A clubmate named this runner taught me something about pacing without ever meaning to. I did not learn it from advice, I learned it from watching her finish long runs the same way she started them, week after week.
I compared how my pace feels now to how it felt in my very first year of running. The result was not the simple story of steady improvement I expected, and the injury year in between complicates it further.
I tried running by feel instead of watching my pace for a stretch of months. It was not a clean success story. Here is where it actually helped, where it got me into trouble, and what I do now instead.
There was a stretch of years when getting faster felt like the whole point of running. Here is what that pursuit actually cost me, and why I quietly let it go without turning it into a new kind of pride.
I have started too many long runs too fast, known exactly why it was a mistake, and done it again anyway. An honest look at a pacing habit I still have not fully fixed after years of trying.
Nine years in, my comfortable pace has drifted more than I expected, especially after a year off from injury. A look at how that shift actually happened, and what I have stopped expecting from it.