Adding to this string:
I have never considered running a marathon nor have I ever run a 10km race.
I think that at age 70 I will not start now. However, when the Atlanta 10km
race is held on each July 4th, the sports writers continually refer to the
status of the 'serious' competitors and their times at each mile marker and
then they sometimes refer to the final sprint of the last 0.2 mile of the
6.2 mile run. They resist at all costs making any mention of the word
kilometer except the an oblique reference to the 10K race. It seems that
here many people still may not understand that the "K" is, or should be,
referred to "km".
On the plus side, the science writer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in
response to my many emails, always tells me that he would love to be allowed
to stop spending the time converting from SI to WOMBAT. he never uses the
term WOMBAT, but that so-called system is the one to which he refers.
Norm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Davis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Cc: "USMA" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 13:59
Subject: [USMA:36739] Re: Marathon running!
Harry Wyeth wrote:
"It is, unfortunately, common for only mile markers to be posted on many
courses, but also many courses have no markers at all but only a map
posted
at the start area."
The last Great North Run (and presumably all the previous ones) from
Newcastle to South Shields, England used only kilometre markers.
As far as I am aware, kilometres are always used for marathon running in
the Olympics as well.
I'm willing to be corrected but I'm fairly sure I've never come across
mile markers in any running events ANYWHERE, certainly not in Europe,
anyway.
Regards,
Steve.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Wyeth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 3:53 PM
Subject: [USMA:36737] Marathon running!
I also have run marathons (22) and it is not true that one has to need to
know how long a mile is in order to arrange a suitable pace. There are
42.2
km in a marathon (42.195 to be picky) , rounded to 40 plus about another
ten
minutes or so or running. All you need to know is what your target "10
K"
time is.
It is, unfortunately, common for only mile markers to be posted on many
courses, but also many courses have no markers at all but only a map
posted
at the start area. Usually one can discern where the 10, 20, and 30 km
points are. Our running club here in Grass Valley, California, puts on a
10
km race each year where only km signs are visible, and there are 9 of
them.
One can also use 3 miles as an approximate 5 km mark.
HARRY WYETH
