Question: What Is a PR or Personal Record?
I've heard runners talking about their PRs and I'm embarrassed to ask what that means. What are they talking about?
Answer: Once you've run your first road race, you have a PR, or a "Personal Record." It refers to your best time in a race of a specific distance. So, if you run a 5K race in 28:45, that's your PR for the 5K distance. If you run faster than 28:45 in a subsequent 5K race, then you have a new PR for that distance. So you'll have PRs for different race distances, from 1-milers to marathons.
You may also hear some runners call their best race times "PBs" or "Personal Bests." Whatever they call it, experienced runners love to talk about their PRs because it helps them stay motivated to keep training and racing. It's also fun to keep track of your PRs in your training log, so you can refer back to them and record a new one when you achieve it.
