Half Marathon Pacing Half marathon pace chart: 1:30 to 3:00

Half marathon pace chart

Each row shows the pace per mile and per km for that finish time, plus where you'd be at 5K, 10K, and 10 miles running it evenly. Goal times from 1:30 to 2:30 link to a 12-week plan built for that goal.

Half marathon = 13.1094 miles (21.0975 km). Times rounded to the nearest second, at even pace. Courses that run long, hills, and weaving through crowds will add a little.

Your goal isn't in the chart? Here's the half marathon pace calculator in one line: divide your goal time in minutes by 13.11 for your pace per mile, or by 21.1 for your pace per km. A 2:15 goal is 135 minutes, and 135 ÷ 13.11 = 10.30 minutes, or 10:18 a mile. (Multiply the decimal by 60 to get the seconds.)

Slower than 2:30, or running your first half? A first-half plan fits better than a time-goal plan, like the 16-Week Run Your First Half Marathon on 3 days a week. And the 5K, 10K, and 10-mile columns are your checkpoints on race day. Glance at your watch as you pass each one and you'll know right away whether you're on pace, ahead, or behind.

How do you pace a half marathon evenly?

In January 2007, Ryan Hall pulled away early at the Houston Half Marathon and ran most of the race accompanied only by the race's lead vehicles. No one was there to pace off. His first mile took 4:38. He reached 10 miles in 45:33, an average of 4:33 a mile, and finished in 59:43, still 4:33 a mile. That broke the American record of 1:00:55, which had stood since 1985. "I was just going with the race pace I could maintain," he said.

You'll be running a few minutes a mile slower, but his race is the whole idea of the chart. Your best half usually comes from a pace you can hold all the way, not from a fast start you have to pay back later.

Even pacing is harder than it sounds, because the first miles of a half feel easy. You're rested from the lighter final weeks, the crowd is loud, and goal pace feels like a jog. Here's my advice for race day:

Run the first mile a little slow. 10 to 15 seconds slower than goal pace is fine. You'll make it up without noticing.

Check in at 5K and 10K. Compare your watch to the chart. Right on? Keep going. More than a minute ahead? Ease off now, while it's cheap.

On hills, hold the effort, not the pace. You'll slow on the way up and get it back on the way down.

Save the brave miles for the end. If you still feel good at mile 10, that's the time to speed up.

Pacing is a skill, and it gets better with practice. Runners with more races behind them tend to pace their marathons more evenly, which is one reason coaches suggest a 5K or 10K tune-up as rehearsal. So are the goal-pace runs late in a good half plan. Run them, then look at your splits afterward. Even splits mean you've found the feel. A fast first mile and a fading last one means you're still learning it, and that's what practice is for.

How do you pick a realistic goal time?

Peter Riegel was a research engineer in Columbus, Ohio, who worked on deep-sea diving equipment and air flow in coal mines. He also helped measure marathon courses, and in 1977 he proposed a formula in Runner's World that predicts a race time from one you've already run. It's still widely used, because it's simple and it works.

Here's the simple version for a half. Multiply a recent 10K time by about 2.2, or a recent 5K by about 4.6. A 1-hour 10K points to a half of about 2:12. A 30-minute 5K points to about 2:18. Find the nearest row in the chart, and you have a starting goal.

Coach Greg McMillan, whose race calculator is a favorite with runners, adds two useful cautions. The closer the distances, the better the guess: "a recent 5K time is a better predictor of 10K performance than it is for a marathon," he writes. And the prediction assumes you've trained for the distance you're predicting. Get those right, he says, and "You'll be able to set more realistic race goals and judge an appropriate race pace better."

So a recent 10K is a better guide than an old 5K, and either works only once you've done the long runs. Here's how I'd choose:

Running your first half? Pick a finish, not a time. Run the first 10 miles at a pace that feels comfortable, and let the chart tell you afterward what you ran. Your next half gets a goal.

Have a recent race? Use the 2.2 or 4.6 shortcut, then pick the next slower row. You can always speed up after mile 10.

Somewhere in the middle of a plan? Your training tells you more than any formula. Most of your weekly miles should be easy, well slower than race pace, and that's normal. The goal-pace sessions are the test: if they feel controlled, the goal fits. If you're hanging on every time, move down a row. A goal that fits is the one you'll enjoy chasing.

Time goals take fuel, too. Goal-pace sessions and long runs go better when you've eaten for them, and under-fueling your training stalls the gains you're working for.

Each goal from 1:30 to 2:30 in the chart links to a Buena Vida plan built for it. Popular third-party goal plans have my review too, like Runner's World's Break 2:00 and Hal Higdon's Novice 1 for first-timers. And the half marathon plans page compares the rest.

What should you eat to hold your goal pace?

In January 2022, Sara Hall ran the Houston Half Marathon in 1:07:15 and took 10 seconds off the US record. She was 38, and it was the same course where her husband, Ryan Hall, set his record in 2007. A few months earlier, she'd told Just Women's Sports that her top nutrition goal is eating enough to sustain each training session. "You need not only to fuel well to finish that effort, but you also need to fuel enough to recover quickly," she said.

That's the part of food most runners skip. The chart gives you the pace, and your everyday eating decides whether your legs can hold it. Training on too little food blunts what the training does for you, so the goal-pace runs that should get easier stay hard. Here's what eating for a half plan looks like:

Eat enough on training days. Active people need more carbs and protein than people who sit all day, and your running days need the most. Losing weight too? Take a modest deficit from the week as a whole, not from the long-run day, because big deficits raise the odds of getting sick and of bone injuries.

Match food to the day. Long-run and goal-pace days get more carbs. Rest days are normal eating, not skipped meals.

Refuel after you run. A meal with carbs and some protein refills your legs for the next run. That's Hall's point about recovering quickly.

Spread protein through the day. Some at each meal gives your muscles what they need to repair from the miles.

Know the signs of under-eating. Legs that never feel fresh, workouts that get harder instead of easier, paces that stall, catching more colds, sleeping badly, and feeling cranky are all on the International Olympic Committee's list of signs that an athlete isn't eating enough. If a few sound familiar, look at your food before you blame your fitness.

Race day itself takes much less thought. A half needs far less fuel than a marathon, and the FAQ below covers gels.