I love telling someone in America that you ran a 10K race. They proceed to say “Ooo how far is that?” you reply in a smug British way, hoping that they would ask, “it’s like 6 miles”.
It is hilarious that 10K races in the US are marked in miles. When you reach the 6 mile marker I am sure that everyone has already calculated the math; “yes! I only have 0.21371 miles or 1056 feet to go!”. Perhaps at the finish you hear, “So John, how did you fare in today’s footy race?” “Cheerio Sam! I completed the 6.21371 miles in 0.00198413 Fortnights! A new personal record! Gave a good sprint the last furlong.” Translated to the rest of the world “I ran 10 km in 40 minutes”.
Breaking 40 min. in a 10K is huge deal for many athletes. So how do you train for this using the imperial system? Well, you need to run 6 x 6:26 (minute) miles and then the last 0.21371 miles in less than 1:18. Training for the sub 40 min. 10K in the metric system each Km is run in 4:00 or less
Looking at history, it seems everyone had this obsession with crazy nonsensical units of measurement; There was the Roman Mile, the Chinese Mile, the Nautical mile, the Italian mile..etc.
I don't think anyone today disputes the fact that the metric system is much more logical than the imperial system. The British spitefully rejected this extremely logical system simply because the French invented it. Well, at least they had a reason. America on the other hand, we have no excuse. We fought an epic war to get out from under the smug British rule yet, we continue to use the illogical imperial system despite the crucial help from the French, not to mention the weird statue gift they gave us.
History is not the reason I have switched to the metric system. I switched simply because it saves me time in planning workouts and it helps me race more efficiently. But the history of it is funny.... :)