Free pace calculator
Find your running or walking pace in two seconds. Enter a distance and the time it took, and the calculator returns your pace per mile and per kilometre, your speed in mph and km/h, and the finish time that pace projects for a 5K, 10K, half, or full marathon — updated live, as you type.
On this page15 sections
Pace = total time ÷ distance. Speed in mph uses 60 ÷ pace (min/mile).
Results are estimates. Consult a professional.
What is pace?
Pace is how long it takes you to cover one unit of distance — the minutes and seconds you spend per mile or per kilometre. It is the single most useful number in running and walking because, unlike a finish time, it travels with you across any distance: a pace of 9:00 per mile is the same effort whether you run one mile or twenty-six. Enter a distance and the time it took, and this pace calculator returns your pace per mile, your pace per kilometre, and your speed in miles and kilometres per hour the moment you type.
Why runners think in pace, not speed
A car dashboard shows speed in miles per hour; a runner's watch shows pace in minutes per mile. Both describe the same motion, but pace is the more natural unit on foot. It answers the question you actually care about during a race — "how long until the next mile marker?" — and it makes race planning simple arithmetic: hold 8:00 per mile for a half marathon (13.1 miles) and you will finish in about 1:45. Pace is the language of split times, race targets, and training zones.
How to calculate your pace
Calculating pace is a single division, but the units trip people up. The key is to convert your time to a single unit — minutes — before you divide, then convert the decimal answer back into minutes and seconds.
- Convert your time to total minutes. A run of 50 minutes 30 seconds is 50.5 minutes (30 seconds is half a minute, or 0.5).
- Divide by the distance. Total minutes ÷ distance gives your pace as a decimal — for example 50.5 ÷ 6.2 = 8.15 minutes per mile.
- Convert the decimal back to minutes and seconds. Multiply the fractional part by 60: 0.15 × 60 ≈ 9 seconds, so 8.15 becomes 8:09 per mile.
A worked example using the pace calculator
Priya ran a 10K (6.21 miles, or exactly 10 kilometres) in 52 minutes 30 seconds. She wants to know her pace per mile, her pace per kilometre, and her speed — and whether she is on track for a sub-2-hour half marathon. Here is how she works it through with the calculator.
Step 1 — Enter the distance and time
She enters 10 kilometres as the distance and 52:30 as the time. The calculator first converts the time to 52.5 total minutes.
Step 2 — Read the pace per mile and per km
Pace per kilometre is 52.5 ÷ 10 = 5.25, which converts to 5:15 per km. Pace per mile is 52.5 ÷ 6.21 = 8.45, which converts to 8:27 per mile.
| Output | Value |
|---|---|
| Distance | 10 km (6.21 mi) |
| Time | 52:30 |
| Pace per mile | 8:27 /mi |
| Pace per km | 5:15 /km |
| Speed | 7.1 mph (11.4 km/h) |
The calculator returns pace in both units plus speed, instantly.
Step 3 — Project the half-marathon time
Min/mile vs min/km vs mph — which to use
Pace comes in three common flavours, and the right one depends on where you are and what you are doing. They all describe the same motion; the conversions are fixed because a mile is exactly 1.609 kilometres.
| Pace per mile | Pace per km | Speed (mph) | Speed (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 | 3:44 | 10.0 | 16.1 |
| 7:00 | 4:21 | 8.6 | 13.8 |
| 8:00 | 4:58 | 7.5 | 12.1 |
| 9:00 | 5:36 | 6.7 | 10.7 |
| 10:00 | 6:13 | 6.0 | 9.7 |
| 11:00 | 6:50 | 5.5 | 8.8 |
| 12:00 | 7:27 | 5.0 | 8.0 |
Pace-to-speed conversions. To convert min/mile to min/km, divide by 1.609.
Pace vs speed — what's the difference?
Pace and speed measure the same thing from opposite directions. Speed is distance per unit of time — how far you go in an hour. Pace is time per unit of distance — how long it takes to cover a mile. They are mathematical reciprocals, so one always converts to the other.
The practical catch: a faster effort means a higher speed but a lower pace number. Dropping from a 10:00 mile to a 9:00 mile feels like progress, yet the pace figure goes down. This trips up treadmill runners, where the machine is set in mph (higher is faster) while their watch reads in min/mile (lower is faster). The conversion table in the section above lets you switch between the two at a glance.
Race finish times by pace (5K, 10K, half, marathon)
The most useful thing a pace tells you is your finish time at a given distance. Pick a target pace per mile and read across to see what you would run for each of the four standard road-race distances. This is the chart runners use to set a goal pace and check that it adds up to the finish time they want.
| Pace /mile | 5K (3.11 mi) | 10K (6.21 mi) | Half (13.1 mi) | Marathon (26.2 mi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 | 18:39 | 37:17 | 1:18:39 | 2:37:18 |
| 7:00 | 21:45 | 43:31 | 1:31:45 | 3:03:31 |
| 8:00 | 24:51 | 49:43 | 1:44:51 | 3:29:45 |
| 9:00 | 27:58 | 55:56 | 1:57:57 | 3:55:58 |
| 10:00 | 31:04 | 1:02:08 | 2:11:03 | 4:22:12 |
| 11:00 | 34:10 | 1:08:20 | 2:24:09 | 4:48:25 |
| 12:00 | 37:16 | 1:14:32 | 2:37:15 | 5:14:38 |
Finish time = pace × distance in miles. A 5K is 3.11 mi, 10K is 6.21 mi, half is 13.11 mi, full is 26.22 mi.
What is a good running pace?
There is no universal "good" pace — it depends on your fitness, age, the distance, and whether you are racing or jogging easy. As a rough guide, a comfortable recreational jog for many adults sits between 9:00 and 12:00 per mile, a solid intermediate race pace is around 7:00 to 9:00 per mile, and competitive amateurs race below 7:00. The honest benchmark, though, is your own trend: a pace that drops over a training block is the only number that proves you are getting fitter.
| Level | Pace /mile | Pace /km |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner / easy jog | 11:00–13:00 | 6:50–8:05 |
| Recreational | 9:00–11:00 | 5:35–6:50 |
| Intermediate | 7:30–9:00 | 4:40–5:35 |
| Advanced amateur | 6:00–7:30 | 3:45–4:40 |
| Elite (marathon) | under 5:00 | under 3:06 |
Indicative ranges only — pace varies enormously with distance, terrain, age, and the day.
Crucially, your sustainable pace falls as the distance grows. The pace you can hold for a 5K is far faster than the one you can hold for a marathon — expect to lose roughly 20 to 40 seconds per mile each time the race distance doubles. Comparing your 5K pace to someone else's marathon pace is comparing different efforts.
Using pace to plan training and races
Pace is the dial that controls a training plan. Structured running rarely happens at one speed — instead, different workouts target different paces, each driving a different physiological adaptation. Calculating your current race pace gives you the anchor from which the other training paces are set.
- Easy pace — roughly 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower than 5K race pace. The bulk of weekly mileage. It should feel conversational; most runners go too fast here.
- Tempo / threshold pace — close to the fastest pace you could hold for an hour, around your 10K-to-half pace. Builds the ability to sustain effort.
- Interval / VO2 pace — near 5K race pace or faster, run in short repeats. Develops top-end aerobic power.
- Goal race pace — the exact pace your target finish time requires. Practise it in training so it feels automatic on race day.
For race day, turn your goal pace into a split for each mile or kilometre and stick to it from the gun — going out too fast is the classic mistake. To see how hard a given pace works your engine, pair this with the calories burned calculator and the VO2 max calculator.
Walking pace — what counts as fast?
Pace isn't just for runners — the same calculation works for walking, and it is the number power-walkers and step-counters use to gauge effort. The average adult walks at roughly 3 to 4 miles per hour, which works out to about 15 to 20 minutes per mile. A brisk, purposeful walk — the pace that counts as moderate exercise — sits near 3.5 mph, or about 17 minutes per mile, fast enough that you can talk but not sing.
| Walking effort | Speed (mph) | Pace /mile |
|---|---|---|
| Strolling / casual | 2.0–2.5 | 24:00–30:00 |
| Average / everyday | 3.0–3.5 | 17:00–20:00 |
| Brisk / moderate exercise | 3.5–4.0 | 15:00–17:00 |
| Power walk / vigorous | 4.5+ | under 13:20 |
Typical adult walking paces. Brisk walking (about 3.5+ mph) is the threshold for moderate-intensity activity.
To turn a walked distance into a step count, or a step count into distance, use the steps to miles calculator — then bring the time back here to find your walking pace.
Even splits vs negative splits
A split is the time for one segment of a race — usually each mile or kilometre. How your splits are distributed across the race is your pacing strategy, and it has a measurable effect on your finish time.
The evidence is consistent: starting too fast and fading (a positive split) typically costs 1 to 3 percent of your potential time, while even or slightly negative pacing produces the best results for most runners. The practical takeaway is to use your calculated goal pace as a ceiling for the first half — discipline early buys speed late.
How this calculator works and sources
This pace calculator divides your total time by your distance to find pace, converting between minutes-and-seconds and decimal automatically, and reports speed as the reciprocal (distance ÷ time × 60). Finish-time projections multiply your pace by the standard race distance. All math runs in your browser — nothing you enter is sent to a server, logged, or shared — and every figure updates the instant you change an input.
Distance conversions use the fixed standard of 1 mile = 1.609344 kilometres. Standard race distances are 5K = 3.107 mi, 10K = 6.214 mi, half marathon = 13.109 mi, and marathon = 26.219 mi. Training-pace bands follow widely used coaching guidance (easy, threshold, interval, and race-pace zones).
USA Track & Field — official road race distances.Frequently asked questions about the free pace calculator
About this pace calculator
This pace calculator runs entirely in your browser. Every distance and time you enter stays on your device — nothing is sent to a server, logged, or shared. Pace is computed as total time ÷ distance, speed as its reciprocal, and minutes-and-seconds convert to and from decimal automatically, with every figure updating instantly on each change.
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