If john ran 5 kilometer marathon, how long was that in meters

5000 meters. The prefix kilo - denotes multiplication of 1000. Using this knowledge, a kilometer can be translated to 1000 meters. The units also each have a shorthanded symbol, kilometer is km and meter is m. 1 km = 1000m Using this, we can rewrite this equation to fit our problem 5 km = ? m Substitute in meters for kilometers. 5 (1000m) = 5000m Giving us the correct answer of 5000 meters.