# Doper runners: distance or time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-runners-distance-or-time/611957>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [February 6, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-runners-distance-or-time/611957 "2012-02-06T09:30:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-runners-distance-or-time/611957/21 "2012-02-08T16:39:43Z")

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Distance, for the same reason some others have put forth: Ultimately I need to end up back at home, and stopping at some arbitrary location presents logistical inconveniences.

I generally set off on a known-distance loop. I also have a pretty good idea of the pace I’ll run, so time and distance are strongly correlated - as **kenobi 65** said, the distance I choose is based on several factors including available time.

I could pretty easily do an out-and-back with the turnaround at some particular time (half of my goal time if I want to assume constant speed), but I don’t often do that out of what could be called laziness: I like to know how fast I was going, which requires knowledge of the distance. I measure my runs’ distances by the (relatively) old-school technique of Google Maps on a PC, which isn’t terribly hard but does require a few minutes of effort. I find it easier just to do one of a my already-“measured” loops than messing around online to get the distance of my just-completed run every time.

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**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-runners-distance-or-time/611957/22 "2012-02-08T16:57:42Z")

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**brad\_d** pretty much described what I do. My first goal is to cover a certain route where I already know the distance, and then to do it at a decent pace.

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