“Running a marathon without a watch is like cooking without a timer, you might nail it, or you might burn the whole thing to the ground.”
In the age of GPS everything, the idea of running 26.2 miles without a watch feels like turning up to a wedding without trousers. But every year, a few runners do it. Some deliberately, some because they forgot to charge the thing, and some because they got so nervous they left it on the kitchen counter next to the kettle.
So is running the Dublin Marathon without a watch an act of Zen-like freedom… or a guaranteed ticket to blowing up before Chapelizod? Let’s break it down.
The Case for Going Watch-Free
Believe it or not, there are benefits to ditching the wrist computer.
- No data anxiety. You can’t obsess over your pace every 90 seconds if you’ve got nothing to obsess over.
- Better body awareness. You start to notice how you actually feel, rather than how the numbers say you should feel.
- Freedom from technology. You won’t have that moment mid-race where you think, Is my GPS wrong or am I just running like a three-legged donkey?
Some runners even claim they run faster without the constant feedback loop. They’re less stressed, more relaxed, and able to just… run. Of course, this only works if you’ve got a decent internal pacing sense, otherwise, you’ll be that person gunning it like Usain Bolt for the first 10K and then crawling home in a heap.
The Case for Using a Watch
Let’s be honest, for most beginners, your watch is your safety net. It’s the friend who quietly taps you on the shoulder and says, “Maybe don’t try to run a 4:15/km up the Clonskeagh Road, champ.”
With a watch you can:
- Keep your early race pace under control so you don’t burn out by mile 18.
- Check your splits to make sure you’re not slowing to “Sunday stroll” pace.
- Monitor distance so you know when to take gels or fluids.
It’s especially helpful in Dublin, where adrenaline at the start can push you way too fast through the first few downhill miles and where the drag back over the Liffey later will punish you for it.
How to Pace “Au Naturel”
If you’re dead set on skipping the watch, you need to practise pacing by feel in training:
- Use breathing as your guide. In a marathon, you should be able to talk in short sentences without gasping.
- Learn your effort zones. Easy feels like you could run all day, marathon pace feels “comfortably hard,” and too fast feels like regretting all your life choices.
- Break the course mentally. Know roughly where the key distance markers are (Phoenix Park exit ~mile 7, halfway near Walkinstown, etc.) so you can gauge progress without numbers.
The Hybrid Approach (Best of Both Worlds)
Plenty of runners split the difference:
- Wear a watch but set it to show only distance, or just the clock.
- Tape over the screen with a plaster and only peek at set points.
- Use it to record your run but ignore it during the race, check your splits afterwards while smugly drinking your finish-line pint.
Conclusion
If you’re a beginner, going completely without a watch is… bold. Not impossible, but bold. You’d better have trained that way so your pacing isn’t a total mystery. For most people, some level of feedback is a lifesaver.
That said, the real aim is to run the race without letting your watch control you. Use it as a tool, not a dictator.
Because the truth is, Dublin will throw enough at you, the weather, the crowds, the mid-race urge to question why you did this, without you adding “accidental 10K PB in the first hour” to your list of problems.