Yeah man, you gotta'play phrases, you gotta' take breaths. My first Jazz teacher used to say, "play your solo like a horn player plays, or a singer sings".
I tend to play slow and smooth. I use speed to add variety or emphasis. When speaking about profanity, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) said that profanity should be used for emphasis and when used too frequently, it loses its effect. I agree and think the same way about speed on guitar.