10k or 6mi

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Replies

  • yc4king
    yc4king Posts: 117 Member
    This thread has turned out much more awesomely than I expected :smokin:

    Interestingly the US gov was increasing adoption of the metric system until the Reagan administration shut it down.
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
    So i'm in Canada, 5k and 10k always made sense.

    Then I started seeing people on here saying things like "so i'm training for a 10k so I went out and mapped a 6mi loop"... :huh: I think you meant you are running a 10km race so you mapped out a 10km route :laugh:

    It makes absolutely no difference, and i'm not making fun of anybody, but I do snicker every time I see it.

    So in the US, why is it even called a 10k race instead of a 6mi race? Seems odd given the metric hate south of the border ;)

    If i were training for a 10k, I'd never map out a 6 mile route! I would make it a 10 mile route! No, I don't know how many k that is without googling it!
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    Humor from the country that foisted Nickelback, Justin Bieber, and Ted Cruz on America... lol
    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    ltj8d.gif

    Canadian protestors
    how-canadians-protest.jpg

    YlYsCRq.gif
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    So i'm in Canada, 5k and 10k always made sense.

    Then I started seeing people on here saying things like "so i'm training for a 10k so I went out and mapped a 6mi loop"... :huh: I think you meant you are running a 10km race so you mapped out a 10km route :laugh:

    It makes absolutely no difference, and i'm not making fun of anybody, but I do snicker every time I see it.

    So in the US, why is it even called a 10k race instead of a 6mi race? Seems odd given the metric hate south of the border ;)

    If i were training for a 10k, I'd never map out a 6 mile route! I would make it a 10 mile route! No, I don't know how many k that is without googling it!

    15K, 3 igloos, 1 woodcutter's axe, and a flannel shirt is a proper 10 miles
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    If i were training for a 10k, I'd never map out a 6 mile route! I would make it a 10 mile route! No, I don't know how many k that is without googling it!

    You don't need to Google it! Just do a quick ratio! If 10km = 6.2 mi then cross multiply and divide to get 10 mi = 16.1km!

    Edit to say that was probably more thinking than having just Googled it...
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Seems odd given the metric hate south of the border ;)

    There are two types of countries in this world - those on the metric system and those that have sent a man to the moon.
    i didnt know Liberia sent a man to the moon

    They used a catapult, and dynamite. Part of him actually made it.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    This thread has turned out much more awesomely than I expected :smokin:

    Interestingly the US gov was increasing adoption of the metric system until the Reagan administration shut it down.

    Probably calculated just how much it would cost in complaints and general ****ing around until they got the population convinced, measurement devices and the like shifted over and decided it wasn't worth it.

    Honestly can't say I blame them, though in the long run it might have been nice. Instead, I got to learn both systems. Imperial for most day-to-day, and metric for science.

    BTW - I talk about runs in miles because no one I know is a runner, so they don't often make km -> mile conversions. Kind of steals the thunder when you run a 5K for the first time, and the response is: "That's nice. How long is that in real distance?"
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    A base 10 system makes more sense than a system based on random WTFness. And I say that as an American.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    What is the Canadian unit of measurement for decades without a Cup champion?
    no such measurement is needed

    fyi 17 of 26 players on the la kings 2014 roster were canadian:smokin:

    So 17 of them were smart enough to move south for a chance to win? A game invented by British soldiers, with a trophy bought in a British shop by the British Governor General , won by US based teams for over twenty consecutive years.

    Then there are the Maple Leafs for whom the world just stopped in the summer of 1967.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    I think it's lovely that one of the few things you colonials have hung onto is an absolutely barking system of measurement...
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    So in the US, why is it even called a 10k race instead of a 6mi race? Seems odd given the metric hate south of the border ;)

    I've told this story here before, but about 10 years ago I did my first triathlon (I was in better shape then than now). The night before I was nervous and couldn't really sleep, so I got up and turned on the summer Olympics, which were going on, to find something to watch so I could fall asleep on the couch for a bit. Happened upon a running race about to start, looked longish, 5,000 meters. Since I'd been doing lots of running that was my interest, so I happily picked it and in my tired way decided to try and understand what it was in units of measurement I understood. Since I swam I knew a meter was similar to a yard, so I estimated in my head that it was about 15,000 feet. For some reason the one weird conversion I know is 5280 feet to a mile, so then I figured that the race was about 3 miles. After a minute (remember, I was half asleep) it hit me--"oh, it's a 5K". And then immediately "uh, right, 5000 meters is a 5K."

    Only in the US. (Or, maybe just me.)
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    people hate imperial because it uses arbitrary numbers from one measurement to the next, like a mile equaling 5280 feet.

    all you need to know for metric distances is the meter. the rest is based around this one central unit using prefixes (kilo=1000, deci=.1, centi-0.01, mili=0.001)

    and everyone around my area would use a km measurement, since we have no use for your silly miles in canada

    Oh c'mon how's that any easier than knowing 5280 feet in a mile, 12 inches in a foot, inches broken down into eighths...

    Wait a minute, you might be onto something.

    Measuring in stones is what makes me pause since you have to multiply by 14.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    I think it's lovely that one of the few things you colonials have hung onto is an absolutely barking system of measurement...

    That and improving the gene pool of Britain throughout the 40s when Brits complained Americans were "overpaid, oversexed, and over here. "
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    I think it's lovely that one of the few things you colonials have hung onto is an absolutely barking system of measurement...

    That and improving the gene pool of Britain throughout the 40s when Brits complained Americans were "overpaid, oversexed, and over here. "

    Harsh, but being late to the party does seem to confer some opportunities :)
  • Steve_Rance
    Steve_Rance Posts: 30
    6 miles is just easier to count up to for the average American, going all the way up to 10 is a bit of a challenge :bigsmile:
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    For me it's because the rest of my runs are in mile increments (4 miles, 5 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles) so even if I'm running a 10K distance I want to see my pace in mph to compare it to the rest of my runs. I'll 6 miles and then tag on the extra couple tenths to get to 10K.
  • schpanks
    schpanks Posts: 468 Member
    If God had intended for us to use the metric system, he would have given us 10 fingers...
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    If God had intended for us to use the metric system, he would have given us 10 fingers...

    Well the base 5 system allows one to count to 30 on ones hands :)
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    I measure my runs in doughnuts
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,661 Member
    I've been using Zombies, Run! to track my runs, and the app has an option to notify you when you have reached 1 unit of measurement. I have selected kilometers, just so that my notifications are more frequent. It may have the added benefit of increasing my familiarity with metric distances.

    When I'm not listening for the next notification, I'm doing math to convert between the 2 measurements, in my head. It's so much more masochistic to run like that...
  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    Ironic that Canadians have to play for a US based team to get a cup. Why? Cuz the good old boys believe if you hit hard enough (Leafs) and dive fast enough (Habs) that will surpass all stats. =P

    Now that my troll is over... Metrication... As most know, both US and Canada stem from the UK. The US fought for separation from the UK in 1776 and had long standing tensions until World War I. Americans continued to us the Imperial system.

    Canada was more or less handed their independence in 1867. They retained a good relationship with the Motherland and when the UK voted to change over from Imperial to Metric in 1965 (Yes, wasn't that long ago), five years later Canada followed suit. Yes, Canada was officially under the Imperial system until 1970. lol...

    So... really... Just blame Britain for all the confusion. = P

    Most races are measured in the metric system because that is what the rest of the world uses... France, Germany, etc... The powers that be decided to make it simple for the majority. As to the reason the Marathon is in Miles?

    The origin of the Marathon was Phillippides 25 mile run between Marathon and Athens during the Greco-Persian War. In 1896, they revived the Olympic games and one event was to undergo that run from Marathon to Athens (a distance of 24.85 miles or 40,000m). And 40,000 m was how it was measured in Paris in 1900 and St. Louis in 1904. In 1908 the Games were held in London, England. Well, the Royal family wanted the finish line to be right in front of their viewing box. The workers arranged this by extending the race to 26.2 miles (remember England was still using the Imperial system). For 16 years the Olympic committee argued back and forth, but at the 1924 Paris Olympics, they officially announced they would retain the 26.2 mile distance for the marathon.

    So... Once again... Just blame Britain for all the confusion. = P
    ha! cool
  • littlekitty3
    littlekitty3 Posts: 265 Member
    Humor from the country that foisted Nickelback, Justin Bieber, and Ted Cruz on America... lol
    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    ltj8d.gif
    Lol not from canada, but that happens here hahahaha.

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