Road running
Road running is competitive running over paved public roads, usually in organized races ranging from 5 kilometres to the marathon and beyond.
Marathon: A road race covering 42.195 kilometres, standardized in the early twentieth century. Its distance is road running’s best-known long-distance race format.
Road course measurement: The surveying and certification of road-race courses to verify their stated distances. Accurate measurement makes record claims and race distances comparable.
Pedestrianism: A popular form of competitive walking and running, especially in Britain and the United States during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its professional contests helped establish organized racing on public routes.
Track and field: A collection of running, jumping, throwing, and walking events, usually held on an athletics track or field. Track races use a standardized oval rather than public-road courses.
Half marathon: A road race covering 21.0975 kilometres, exactly half the marathon distance. It offers a widely contested distance between shorter races and the marathon.
Chip timing: An electronic race-timing method that records an athlete’s time using a transponder and course detection points. It captures individual elapsed times even when runners cross the start line at different moments.
Boston Marathon: An annual marathon first held in 1897 in Boston, Massachusetts. Its long history helped make the marathon a defining road-racing event.
Cross-country running: Competitive distance running over natural terrain, often on grass, mud, or woodland courses. Its changing surfaces and terrain distinguish it from paved-road racing.
10K run: A running race covering 10 kilometres, commonly held on roads. It is a standard road-racing distance that rewards both speed and endurance.
Pacing (running): The management of running speed and effort over a race or training session. Even effort helps runners balance early speed against the demands of the finishing kilometres.