How to Share a Run Without Showing Pace¶
Some big days never get posted.
You spent five hours on a mountain. Twelve miles, 3,400 feet of climbing, a lot of it hiked with your hands on your knees. It was the best day of your training block. Then you went to share it, saw sixteen-minute miles printed across the middle, and put your phone away.
That day deserved to be seen. The only thing in the way was a number that says nothing about what the day cost.
So NavRun's share card on iPhone leaves pace off. Below: why, what the card does, and how to share a trail day well without NavRun at all.
Why pace lies about a trail day¶
On a flat road, pace is a fair summary of a run. On a trail it is close to meaningless.
A mile that climbs 800 feet on loose rock can take twice as long as a flat mile at the same effort. Many runners hike the steep climbs on purpose, because power hiking (walking uphill hard, often with hands pushing on your thighs) costs less than running once the ground gets steep enough. Add a creek crossing, a stop to refill water, a wrong turn, a descent too technical to run, and the pace at the end of the day is a record of the terrain, not of you. More on this in trail pace versus road pace and how to power hike.
Ultra training makes it stranger. Long days are meant to be slow. The point of a six-hour run before your first 50K, or your tenth 100 miler, is the six hours: time on feet, your stomach learning to eat while moving, your legs learning what hour five feels like. Nobody runs that day for the pace.
Why sharing it matters¶
The worry is small and it is real. Researchers surveyed 225 club runners in Norway. The ones who had deleted a run because the pace looked slow cared more about how they compared with other runners, and in particular about not coming out behind them, than the ones who had never deleted a run (Behavioral Sciences, 2026). A slow-looking number was enough to make a run disappear from someone's own record.
Sharing is how people out here find each other. A photo of a ridgeline with "18 miles, 4,100 ft" under it is how a runner who has read about ultras for a year, and told nobody, finds out that people like them do this. If only the fast days get posted, the back of the pack looks empty. It is not. It is where most of us are, and it is good company.
What the card does¶
Open any run in the NavRun iPhone app and tap Share. It asks which card you want, under the title "Share this run".
Clear background. "Your numbers on your own photo." The distance, the climb, the run's name, the shape of your route, and under it the shape of the climb when your watch recorded one. There is no background at all, so it sits on top of whatever picture you took out there: the summit, or your shoes caked in mud.
Poster. "Your run on the dark trail ground." The same run on a dark card, for when you have no photo, with the distance large and the climb beneath it.
Under both choices, before you pick, the app says it plainly: "We leave pace and time off. What matters is how you got better, not how fast you were."
Distance and climb stay because climb is what the course cost you. Pace and finish time are gone from both cards, because the card is the one thing NavRun makes that people who have never opened NavRun will see, and a pace on it grades your run in front of strangers who did not ask.
Copy the sticker. One tap copies the clear card, trimmed to its own edges, so it pastes onto an Instagram story or reel at a size you can move and pinch. The app tells you the next step: "Copied. Open Instagram and paste it on your story or your reel." If you would rather use another app, the share sheet and Save to Photos hand over the full card with its clear space intact.
A run with no elevation recorded still makes a card, and so does a treadmill run with no route. Nothing is left blank waiting for data that never arrived.
iPhone. Free.
What it does not do yet¶
- It is on iPhone only. The web version of NavRun has no share card.
- The card prints miles and feet whatever your unit setting is.
- There is no switch to put pace back on. That is on purpose.
- Older runs often have no climb shape, because the detail it is drawn from was not recorded for them. The route and numbers still show.
How to share a trail day well, with or without NavRun¶
- Lead with the climb. "3,400 feet" tells another trail runner more about your day than any split. If you add one number, make it that one.
- Say what the day was for. First run over twenty miles, first time eating real food on the move, back after a break.
- Post the photo you took at the hardest moment. The top of the climb, or the snack at mile nine. People remember the place, not the number.
- Crop the pace off a screenshot if your only option shows it. It is your run and your record.
- Tag the trail or the race, so a newer runner searching for it finds a real person who did it.
Common Questions¶
Can I share a run without showing my pace?¶
Yes. NavRun's share cards on iPhone carry distance and climb only. Pace and finish time are on neither card, for every run.
How do I put my run stats on my own photo?¶
Open the run in the NavRun iPhone app, tap Share, and pick Clear background. Save it or share it into any app, or tap Copy the sticker and paste it onto an Instagram story or reel.
Does the share card cost anything?¶
No. Both cards and the sticker are free for every NavRun runner.
Why does the card show climb and not pace?¶
Climb is what the course cost, and it does not grade you. On a trail, pace mostly records the terrain, and printed on a card it invites strangers to judge a day they did not run.
What if my run has no elevation or no GPS?¶
It still makes a card. A run with no elevation leaves the climb off, and a treadmill run with no route leaves the route off. Nothing shows as blank.
Post the long slow day¶
The run that took five hours for twelve miles is the one somebody needs to see. It shows them there is room out here for how they move.
Start free. navrun.app