certify a course I would be disappointed if they only claim that the course is at least 5k (or whatever the distance). I would hope that they would ensure that the course, as measured, is exactly the distance they claim. This fudge factor boggles my mind. Now, again, that doesn't mean that a runner will run all the tangents perfectly and be able to run the course as certified but that's not the problem of the course certifier. MTA - Oh...and if you couldn't tell I have absolutely no experience in course certification but why would I ever let my lack of experience get in the way of an opinion?
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
Good Bad & The Monkey
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
I am boggled that one could expect a human to measure road distances to within 0.1%...
Yeah. I can understand that and I've received some education. But a meter is a meter. So why can't 5000 meters equal 5000 meters? Like I said, it's immaterial and is only interesting (most likely) to me.
ultramarathon/triathlete
But a meter is a meter. So why can't 5000 meters equal 5000 meters? Like I said, it's immaterial and is only interesting (most likely) to me.
HTFU? Why not!
USATF Coach
Empire Tri Club CoachGatorade Endurance Team
If they measure a course twice and get different measurements, they should go back out and measure it two more times and do so until they get it right.
In quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is the statement that locating a particle in a small region of space makes the momentum of the particle uncertain; and conversely, that measuring the momentum of a particle precisely makes the position uncertain. Physically, the uncertainty principle requires that when the position of an atom is measured with a photon, the reflected photon will change the momentum of the atom by an uncertain amount inversely proportional to the accuracy of the position measurement. The amount of uncertainty can never be reduced below the limit set by the principle, regardless of the experimental setup.
I know see the wisdom of my college that made everyone take measurements lab.
But apparently not the wisdom of taking more English classes.