Running is a lot of fun, and one of the ways to keep it fun is to participate in road races. It doesn’t matter if you are a fast runner or not. Road races are a great way to test your skills, see how you improve with your run, and can really be a social affair. Many runners have friends they only see at road races.

If you are a beginning runner, and a road racer, you may be confused by some of the terminology. Let’s go over some road racing terms.

First of all, you may not know exactly what a “K” is. You hear about 5K, 10K, etc. K stands for kilometer and there are 1.609344 kilometers in a mile. So a 5K run is 3.1 miles and a 10K run is 6.2 miles. These are the two most important uses of the “K” when you start running.

When you enter a race you may read that they have “chip timing”. This simply means that the race will time you with a chip that they will give you. The chip will measure your time from the start line to the finish line. The chips used to be linked to your program, but now many races are being incorporated into your numbers.

Which brings us to another word: bib. No, they don’t think you’ll be drooling while you run! The bib is your number. This is what you put in front with your individual number.

You may hear runners slow down before a race. This means you cut down on the mileage you’re running before race day so you’re fresh on the big day. The time you reduce depends on the length you are running. A marathon runner, for example, will write for a longer period of time than one who runs a 5K.

Divide your times into specific intervals, usually in miles. Your split times are how fast you are running each mile. You will also hear negative divisions. This means that you are running the second half of a race faster than the first half. And this time, the negative is a good thing!

A kick is what you hope to have when you cross the finish line! This means that you start to run a little faster as you get to the line, another good thing to do if you can!

There are more words you might hear when you start to think about running a road race. However, these are the ones you will hear the most. Hopefully this cleared up any confusion you may have had.