Endurance (and a dead GPS watch) really does bring speed!

For most of my life, running was a form of torture. The day we had to do the 1-mile fitness test in school was always the worst day of the year for me. But about a year ago, I decided to learn to run, with the goal of running a 5k all the way through without walking. I cried the first time I made it. I did a couple more races, and improved each time -- from ~42 to ~35 minutes, and then decided to train for a half marathon -- just to say I did it, and because I figured, if endurance brings speed, a half marathon should make my 5k much faster. My goal is to run a 5k in under 30 minutes.

Fast forward to last weekend: I ran my first half marathon. Yay! But instead of taking a rest from running this week, I decided to do a 5k to see how much I've improved. As I was getting ready to leave the house today, I grabbed my GPS watch, which had been plugged in charging... only to find it was totally dead. For me, this is like running naked. I panicked. Then I decided to use it as an opportunity not to be chained to what I think my pace "should" be, and just go all out.

And you know what? I knocked 4.5 minutes off my 5k. Four point five minutes, for a 30:54. I can hardly believe it!! Now I'm wondering how much more I could have been pushing myself if I hadn't been using my watch to track (i.e., limit) my pace -- was I holding myself back? Has anyone else had this issue, where tracking your pace ends up limiting what you think can do?