All my best parkrun times were without a watch

[OpenMe]

I'm a fairly experienced runner. Done 30+ HM, one full marathon and numerous shorter races. Race on average once a month. I take my running seriously and do pretty well in my age group with the occasional trophy.

I do parkrun most weeks and after having to have 5 weeks out due to illness at the end of last year am more or less back to where I was 18 months ago. All my best pr times and been "naked" without a watch, when I've just run the best I could by feel without worrying about the time/pace. I've run some good 10Ks that way too.

I'm doing a HM tomorrow (volunteering at pr today!). I'm wondering if I'm brave enough to try the HM without a watch. I feel in good shape, it's a fast course and I hope to do a good time. Usually in a HM I use the watch to make sure I don't go too fast in the early stages and to give me that push at the end if I'm close to the time I want. I'm wondering if it hinders more than helps and I should run without it, but am I brave enough to give it a go? If I mess up the pacing completely I'll be very disappointed as I do feel this could be "my" race.

A bit different but I recently stopped running with music for the first time since I took up running again 6 years ago. I was running a 10 mile race and something went wrong with my music at about halfway. I had to run the last half without and it was fine! More than fine - the second half was as strong as my first and I beat my target time :) I haven't run with music since and I've surprised myself as to how little I miss that crutch!

So I'd say give it a go! You've done lots of HMs so, even though you think it's the watch doing it, you know how to judge the race and how your body feels really well, probably very instinctively.

If it doesn't work, you'll know for next time. You'll be pissed off but you'll get over that. I'm sure you've dealt with race disappointment before!

And if it works, how exhilarating would that be? You'll have run your best ever purely on your own judgment and feeling :)

Go for it! Good luck! Let us know how you get on!

I'm not nearly as experienced as you but my position is that I mainly run for the freedom of it, for the great feeling afterwards both of which can be compromised by too much clock watching. That's for 5ks and sometimes 10ks though snd running socially; a close eye on the time got me a PB in a fastpaced half and a lack of close eye slightly buggered up my one and only marathon time -I went too slow at th beginning and too slow at the end. So I guess, it's a balance and depends on the individual race.