Running Pace Calculator
Work out your running pace per kilometre and per mile from a distance and a finish time — useful for planning a 5K, 10K, half or full marathon.
What this calculator solves
Enter a distance in kilometres and a time in minutes. The tool returns three figures:
- Pace per kilometre, in minutes and seconds.
- Speed in km/h, to one decimal.
- Pace per mile, in decimal minutes.
The defaults, 5 km in 30 minutes, give 6:00 /km, 10 km/h and 9.65 min per mile. It works in one direction only: from distance and time to pace. To find a finish time for a target pace, use the chart further down, or try times in the box until the pace matches. The results are plain arithmetic on what you type; they say nothing about your fitness or health.
Entering hours and seconds
The time box takes minutes, with decimals. Convert seconds by dividing by 60, and hours by multiplying by 60:
- 27:30 is 27.5 minutes.
- 1:55:00 is 115 minutes.
- 3:52:04 is about 232.07 minutes.
If your watch shows miles, multiply by 1.609344 before typing. A 5-mile run is 8.047 km; in 45 minutes that gives 5:36 /km and 9 min per mile. Race distances in kilometres are 5, 10, 21.0975 for a half marathon and 42.195 for a marathon.
Reading the per-mile figure
Pace per mile is shown as decimal minutes, not minutes and seconds. Multiply the decimal part by 60 to convert: 9.65 min is 9 minutes plus 0.65 × 60 = 39 seconds, so 9:39 per mile. Likewise 8.85 is 8:51 and 9.15 is 9:09. The tool converts with 1.609 km per mile, which is close enough that the seconds rarely change.
Finish times at common paces
Multiply pace by distance to get a finish time. These were worked out that way:
| Pace /km | 5K | 10K | Half | Marathon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:00 | 25:00 | 50:00 | 1:45:29 | 3:30:59 |
| 5:30 | 27:30 | 55:00 | 1:56:02 | 3:52:04 |
| 6:00 | 30:00 | 1:00:00 | 2:06:35 | 4:13:10 |
| 6:30 | 32:30 | 1:05:00 | 2:17:08 | 4:34:16 |
To check one in the tool, enter the distance and the time in minutes. A half in 116.04 minutes comes back as 5:30 /km.
How the pace is rounded
The pace is rounded to the nearest whole second before it is split into minutes and seconds. Enter 5 km in 24.99 minutes and the exact pace is 4 minutes 59.88 seconds per kilometre, which the tool shows as 5:00 /km.
That rounding only affects the display. If you are comparing two efforts that differ by a second or less, compare the times you entered rather than the rounded paces.
Frequently asked questions
What pace do I need for a half marathon under two hours?+
Two hours over 21.0975 km works out at 5:41 per kilometre, about 9:09 per mile. To finish under two hours you need to average slightly faster than that for the whole race.
Can I type the distance in miles?+
No, the box is in kilometres. Multiply miles by 1.609344 first: 3.1 miles is 4.99 km and 13.1 miles is 21.08 km.
Does it allow for hills, heat or wind?+
No. It assumes the distance was covered at an even average pace and reports only the arithmetic. If you compare a hilly run with a flat one, keep that in mind when the paces differ.
Embed this tool on your website
Free to use on blogs, school sites and intranets. Paste this code into your page's HTML; please keep the credit line.
<iframe src="https://utilityapp.lat/embed/health/running-pace-calculator" title="Running Pace Calculator" width="100%" height="660" style="border:0;max-width:760px" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="font-size:13px"><a href="https://utilityapp.lat/health/running-pace-calculator">Running Pace Calculator</a> by UtilityApp</p>