Is 10k the perfect distance?

10K is pretty dang good. If I had to choose only one distance to race for the rest of my life it'd be either 10K or 10Miles. 10miles is pretty good, too, long enough to be satisfying but short enough that recovery downtime isn't significant. Probably choose 10K though.

I like the mile/1500, the 10K, and the marathon.

The in between races are all a bit tougher to run all-out in my opinion -- the mix of pace + distance is just a bit rough. For a long time, my half PR was only about 1 minute quicker than the second half of my PR marathon. That few seconds per mile really hurts, I guess. My best distance is probably 5000, but I just find it to be brutal the whole way. Luckily it's short enough to just push through. The half leaves a lot of time for doubt and apathy to creep in.

Back in the running boom days there were many 10 mile road races. Then as those boomers started aging the distance was reduced to 10k and then a bit later to 5k. I really liked running the 10 mile races. I wasn't very fast, but had tons of endurance. I could run down guys in the last mile or two over 10 miles. This became harder to do as the distance decreased. 62:00 flat was my pr. in case anyone was wondering. This race was run on July 4th, 10:00 am, full sun mid 90's. I hurt really bad for the rest of the day. My most serious pain was in my bowels. I'm not sure why, but it felt like I had to go, however nothing ever happened. Anyone else ever experience this?

10k is the ugliest disctance you can imagine. If you start too fast, it is a long way from 4km mark to finish. It can hurt brutally. But still interesting :)

I was a 400-800-1500m guy, but as I got older and raced road races, I always preferred 10 mile races as well. You can run fast, you can chase/hunt people down and have the the time and distance to do it, and even kick more than a HM where you're hanging on. It's a distance you can compete in. Also nice to do splits in your head and translate splits to final time. 5:30 pace= 55 minutes.

It'd be an awesome Olympic race distance.

As an aside, I think it'd be cool if some years certain race distances were targeted. Like, what if 2023 was focused on 10-miles for the roads and 3000m for the track or something. Athletes could train specifically for these races and aim to lower WR's.

I'm solidly Genx but it wasn't "boomers" that reduced the races, it was race organizers. 10k is an Olympic distance, therefore they started racing it on the roads.

10M is a great distance, if anyone has a chance to run the Cherry Blossom 10M in DC do so, it is a great event.

10 k is my preferable distance, but half marathon is my key races as I only do a couple every year and go abroad to fast courses. But I would really like to race a 15 k. But it's not a common distance here in Norway. Actually, it's not a distance at all!

I started running during the tail end of the boom (my first 10K was 1986 at age 9) and I was running a dozen or more races a year by 1988 until the mid 1990s and my observation is that the older races were more likely to follow the natural course opportunity and were less concerned with distance. Litchfield Hills which started in 1977 is 7.1 miles as that allows for the same start and finish area downtown and options are limited due to the arts fair that it coincides with.

Falmouth Road Race first run in 1973 is 7 miles and was chosen because of two specific locations.

The Hingham 4th of July race is 4.47 miles, it has been run since 1959 and starts at a middle school which affords plenty of parking and goes down Main Street where it ends in the middle of downtown.

The Montauk Turkey Trot run since 1976 offers a 3 or 6 mile option (not 5/10K) as that is the distance of the loop that starts and ends downtown and allows for minimum road closures.

There are certainly plenty of older races at standard distances like 10K, 12K, and 10 miles but I think it is rare to have a newer race that isn't a 5K, 10K, 15K, 5 mile, 10 mile or half / full marathon. What's also different is the offering of multiple distances for one race. So many races today have a longer distance and a 5K option and 5K, and 10K and half marathon options are pretty common too as is just a 5K and 10K.

I agree with an earlier poster that 10 mile races are super fun, I also like races that allow doubles i.e. run the 5K at 7 and then a 10K at 8 or something like that.

I agree. I'm a hobby jogger. Marathon is too long, too boring, requires too much time investment for training. A 5k is too hot unless you are in school doing legit training with a team. 10k is a perfect distance for an endurance race. That's my opinion.

10k on a track should be illegal