You understand what's important and what you must do to accomplish it. As you compete, you breathe in the race, vaporize it, absorb what you need and exhale the rest. Running becomes your own work of art. Competitors search for races they can win. Nevertheless, athletes are also found in the back of the pack, or they may choose smaller races over the big media events because they don't want to feel lost in the sea of humanity.
Gradual progress is more important to the athlete than a fast time in a given race.
You now have an internal concept of what you can do. When progress slows or is blocked, you revise. With every run, your internal training computer is fed with good data that gives you a new readout of possibilities. You know when to disregard a bad run and not get depressed. Though you once may have been a competitor who read everything and tried most of it, as an athlete you now read only what has practical value.