Surf City pace rabbit
I got up before the alarm at 4:20. Amazing because I have trouble getting up for work at 7:00, and I like my job, but of course I like running more!
At the start, the announcer bragged about the accuracy rate of the pacers, close to 100%. No pressure. The marathon had recruited two pacers for each group, so I started with the other 4:45 guy, Bob. That worked for a while but then Bob started pulling ahead. Really ahead. He was way off pace. WTF is his problem? Those people up there are depending on him. I just kept on cranking out mile after mile of about 10:50. It should be 10:52 but we all know Garmin measures long so I wanted a little cushion. We had some great scenery of the beach on one side and the mountains with fresh snow on the other.
I felt so good. People would ask, how many marathons do you have to run to do this? This is my 23rd, I said, and they just shook their head. One by one I lost my original pack. A girl named Deirdre fell back pretty early. Here she is holding my sign.
I turned around and told her, “Don’t go out the back door,” but she did anyway. Eventually, some amazing things happened. People I had never seen behind me caught up. A girl named Amanda from Chicago ran with me for miles, hoping badly to finish with me but unsure. I did everything in my power to convince her she would do it. To me, this is why you volunteer to be a pacer. Anybody can watch their watch or Garmin and pace themselves, but joking around and encouragement is hard to come by after about mile 16. At mile 22 or so she asked me if I was speeding up, and I knew what that meant. She said she needed a walk break. I hated to see her fall back. After all, she had invited me to her club’s after-party! She thanked me and said she would PR, and I have no doubt she did. We passed Bob the other pacer who had pitched his sign and was running on fumes. “I don’t finish strong,” he told me.
The people who were with me at mile 25 finished with me.
One guy thanked me and said, “You were a lifesaver. I don’t know what happened with that other guy, but I kept my eye on you.” It doesn’t get much better than that. Okay, maybe a few free beers at the finish make it just a little better. I could definitely do this gig again!
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 02/07/2010
- Time: 06:35:00
- Total Time: 4:45:19.00
- Calories: 3088
- Distance: 26.2 miles
- Average Pace: 10:53.36/mile
- Ascent: 345 ft
- Descent: 359 ft
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