Sub-2:25 Half Marathon

Mile-by-mile splits for 2:25:00

The half marathon punishes early bravery less brutally than the marathon, but it still punishes it. The even-split table below holds 11:04 per mile for all 13.1 miles and passes halfway at 1:12:30 on the way to 2:25:00. Treat those numbers as a ceiling for the opening miles, not a target to beat.

The negative-split version opens at 11:10 per mile through halfway (1:13:14) and closes at 10:57. Over 13 miles that is a small, survivable debt to take on early and a large psychological win to collect late — you spend the last three miles passing people instead of being passed.

Even splits — 11:04 per mile

Even pacing: 11:04 per mile for all 13.1 miles, finishing in 2:25:00.

Slight negative split — 11:10 out, 10:57 home

One percent either side of even: 11:10 per mile through halfway (1:13:14), then 10:57 home. Same 2:25:00 finish. The mile that straddles halfway blends both paces.

Per kilometre — 6:52 per km

Even pacing in metric: 6:52 per kilometre across 21.1 km.

Are you ready for a sub-2:25 half marathon?

Equivalent times are computed from the rounded VDOT of 29.1, so the half marathon row lands within a few seconds of 2:25:00 rather than exactly on it. That is rounding, not a different prediction.

The table above is information, not permission — you do not need anyone's clearance to chase this. To finish under 2:25:00 you need an average of 11:04 per mile, and you should already be capable of roughly a 31:28 5K or a 1:05:28 10K. If your recent racing sits near those times, the speed is already in the bank; what remains is teaching your legs to spend it for 13.1 miles in a row.

Here is the half marathon's kindest secret: at this rung the pace is entirely on your side. 11:04 per mile sits comfortably clear of your threshold of 10:33, so race day is not about surviving intensity — it is about endurance built in advance. Long runs that creep patiently toward two hours, easy days genuinely easy at 12:36, and walk breaks written into the plan rather than begged for late will carry you under 2:25:00 with room to spare. The distance respects preparation far more than it respects bravery.

Sub-2:25 is where the half becomes a fuelled event. Across nearly two and a half hours, energy stops being something you have and becomes something you schedule, and the difference between a strong and a sorry final three miles is usually a decision made in the first half hour. The pacing is friendly — 11:04 per mile, 1:12:30 at halfway, walk breaks welcome inside the average — and the equivalent fitness is a 31:28 5K, secured by easy miles at 12:36 rather than anything fierce. Eat early, drink on schedule, finish telling the story.

Where do you stand right now?

Enter a race you have actually run and this will tell you where you stand against the 29.1 VDOT a sub-2:25 half marathon requires — your score, the target, and the gap. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.

Training paces for a sub-2:25 half marathon

These are day-one paces for the 29.1 VDOT behind a sub-2:25 half marathon. The one that matters most is the easy pace of 12:36 per mile — slower than you think it should be, and the single biggest reason people arrive on race day healthy instead of injured.

Easy pace is a range rather than a point — Daniels defines it as 59–74% of VO₂max, which for the fitness behind a sub-2:25 half marathon runs from 12:05 to 14:20 per mile. The single easy figure below is the 70% value.

Sub-2:25 half marathon FAQ