Short version:  I paced the Marshall University Marathon's 3:25 group today with a goal of finishing between 3:23:30 and 3:24:00.  I finished in 3:23:30 gun time and 3:23:18 chip time.

Longer version:  I'm always looking for new experiences and my stress fracture in March left me no doubt that I couldn't be prepared to really race this marathon.  Ironically, my fitness has taken an unexpected leap this fall and I may well be in half marathon PR shape.  Oh well.  I had decided months ago to be a pacer and it was certainly a wonderful experience.

On Friday, Joanne (Proofreader), Lynda, Deb, Marie, and Jim drove in from PA.  I met them at packet pick up and then went to dinner at Black Sheep Burritos and Brews.  Pig out city.  Saturday meant my standard "cram as much sugar down my throat as I can stand" routine.

I have run this race before so I know the routine.  Got everything laid out the night before and set my alarm for 4:50.  I actually woke up on my own at 4:30, ate my Cliff Bar and drank a quart of Gatorade and got dressed.  Packed a couple of post-race beers and headed out the door at 5:30.  I got to the venue and, once again, decided that people resemble sheep more than anything else.  There are three sets of bathrooms on the side of Marshall University Stadium where the race starts and finishes yet everyone stands in line for the set nearest to 3rd Ave. where the race begins.  A walk of 100 feet lets me into a bathroom with 3 people in it rather than a line 15 deep.

This is a smallish race although it has grown in recent years.  This year, there were about 1,500 in the half marathon and marathon plus another 500 or so in the 5K.  I got to the spot they told pacers to be at around 6:30 and, while the pacers were all there, no one was there to line us up.  Fine.  I'll just do a warm up.  So, I did a half mile jog with 4 strides to get in my mile.  By the time I returned, people were starting to line up for the race.  I picked a spot maybe 15 yards from the line and held up my 3:25 sign.  I don't think anyone who wanted to run with me had any trouble finding it.

The gun fired and I ran the first few miles trying to hold the sign up fairly high.  After that, I carried it low and I ended up dropping it just short of the halfway point.

I had a huge group with me - probably 15 runners.  I tried to be fairly talkative and I especially let people know when aid stations were coming as well as when we'd be picking up the pace a bit due to some ever so slight downhill as well as slowing down a bit due to slight uphills or due to the crushed limestone track you run on in Ritter Park for a few miles of each loop.  Mentioning crushed limestone, I hate that shit.  Yeah, your knees and ankles get a break from the pavement but your pace inevitably slows by 5-10 seconds per mile because your foot slips backward every so slightly with each step.

At any rate, I tried to keep an even effort.  Splits are as follows with gun time:

6.1 Miles - 47:13 (7:45 pace)

13.1 Miles - 1:41:37 (7:46 pace)

19.1 Miles - 2:27:14 (7:45 pace)

26.2 Miles - 3:23:30 (7:46 pace)

At the halfway point, my group was still largely intact and by Mile 19, I still had 10-12 with me.  I commented that we were now getting to "focus" time and it was super easy to lose focus from this point on and fade out hard.  Boy was that ever right.  By Mile 21, only four people were left.  I dropped nearly the entire group in that two mile stretch.  But, I still had four of them with me so I didn't feel like I could pull back from the pace.  In good news, all four took off when I told them to do so and they finished anywhere from 15-45 seconds in front of me.

As I approached the stadium, some of my local running friends were out there cheering me on and I gave high fives as well as dancing a bit to some music that was playing.  Unlike last year, I did grab the football at the end of the field, did a few jukes, and then spiked the ball after crossing the line.  I felt pretty good.

I had promised Joanne that I would finish with her after I got done.  I spent perhaps 10 minutes talking with Deb, Marie, and Lynda and then I went back for Joanne.  I caught up with her between Miles 11-12 of the half marathon (which is what she was doing).  Joe had caught up to her and was walking with her.  She was carrying all kinds of stuff including a bag with a camera, a heavy jacket, and a waist pack of bottles.  I decided to play Sherpa and carried those the rest of the way for her.  To be candid,  Joe carried the jacket and the bag for a while but he had to split off at Hal Greer Blvd to finish the marathon route.  One nice thing was that a runner in my group had seen me cheer for Joanne twice as I passed her and he told her that I had run terrific splits but he simply couldn't hold the pace.  That was good to hear.  All told, I put in about 30 miles on my feet today.

Had some beer and pizza with local running friends post race and then came home for a nap.  Then typed this.  I may have more beer.  And more food.

Congrats on those dead on even splits LTH. You did exactly what you wanted to do. You didn't mention if you liked it though. Did you? Would you do it again?

First time I read a Pacing Report. Pretty cool.

Nice going, LtH!  Good looking pizza...I was going to say something else about your race but the pizza has kind of distracted me.

+1, save me a slice. Nice splits. I could never trust myself to do a pacing gig alone.

We ran with a pace goup for the first time 2 weeks ago. It worked out great and we really enjoyed it.  Didn't get to thank our leader as we lost her at the end, so we thank you for volunteering at this race.

My god does that pizza look good.

It sounds like you nailed the pacing and got the people who were realistic in their goals and having a good day through to success.   I think it would be a difficult job to do well.  Congrats on making that happen.

Funny that you ditched the sign.  I was running near one pace group and the pacer kept on handing the sign around to the people running with her.  That's always scared me away from pace groups.  I'm walking a fine enough line on race day that I don't want someone handing me a sign to carry.   Better just to ditch it.

Excellent job. We should all be lucky enough to have pacers like this.

 

Funny that you ditched the sign.  I was running near one pace group and the pacer kept on handing the sign around to the people running with her.  That's always scared me away from pace groups.  I'm walking a fine enough line on race day that I don't want someone handing me a sign to carry.   Better just to ditch it.

I ran with a pacer who did that, but it was early on in the race & people were having fun with it. I assume it wasn't happening later, but of course I dropped off at ~18 so I can't say for sure.

Absolutely perfect. Are you doing anything May 3rd, 2015?

Nice consistency. And now I really want pizza.