Personal best

[Tjcp]

I know the answer already but I thought I'd put it out there... If you stop during a run/race (in my case a half marathon) to go for a pee, and my app pauses when I stop, does your final time count as a personal best? You did it in your fastest time but you also had a 'rest' so it shouldn't count, should it?

[AlMorr Half Marathon]

Try and "go" before the run begins, if you go during the run I don't see any problem in pausing the timer when you go for a 😂in one of the portable loos that the organisers install along the route. 😊

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to AlMorr]

Not easy in a HM... I had to pee at the 1K point and I had to go into a loo and not pee en route in the bushes or foliage as did some of the male runners ... I forgot to pause my Garmin.. it would have been a faster finishing time if I stopped my Garmin obviously...

You have to make your own decision

[Tjcp Half Marathon in reply to AlMorr]

I went for a pee many times as it was chilly and I was nervous/excited but obviously it wasn't enough!

[Oldfloss Administrator]

I had to pee at the 1K point in my HM and I had to go into a loo and not pee, en route in the bushes or foliage, as did some of the male runners ... I forgot to pause my Garmin.. it would have been a faster finishing time if I stopped my Garmin obviously...

You have to make your own decision

PS

I was still thrilled as I finished under 3 hours..and only seven minutes over my predicted time...it was my first one too!

[AlMorr Half Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

Yes indeed Floss, that was a wonderful HM run you ran a few months ago, we were all so proud of you here on all the sites of Healthunlocked from C25K to Marathon running Support, by the way I did not go to parkrun today, I have to do double shopping for the weekend, this one and next week when I'm running my second parkrun. 😊 🏃

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks you xx

[andystev]

Well, it's personal, obviously (clue's in the name!), so however you want to measure it is fine. For me, a PB can only be a PB if it's verified. So a chip timed event or Parkrun etc.

[AlMorr Half Marathon in reply to andystev]

At official event runs, park runs etc where there is a official timer I don't think that you should have your own timer with you as you could be disappointed if say your own timer said that you had ran a PB, a sub 30 minute 5k or a sub 60 minutes 10K then you got the official chip time and you did not get the above timings.

[andystev in reply to AlMorr]

I have a pacing plan for events these days, need a watch for that. But yes, the official time trumps the watch. They're usually pretty close though (Parkrun yesterday was dead on to a tenth!).

[Hidden]

But if your watch auto pauses, doesn't it only measure moving time (in fact it docks a bit off as it takes time to get going again after you stop)

[AlMorr Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

In Mapmyrun at the end of a 5K run, excluding parkrun, I always wondered why there was a difference between the bold print number and the 5K split time at the bottom right corner, I now know the reason, it's due to the length of time after I stop running at 5K split time and the time I stop the timer, I realised that when the first time I ran a PB there was a difference of 90 seconds, the next time it was only 14 seconds, nevertheless I count my 5K times from the split 5K time rather than the bold print time. 😊 🏃

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon]

Up to you. I'm considering turning auto pause off as 'moving time' does feel a bit like cheating now as total time is what would be counted on a timed event. (Not that I do those)

I already have auto pause off for road running but then I do anything not to stop 🤣 which is why I left it on for trail running as I wanted to feel happier to stop for pics/snacks/views.