The half marathon (13.1 miles / 21.1 km) sits at the edge of true endurance racing — long enough to punish bad pacing and under-fueling, short enough that most trained runners can still reach the finish line running. That makes "what's a good half marathon time" one of the most useful benchmarks in distance running to get right.
How We Calculated These Numbers
Calibrated estimates, not race results from one dataset
We don't have a half marathon race dataset, so we built these numbers in two steps. First, for the shape of the age curve — how much slower the average 60-year-old is than the average 20-year-old, relatively speaking — we used our own Average 5K Time by Age data, projected with the Riegel endurance formula, T2 = T1 × (D2/D1)^1.06, the same method used for our average 10K times by age. A half marathon is 4.2 times longer than a 5K — past the roughly 3x range where Riegel's formula is generally considered reliable on its own — which is exactly why we don't stop at step one.
Second, for the overall level of the numbers, we anchored to real race data instead of trusting a raw 5K-to-half-marathon projection. We used RunRepeat's "The State of Running" analysis of 107.9 million race results from more than 70,000 events (data through 2018), which puts real average half marathon pace at 5:40/km for men and 6:22/km for women. We scaled every age-group time below by a single constant factor so the overall average matches that real-world figure, while keeping the relative shape from step one. In short: the shape comes from our own 5K data, the level comes from RunRepeat's real half marathon averages — see below for why we don't just project one distance straight from another. These are calibrated estimates, not measured half marathon results from a single dataset. We also kept the 5K source data's "60+" grouping as-is rather than inventing a 70+ split we have no basis for.
Why the Average 5K Is Slower Than the Average Half Marathon
It sounds backwards, but it's true: the average person running a 5K is slower, per kilometer, than the average person running a half marathon. RunRepeat's analysis of 107.9 million race results (through 2018) puts average 5K pace at 7:04/km for men and 8:18/km for women — both noticeably slower than the 5:40/km (men) and 6:22/km (women) average pace at the half marathon that we anchor this page to.
The reason isn't fatigue running backwards — it's who shows up. 5K start lines are full of first-timers, casual walk/run participants, and people doing a one-off charity event with little to no training. Half marathon start lines skew heavily toward runners who followed an actual training plan for months just to get there — almost nobody stumbles into 13.1 miles.
That's exactly why we can't just take average 5K finish times and mathematically project them forward to a half marathon using a formula like Riegel's. Riegel assumes the same runner slowing down over a longer distance — it says nothing about a different, more self-selected group of people toeing a very different start line. That's why the numbers on this page use the 5K data only for its age-to-age shape, with the overall pace level anchored to real half marathon race data instead.
Average Half Marathon Time for Men (By Age)
| Age Group | Avg. Half Marathon Finish Time | Pace / km | Pace / mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 - 29 | 1:47:10 | 5:05 /km | 8:10 /mile |
| 30 - 39 | 1:49:47 | 5:12 /km | 8:22 /mile |
| 40 - 49 | 1:54:22 | 5:25 /km | 8:43 /mile |
| 50 - 59 | 2:04:05 | 5:53 /km | 9:28 /mile |
| 60+ | 2:22:23 | 6:45 /km | 10:52 /mile |
Average Half Marathon Time for Women (By Age)
| Age Group | Avg. Half Marathon Finish Time | Pace / km | Pace / mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 - 29 | 1:58:43 | 5:38 /km | 9:03 /mile |
| 30 - 39 | 2:02:53 | 5:49 /km | 9:22 /mile |
| 40 - 49 | 2:07:54 | 6:04 /km | 9:45 /mile |
| 50 - 59 | 2:20:28 | 6:39 /km | 10:43 /mile |
| 60+ | 2:41:38 | 7:40 /km | 12:20 /mile |
Want to convert your own recent race result instead of relying on age-group averages? Try the race time predictor or plan a target pace with the pace calculator.
What Counts as a Good Half Marathon Time?
"Good" depends entirely on who you're comparing yourself to. Using the same 30-39 age bracket as a general adult reference point, here's roughly how the bands break down using our recalibrated figures, anchored to real half marathon race averages:
Competitive
Roughly the fastest 5% of adult 30-39 runners, in our calibrated half marathon figures.
Good
Roughly the fastest 20% of adult 30-39 runners, in our calibrated half marathon figures.
Average
The average time for adult 30-39 runners in our calibrated half marathon figures.
Beginner
Slower than the calibrated average — completely normal for a first half marathon.
How to Improve Your Half Marathon Time
Moving from the "Average" band into "Good" is mostly a matter of structured, consistent training and smart race-day execution rather than raw talent.
- Follow a real training block: A half marathon training guide for first-timers builds your long-run mileage gradually instead of guessing week to week.
- Learn to pace the middle miles: Most half marathon runners go out too fast. A running pace strategy keeps miles 6 through 10 even instead of fading over the closing 5K.
- Get your race-day fueling right: Unlike a 5K or 10K, a half marathon is long enough that fueling matters. A plan for carb-loading before a half marathon helps you avoid the late-race fade that ruins an otherwise good pacing plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is a 2 hour half marathon good?
- It depends more on your age and gender than it used to. A 2:00:00 half marathon (5:41/km or 9:09/mile pace) is close to our average for men in their 40s and a little faster than average for women in their 30s. Using the 30-39 general reference bands, it now falls into our "Beginner" range for men and the slower half of "Average" for women — a sign of how much faster real half marathon fields run once you stop projecting from a much less trained 5K population.
- What is a good half marathon time?
- It depends on your age and gender, but as a general framework using our recalibrated figures: beating roughly 1:49:47 (men) or 2:02:53 (women) is faster than average, breaking 1:26:38 (men) or 1:38:39 (women) puts you in the top 20% of a typical adult field, and dipping under 1:10:03 (men) or 1:21:22 (women) is genuinely competitive, age-group-podium territory. See the "What Counts as a Good Half Marathon Time" bands and the age-by-age tables above for your specific bracket.
- What is a good half marathon time for a 45 year old woman?
- The 40-49 bracket is the closest match for a 45 year old, where our figures put the average half marathon time for women at around 2:07:54. Beating that average, and getting closer to the 1:50-2:05 range, would count as a good time for that age group.
- How long does the average person take to run a half marathon?
- It varies a lot by age and gender, but our figures put the typical adult finish time somewhere between about 1:47 and 2:42 — younger men sit at the fast end of that range and older women at the slow end, with everyone else in between (see the tables above for your bracket). These numbers are anchored directly to real average half marathon pace data — RunRepeat's analysis of 107.9 million race results through 2018 — rather than a straight distance projection from 5K averages, so they should track real-world fields much more closely.
- What pace do I need to run a sub-2-hour half marathon?
- You need to average 5:41 per kilometer, or about 9:09 per mile, for the full 21.1 kilometers (13.1 miles). Our pace calculator and race time predictor can help you build a training plan around that target pace.
- Is a 1:45 half marathon good?
- Yes — 1:45:00 (4:59/km or about 8:01/mile) is a solid time. Using the 30-39 general reference bands, it now sits inside our "Average" band, near the faster end, for both men and women — a good, above-typical result, though no longer as rare as our old 5K-based projections implied now that these figures are anchored to real half marathon race averages.
- How much slower is a half marathon than a 10K?
- It's not simply your 10K pace held for another 11 kilometers — fatigue compounds over distance. We still use the Riegel formula to capture that relative pattern of slowdown across age groups, but we no longer use it to set the overall pace level for this page. The average finish times here are anchored to RunRepeat's real half marathon race data instead, because the average 5K field — walk/run beginners and casual entrants included — is a much less trained population than the average half marathon field, where nobody shows up by accident.
- Does half marathon time slow down with age?
- Yes, gradually. In our tables, the average half marathon time increases by several minutes with each decade, with the largest jump after age 50. That age-to-age shape comes from the pattern in our 5K averages — only the overall pace level has been recalibrated to real half marathon race data.