2:57 per km — marathon in 2:04:29, 20.34 km/h

Running 2:57 per kilometre is 20.34 km/h. Hold it and the half comes in at 1:02:14, the marathon at 2:04:29.

Finish times

These assume you hold the pace from gun to tape. Most runners drift slower in the second half, so leave a margin when setting a target.

5K: 14:45
10K: 29:30
Half: 1:02:14
Marathon: 2:04:29

Speed: 20.34 km/h
Metres per second: 5.65 m/s
Pace per mile: 4:45
One lap (400 m): 1:11

What this pace breaks

The cut-offs are tighter than they look: a sub-4 marathon needs 5:41 per kilometre, and one second slower puts you over four hours.

sub-20 min 5K · yessub-25 min 5K · yessub-30 min 5K · yessub-50 min 10K · yessub-60 min 10K · yessub-100 min Half · yessub-2h Half · yessub-3h Marathon · yessub-3:30h Marathon · yessub-4h Marathon · yessub-5h Marathon · yes

Nearby paces

Pace per km	Half	Marathon
2:52	1:00:29	2:00:58
2:53	1:00:50	2:01:40
2:54	1:01:11	2:02:22
2:55	1:01:32	2:03:04
2:56	1:01:53	2:03:46
2:57	1:02:14	2:04:29
2:58	1:02:35	2:05:11
2:59	1:02:56	2:05:53
3:00	1:03:18	2:06:35
3:01	1:03:39	2:07:17
3:02	1:04:00	2:07:59

The half and the full are not round numbers

A marathon is 42.195 km and a half is 21.0975 km. Rounding to 42 km costs you about a minute at a 5:00 pace — small, but enough to miss a target.

How to read this

Pace is the time for one kilometre, so a smaller number means faster.
To get speed, divide 3600 by the pace in seconds: 300 s gives 12 km/h.
A finish time is simply the pace multiplied by the distance.
Mile pace is kilometre pace times 1.609344.

Frequently asked questions

Q. What marathon time does 2:57 per km give?

2:04:29. The half comes in at 1:02:14, the 10K at 29:30 and the 5K at 14:45.

Q. How fast is 2:57 per km in km/h?

20.34 km/h, or 5.65 metres per second.

Q. What is that per mile?

4:45, because a mile is 1.609344 km.

Q. And one lap of the track?

1:11 for 400 m.