title: storing durations (timespans) in sql server
body: <p>I have to store a duration in a SQL Server 2008 database. How is this usually done?</p>
  
  <p>For example I will have to be able to store values like: 5 minutes, 8 hours, 10 days, etc.</p>
  
  <p>I was thinking to store it in a smalldatetime field as mindatetime + timespan. Or maybe as an int representing an offset to some minimum date.</p>
  
  <p>Anyone has any experience with this?</p>