This was my fourth year as a pacer at Des Moines. This is something I take very seriously. This year I put all my projected splits for each mile on the pacer sign that I carried almost the entire the marathon. One other runner did carry it for a mile or so near the half. My challenge here is to pace about an hour slower than my normal marathon without running a marathon or 50-miler the day before as I have done in the pass. I feel fresh and ready to run. Most pacers either run the marathon with either even splits throughout, taking it a little slower on the hills, or whatever is their style of running a marathon. I try to tailor mine to the first time marathoner. The 10 runners signed up to run with me were all running their first marathon. I run the first few miles a little faster, since they are flatter with each mile getting slower. Then the hills come and I slow down for the next 5 miles and walk a part of each bigger hill. Miles 9 to the half are flat with a smaller hill here and there. Here I run pretty even, except for Mile 13, which is the toughest of these miles. After this it flattens out for a mile or so. Then there is the downhill for a couple of miles, which I run some of the fastest miles of the marathon. It flattens out again to the finish with a hill in Mile 25 then it is flat again. I then run a little fast each mile. From Mile 20 through Mile 25 I run around 12 minutes each mile. Mile 26 is 11:28. To me if I was running my first marathon I would have the desire to get to the finish and celebrate my first completed marathon. The last .2 is at the each pace. It is near 50 degrees at the start and in the 60's at the finish. It was fairly nice running weather. With ten plus runners with me at the start I have a crowd around me. I have six drop well behind be in the first couple of miles. Three catch up with me in the hills and 2 of them take off after the hills. The other drops back to stay. The rest stay with me and I pick up a few more runners in the hills. For the most part I have 3 or 4 runners around me a couple a little a head of me and a couple behind me through the hills. After that I they all go ahead of me except a couple. One of them is a 63 year old man, Bob, running his first marathon. He has been running since he was 60. He tells me about his training and how he has gotten better each year. It sounds pretty solid, but he is still concerned about the second half at Mile 20. I just tell him to stay with me and I will get you to the finish. I tell him about my first marathon in the days of not having much information out there. I completed it with a solid base as he had without a pacer. My first mile was 7 seconds under my 10:27 mile (the fastest of the course). I want to have some time for the hills and the final 6 miles. I gain anothe 5 seconds the second mile. I gain a little time each mile until the 10th mile where I find myself 2:13 under. This is my high point. I now have 4 runners that started with me behind me one with me and then Bob is a little ahead of me where he stays until I am near Mile 19. At the half I am about 1:30 ahead of my time. Mile 18 I am just 16 seconds ahead. Here I pick up a runner, Mike, that started out with the 4:30 group, but he never did see the 4:45 group as he dropped back. The 4:45 pacer was the only pacer that did not finish. Mike runs with with myself along with Bob and Larry. As we near Mile 20 Bob is asking questions about the second half beginning at Mile 20. He feels fine. I encourage him for he looks and acts like he will finish strong. For the next couple of miles Mike and Bob go ahead of Larry and me. In Mile 23 Mike and Bob take off. Bob must be feeling pretty good. Mile 25, we are only about 18 seconds ahead of my projected time, then I had a big surprise. Two of the runners that dropped back in the first few miles were at my side at Mile 25. They were first time marathoners too. So now I had three with me for the final 1.2 miles. Larry goes ahead of me in the final 100 yards the other two finish right behind me. My projected time to finish was 4:59:39. When I looked down at my watch it read, 4:59:39. I still do not know my official chip time, but it should be within a few seconds. Later I found out the a couple of the runners that went ahead early finished about 15 minutes behind me. Out of 14 runners pacing with me I had 7 finish ahead of me, 4 behind me, and 3 with me. Only God knows about how many shadowed me. Bob comes up and thanks me. He hopes to break 4:45 next year, but I get him to promise to say hi to me at the pacer booth in the Expo next year. Bob and Mike finish almost 2 minutes ahead of me. Larry was the only one with me that had run a marathon before. This was his 41st. He is running New York City in two weeks and he was using this as a training run. He was going to run a 4:45, but he went with me for the experience. At the end I felt great for I had no reason to feel otherwise. It was a very challenging slow pace for me. Donna was not with me this time. She had to work Saturday morning and then her daughter was visiting from Portland, Oregon. Next is Rock Creek 50k near Lawrence, KS, on Saturday, October 25th. Then Blue Springs 50k on Sunday, October 26th. This is my challenge for the year. TomD

Only God knows about how many shadowed me

I saw lots of people shadowing the pace groups on Sunday! You help more than you think!! Thank you!!

Your group were so fortunate to have you pacing them. First you shared your experience and enthusiasm w/ them and now w/ us. Consistently keeping to your time goals is very impressive..though not surprising!

Nice job Tom -- way to nail the pace!

Fortunate One, Yes, I remember high-fiving you. Also like seeing you at Des Moines and TIMTAM. I saw Doug as he was in the early start while I was going to the start. It sounds like there will be another TIMTAM. I am planning on running it again next May. TomD