Forums >Racing>What is your favorite racing distance?
15K. None of the pain of a 5K, just long enough to have to race with your head.
Plus, the symmetry is just beautiful. It naturally breaks into a beginning, middle and end. Unfortunately exotic distance to race often, though.
Three Martini Lunch
That said, I voted for 10 mile. Not that I've done particularly well at it. I just like it, and wish it was more common.
We have a lot of 10 mile races (DC and the surrounding area); at least 6 or 7 10M races that I can think of off the top of my head.
That said, I voted for the HM mainly for the reasons spaniel stated.
M: 3:31:56
HM: 1:37:33
[Re: 10k] Yes. Almost all the suffering of a 5k for twice as long. Bleh.
[Re: 10k]
Yes. Almost all the suffering of a 5k for twice as long. Bleh.
Ha, yes! This is coincidentally almost exactly what I told a co-worker a couple of weeks ago regarding why the 10k is probably my least favorite race distance.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
So far, I've only raced 5k and HM. My HM was my first race and I've only run one once, but so far I prefer it to the 5k. I have zero desire to run a 10k. I do think I would enjoy sprints, though. Just no opportunity to race them around here.
"...You have to have faith, to know that you can do what you want to do." -Joseph Nzau
I voted for the Half Marathon. It is a nice distance -- not as painful as the 5K, much shorter recovery time than the marathon, etc. But I really wanted to vote for the 20 mile. I've only run a single 20 mile race. It was back in 1986, and I have very fond memories of it -- it was on my 21st birthday, and I had just finished my last college exams. Lots of reasons to celebrate afterwards. I don't recall seeing 20 mile races offered very often, but I just checked, and there are 2 scheduled on the same day in September, in the same town (White Bear Lake, MN) not too far from me. I may have to see how it stacks up against the Half. The way I see it, it's a Marathon, minus the "wall" and everything after that, right? That should make it more popular choice, I would think. (MTA: more popular than the ZERO votes it has so far.)
I'm a little surprised that the 5K didn't get more love and the 10K got so much. Perhaps we're so accustom to finding a 5K every weekend that we take it for granted?
I had an idea that the half would do well but didn't think the marathon would get so few votes. Perhaps that because the half is so forgiving and the marathon is not?
Feeling the growl again
I'm a little surprised that the 5K didn't get more love and the 10K got so much. Perhaps we're so accustom to finding a 5K every weekend that we take it for granted? I had an idea that the half would do well but didn't think the marathon would get so few votes. Perhaps that because the half is so forgiving and the marathon is not?
5K is a hard distance. You really have to have some speed to love it...it hurts either way. I like the 10K 5X as much, even though it is a much tougher event (particularly on the track).
I'd not say the HM is loved so much more because it is just more forgiving. There are many, many differences.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Are we there, yet?
Where's the option for the 2-man 10-mile relay? 20 x 440y or 20 x 400m for the 2-man 16K Relay is fast and fun. Just hope your partner is slow so you get more recovery between laps.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Sorry. I maxed out the poll. I should have included relay in the place of something.
A Saucy Wench
5K - hurts like hell
10K - still hurts, but it is the best distance for learning how to ride the line. Sometimes in a 5K it's hard to tell which side of the line you are on because it all hurts and it is over. In a 10K you know.
HM's are just perfect. The line for a HM is less painful and you can feel it as you put and the distance is right and.. and .. but if you screw it up you still can do it again in a couple weeks.
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
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Mine is actually probably 15k...so I should have voted for 10mi, but I have run so few of that distance that I don't really have an opinion. So I voted for HM, since I really enjoy that distance -- even though the # of HMs I have "raced" are maybe in the 2-3 range. I think I've run more HMs than anything else, but most I've run with friends...more as an excuse to get together and be around a lot of other runners than to actually race.
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
I prefer the 10k. Long enough to feel like a real race, short enough to still have an element of speed to it. And it doesn't take too long to recover afterwards. A good marathon is the most satisfying, but it takes so much to run one and so long to recover from.
Full Stride Running
I think I voted 5k, though I can't actually remember (I was torn between the mile, 5k and half). 5k is definitely the distance I've race the most.
I have a theory on why the half is everyone's favorite--it's the distance we can race best off of pure base training and requires the least specific preparation. Basically if you have a decent base, you can always run a decent half where the races at either end of the spectrum require more specific (and harder) workouts to really race well.
Runners run
I think your theory is based on a lot of truth. I think it's easier to adjust race strategy during the half than it is in the 5K or marathon. It doesn't nuke the legs or training plans. It's an honest distance and test of endurance and strength.
I voted for the half. To me, a well run half is still running fast. Usually the "holy shit how am I going to hang on to this pace??" hits around mile 4-5. The last 5K feels like a 5K.
not bad for mile 25
15K. None of the pain of a 5K, just long enough to have to race with your head. Plus, the symmetry is just beautiful. It naturally breaks into a beginning, middle and end. Unfortunately exotic distance to race often, though.
Hmm, my recollection of my races says the 15K is twice the pain of a 5K. Maybe I don't have the good sense to run it closer to half marathon pace.