I may be slightly unique among distance runners: I prefer to run my races without a watch. That's right. No watch. Nothing. This is my watch-less wrist: My watch tan, in all it's shameful glory I rely on my torn-up Timex Ironman for my everyday training, and like most runners I'm probably a bit of a slave to the clock. But come race time, the watch is off. Why? Isn't that unnerving? How do you know if you're on or off pace? If races are all about finishing time, shouldn't the watch be a necessary tool? I've actually found -- and this is my own personal experience, mind you -- that I've run worse when I worry about the watch than when I just run. I get nervous and worried about hitting my splits, staying ahead of target pace, keeping my effort within the ideal range...and inevitably, what ends up happening? I start out too quick (to get ahead of pace; in case, you know, I fall off later), then fall off pace later (because I started out to...
Inside the mind and legs of a sub-elite distance runner