A Word About Pace

When I first started running, I didn't give a whole lot of thought to my times or to my pace. Running was about finishing a certain distance, regardless of the time required. At some point, however, pace became more important to me. It became the standard by which I measured myself against other runners. It also allowed me to judge my compatability with running friends.

When you run with other people, one of the first questions they ask is "so what pace do you run at?" If you don't know the answer to that question, it is likely because you are new to running and have not given it much thought. Pace is, literally, the speed at which you run a mile. Your pace can vary depending on the length of a particular race. For example, my pace in the 2013 Virginia Is For Lovers 14K was about 8:16 minutes per mile. For most people, that's a pretty fast pace and it translated into a nice new PR beating my 2012 time by a whopping 22 minutes. On the other hand, my marathon pace in Richmond was almost 2 minutes per mile slower and was designed to allow me to finish the 26.2 mile course. In short, you adjust your pace to suit your running objective.

When you run with a group, you may want to adjust your pace to allow you to keep up with the group. Most running groups have members that run at a wide variety of paces, so it is not hard to pair off with a compatible runner. I have also found that running with others, who have a faster pace, can also help you increase your pace. My Garmin helps me adjust my pace to finish my races successfully and with the occasional PR. Now that I know what pace is, I like it!