Notes
Ran 16 miles in 1:48:08.78 (6:45.5 min./mi) Today's plan, to pace my friend (Marc) in the 9/11 Remembrance Run (H/M). Marc and I went to grad and law school at the University of South Carolina, and have ran several thousand miles together; so when he ask me to pace him in a half-marathon with a goal of 1:25:00, I said sure. I have ran with several friends in races just as a pacer. I cross the start line, but I curl-off just before the finish line (though will continue to run at least long enough to finish the distance). I never take any resources from the race, I bring my own or, like in today's race, Marc had a friend on a bike provide me water and Gatorade.
Today's race went about as unexpected as I ever could have imaged. Marc's goal for the day apparently made him the fastest guy in the field; I certainly did not mind pacing my friend, however I sure did not want to be leading the race with him. Of course he had no idea that there were no sub 1:10, or even 1:20 guys in the field. At least at the start it was not so bad as there was a small group of five of us. The real problem developed when we realized that no one was pulling away and we were running well under the goal pace. We hit 5k in 21:31 with the lead pack of three no more than thirty seconds ahead; we were nearly eighty seconds behind goal pace and still on the leaders heels. What the heck to do? We hit 10k in 41:58 and now the leaders by ~5 meters. I figured I would run with Marc until someone ask me to leave the course, and we both figured that would come quickly, but it NEVER did. However Marc's goal of 1:25 was out the window. We hit 15k in 1:02:03 and now well out of sight of the field. 20k came at 1:22:19; Marc had a finish (chip) time of 1:26:46
2.0 mi. WU: 14:20.21
H/M Mile Splits: 7:00.96, 6:56.88, 6:54.17, 6:37.89, 6:34.97, 6:30.98, 6:30.02, 6:27.98, 6:27.95, 6:25.00, 6:37.00, 6:33.10, 6:26.97, 1:04.70 (0.18) (1:27:08.57)
0.82 mi. CD: 6:40.00