Runners - do you measure in miles or km?

katesmash

I'm fairly new to running.. I started last year but have only become more serious about it this year. I LOVE it!

I was just reading something on a facebook page I'm a "fan" of, and they posted one of those memes/ecards and it said "You know you're a runner when... someone asks you how far the beach is, and you say "2.68 miles, unless you run around the block first, then it's 3.77 miles"

So that brings me to my question... because someone happened to comment on the ecard thing "REAL runners use metrics (5k, 8k, 10k, etc)"

Now, I'm from Canada, so we use KM for the majority of things, but for myself, I've always done my running mileage in miles. I know how many miles are in a 5k but when I think about my progress I always think in terms of miles. I ran 4.5 miles... I had an average speed of X mph... etc.

Heck, even our pedometer challenge that we are doing right now at work, our results as a group were given to us in total steps and approximate miles based on those steps.

So I was just curious to what others think or measure for themselves in?

JenMc14

I'm in the US. I use miles for my personal runs. It's funny that races in the State use km, mostly. Although, it varies, you know. You'll have a 5K or a 10K, then I see ads for 10 Milers, and I've never heard anyone describe a half marathon or a marathon in km, only miles.

katesmash

I thought it was odd, I guess I'm not the only one. I guess maybe they are not a distance runner then (LOL) because you are right, I would never see a half marathon listed as 21.08km, you see it as 13.1 miles. But the shorter distances are listed as 5k or 10k

FretheMJsmokingcannibal

I use meters.

dougii

There are also longer distances measured in km like 50K races.... For myself I measure and track in miles but then I am from the U.S. and have not grown up using the metric system (and although old dogs can learn new tricks, I really don't want to).....