Why Pace Isn’t Everything
Like most runners, I live for those runs where I feel strong and fast. I love to see impressive mile splits when my Garmin chirps to let me know I’ve completed another mile. I’d be lying if I told you I don’t think about and focus on my training paces and race pace a lot.
But pace isn’t everything. Far from it.
I was on an airplane on Sunday flying home to Tampa from Seattle. I was sitting comfortably in my window seat, donning my Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon finisher’s shirt under my jacket. My favorite playlist was queued and ready to go. Book in hand. Laptop nearby. And then he sat down next to me … a man that while kind and well-meaning, was the last person that I wanted to talk to about running once I heard the first words uttered from his lips.
Man: Did you run the race this weekend.
Me: Yes.
Man: Did you run under 4 hours?
Me: I ran the half marathon.
Man: Did you run under 2 hours?
Me: Yes.
Man: What was your time?
Me: Thinking to myself in my head before politely sharing my time… I am about to exercise my running self-defense tactics on your ass.
There was no “Where are you from?” “How was the course?” “How did you like running in Seattle?” “Was the race hard?” “How long have you been running?” Nope. His interest was solely in my finishing time, and he was going to make a judgement about what kind of runner I was based on an arbitrary threshold of 2 hours.
Would I or any other runner have been a failure if our time was greater than 2 hours? Of course not. That’s the most ridiculous thing I could imagine. I ran with women last weekend that had incredible personal best races that were much higher than 2 hours. I also ran with women whose easy pace is my half marathon PR.
No matter how fast or slow we run, we all experience the same exact things – the struggle of getting through hard miles, the mental games we play and have to tame in our heads, the will to keep going even when we want to stop. Effort isn’t dictated by pace. Effort is dictated by effort. Everyone who finishes a race and pushes through discomfort and keeps going, keeps digging is a huge success. First or last, fast or slow. It’s all relative and it’s all awesome.
Don’t get me wrong, I still care about pace. Pace is an important guide in training and helps us dictate easy days, recovery runs, tempo speeds and interval paces. Pace does matter, but only for each of us as individuals, not as a judgement about our running abilities. Don’t forget that.
The man on the plane turned out to be a very nice gentleman. Despite running a few half marathons, he was only looking at running through what he knows. He had good intentions. Here are some questions you or loved ones who don’t run much could ask other runners about a recent race without asking about pace or time:
- Was this your first time running the race? What did you think of it?
- How did you like running in [city]? What was the best part?
- How was the course? Was it hilly? Flat?
- How did you feel? Were you pleased with your race?
- Are you running any other races this year?
Do you allow your running pace to dictate how you feel about your success? What other questions would you add to my list to ask someone about a race other than pace/time?
Comments
Love this post!
Love this post!
I try to not let my pace bug me too much. What I like to see is an improvement. Sometimes that can mean pace and sometimes that can mean my form/how I felt during the race. Although my 10K/5K times are decent my half/marathon times are definitely a bit slower. But every year I knock off more time and during my last half marathon, I actually felt more like I was racing it than surviving it.
There was recently an article posted either on RW or WR about pace/time vs distance. I am a new runner, really only been running for about a year or two. I thought you had to be fast and go far. I follow a lot of blogs and their splits are just so much faster than what I have even PR’d. But after reading that article I realized its ok to want to work for one goal instead of trying to reach for both at the same time (atleast that is what I took away from it) Ever since I decided that I was going to focus on distance it has made running for me less daunting and I can focus more on the challenge of pushing myself farther than I have before. I have set my sights on my first half this year and it will be the Rock N Roll in my hometown of San Antonio. Kuddos for the race! I hope to be able to post about my achievement by the end of year!
I second that- Love this post! So well said.
This is an amazing and thoughtful post. Very well said and a great reminder to all of us to appreciate and cherish every race no matter the time.
LOVE this post! I hate how caught up we get in numbers. I recently ran a half that was well off my best time. However, it was a successful race–I ran smart, I won my age group, and most importantly, I had a great time. The numbers didn’t even begin to phase me. I wish we could all reframe our mindset on this one.
Great post, and one I really needed to read! Thanks for sharing Jes!
Thank you for this! I so needed to read this today. I’ve been training for a PR next month and it just feels so out of reach. Thank you for the reminder that running is about progress and about joy – not just about pace times.
Since I’ve been training and learning about paces just six weeks ago, this post is a very timely reminder of not get obsessed about the numbers. Thank you!
Great post! Thank you, it was much needed.
When people find out that I run or we talk about running in a group, the first question people ask, “Are you fast?” How do I answer that?! I am faster than my group of friends and my husband, but I am not an elite runner. I don’t race often and have never made the podium, but I am happy with my pace and am thrilled when I get faster. My pace is mine and I work hard for it!
you are so right. pace is completely relative! when i get stuck on comparing paces and PRs, i always remind myself that “comparison is the thief of joy.” here’s to competing with ourselves and not reducing running to pace!
Great post and so right on, everyone has a reason, a journey that puts one foot in front of the other, i cheer just as hard for the 1 finisher as i do for the anchor person; sometimes the greatest joy isn’t in the front of the race, it is in the back 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful post Jesica. I had tears in my eyes as it hit hard at home. I just completed Eagleman 70.3 on Sunday and hoped to finish under 6 hours. It took 6:53 as it was 95 degrees and 108 heat index. My half marathon pace was 50 minutes LONGER than my PR half marathon (non 70.3). But this was by far the HARDEST race I had ever done in my life, and much harder than last year’s 70.3 where I finished at 6:05. I cried in the first mile of the run as I literally could not get my legs going in the heat, and my heart rate was out of the ballpark. I finally got the feeling back in my legs by mile 2, got my HR down, and just looked at the ground and trudged on to the next aid station. I then ran in between each aid station, whereas many people were walking (10% of the women in my age group alone did not finish the race). So yes, my time on the run sucked, but I stuck through the hardest race in my life and did not give up. As someone else said “What makes you a winner is not the time, or who is in front of you or behind you. The mere fact that you felt the pain, fought through it, and then fought through it, this is what creates the winner.” Great post as always!
I am not my pace! Love this post.
LOVE this post! I am a very numbers-oriented thinker, so I can get too easily wrapped up in pace. But my pace does not make me any more or less of a runner than anyone else who runs. I really like the questions you suggested at the end—so much more personal!
I love this post! I took a 4 year hiatus from running because I couldn’t run a pace that I arbitrarily deemed to be “running.” Since I gave up that hang-up, I’ve run hundreds of training miles slower than my arbitrary “running” pace and raced faster and longer than I ever would have believed to be possible! I hope someone like my former self reads your post and is inspired to lace up their kicks and RUN!
I will never be considered fast by most standards, if I let what that man thought about pace dictate my success I would be a failure, so instead I enjoy focusing on my own improvement. That is all you can do.
This is a great topic and one where it can have many different thoughts and opinions based on who you talk to. I believe like you said, while pace is a important guide, it is not the end all, be all of running. I ran a half marathon last Saturday and knew there was no way I was going to PR after having just returned from taking three months off because of a nasty case of plantar fasciitis. My longest run prior to the race was just seven miles. After the race was over, I was 14 minutes off my PR, but, was just as happy and perhaps even more satisfied with my result considering the lack of fitness I had to even try the distance. I knew, considering my training prior to the race, what I had just accomplished was just as rewarding, if not more so than my PR.
Hi Tim, Congrats on your race. It sounds like we both went into our recent races with similar expectations. I’m glad you had a good day given your good perspective. I’ve found that over many years of running, sometimes the races we remember most and teach us the most are rarely the ones in which we were our fastest. Good luck on the climb back up to your top performance … and hope that plantar fascitis is behind you 🙂
As you might guess, I *really* love this post. Thank you for sharing! And I seriously dig the suggestions for alternate questions — I use some of them already, but am snagging a few others going forward.
Kristen, Congrats again on your stellar race in Seattle. I am still so pumped for you! Can’t wait to see what you will do next and looking forward to catching up next time I’m in the Sarasota area. Florida reunion! xo
[…] from Runladylike ponders why Pace Isn’t Everything and how we can assess the value of a run based on more than just numbers. She also offers some […]
Ahh!! I go crazy when the first thing that comes out of people’s mouth is “what was your time”. I always ask, how was your race and if they share their time, they share. I figure I can always stalk their time later if I care that much 🙂 I also find more males ask times versus female friends.
The most important, it to go out there and RUN 🙂