At the 2026 Boston Marathon , Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi , who won the race with a time of 2:18:51, shared that she realized she forgot her watch on the bus to Hopkinton. I know that feeling. On a sunny morning in Switzerland, standing at the start line of the 2022 Sierre-Zinal, a mountain race of 31K and 2,200-meter elevation gain, I thought I was well prepared: I was hydrated, fueled, and had months of training behind me. Then I realized that my Garmin didn’t charge overnight. In an instant, everything shifted. Panic kicked in, and I felt a loss of control. How was I supposed to pace the race? What if I went off too fast? For many runners, racing without tech is a nightmare scenario. Lokedi found a willing helper who lent her his watch, but that may not be the case for the rest of us, so here’s what to do. The Problem With Relying on Data The majority of us are used to having everything at our fingertips: pace, splits, heart rate , distance. It gives them a sense of control.…