I want to talk about running, and especially, running FAST. Or slow. In other words – what pace you run at and how that pace is perceived.
When I started running I had no idea about pace. I was pretty sure I ran slowly, but only when I really thought about it. Pace just didn’t come into it. In fact, the first time I worried about time – or even considered it – was when I ran my first half marathon. It was the Two Oceans half, in 2004. And the reason for worrying? The cut-off was 2hr35… and I had run a longest rub of about 8 or 9 km, about 4 months prior to the race. So making the cut was a genuine concern! But nothing comparable. Not “am I slow/fast relative to other runners?” or “am I running at a good pace?”
Now, though, I hear a lot of that. A lot of “is this a good pace?” And what I want to know is how do you answer that? Is there really a good pace, or is it entirely relative? A colleague, who is a relatively new runner, told me that her brother (an exceptional athlete with a 10 km PB of 36mins!) advised her that a realistic and achievable 10 km goal for women is between 50-60 minutes. Now, I remember my first sub-60 10 km and it felt like a hell of an achievement. And I would have thought that sub-55 was FAST. Maybe I see pace with a skewed perspective??
So then I did a quick Twitter poll of other women runners, and it seemed that there was some consensus. Obviously the length of the run and the course (uphill, downhill, flat, trail, road, etc.) plays a big difference. But for a non-elite, average running woman, over an average road half marathon course, people seemed to feel that around 2hr 15 +- 15 mins was what could conceivably be claimed as a “good” time. Then however, the pace demon reared its head and a “twar” erupted, with some Twitter trolls shaming one of the respondents – claiming that she was fabricating a faster half marathon time for herself than she actually had achieved. I mean, really? What is wrong with people? WHY does it matter (unless of course you are winning the race or claiming a record) whether someone runs faster or slower, and why does it matter what they say they run? Is there some kind of competition amongst recreational athletes? The whole thing boggles my mind.
Here’s the thing: inevitably, when a group run is being planned by women who don’t know each other that well, you will hear a chorus of “warning, I am slow!” or “I’m not sure I will be fast enough for the rest of you” or “I don’t want to slow you down too much”… from everyone! No-one says “I am feeling fit, and strong, and am confident that I am going to kill this run”. No-one says “ I am an experienced runner, who has been running distance for over 12 years, with multiple marathons and ultra-marathons behind me, and so I will lead this run”. No… it’s all about pace.
A runner I know spent a year trying her hardest to make the “D” seeding category from Two Oceans Half, and being incredibly disappointed and frustrated that she was always just outside it. I asked her why she was determined to get to D, and she claimed it was because she would lose too much time starting further back. I couldn’t understand it – at OMTOM, each seeding category has its own start time, so starting at the front of E is probably a quicker start than losing a few minutes by starting at the back of D (this didn’t use to be the case – in fact, one year I took nearly 9 mins to get over the start line of the half, I think, before they split the starts). And what I kept asking was why, if you are clearly not running at the pace of the D athletes, would you want to start among them? You’ll set off too fast, be pushed too hard… wouldn’t you want to start with other runners of the same speed as you? But let the pot not call the kettle black. On running my fastest every 10km in 2015, I immediately thought “yes, I have made it into C seeding!” even though I wasn’t even doing the OMTOM half the next year. So yup, I was in exactly the same boat; delighted to have made it into a seeding group, for a race I wasn’t running, at a pace I couldn’t maintain, meaning a run that I wasn’t doing but that I would hate every second of. What does go on in our minds?!
Once again, the perception of “pace trumps all” was off-kilter with the rest of the running experience, which I have found to be very welcoming and encouraging of everyone – all ages, shapes, sizes, genders, experiences levels, and – yes – paces.
I think of my very fast running friends, whose goal is to increase their distance so they can finally run their first half marathon. I think of my endurance running friends, who can run for hours but who desperately worry whether they will make the 3 hour half marathon cut-off each race. I think about race cut-offs themselves, and what that means for people. Is someone who took 15 hours to do 42.2 km entitled to claim they are a “marathoner”? Where does one draw the line? What about when someone’s pedometer racks up 42.2 km, can they then claim a marathon? Should the cut-off remain to ensure that the race is even more of an achievement and a specific goal to work towards?
So this was more of a ramble, a vent, a collection of unanswered questions, than anything else. I think it’s appropriate that I leave it very much with a TBC….
wifemomtriathlete 