Notes
Not really a race but wanted to keep track of it as an "official" marathon. Ran as a pacer for the Fox valley Marathon (3:15 pace group). More to come later. Official timing below:
..6M ….. Pace ….. 13.6M … Pace … 20M … Pace … Last 10K . Finish . Pace
20:19:00 7:24:00 1:40:54 7:26:00 2:28:24 7:26:00 22:23:00 3:14:47 7:27:00
I started out with about 15 people in the 3:15 pace group. There were about 3 rookies and the rest had run marathons but trying to set a PR or qualify for Boston. The first 10 or so miles were uneventful, pretty even splits and everyone was feeling great. Only a couple people diverted to the half or 20 mile route.
I encouraged everyone to take energy gels every six miles and reminded people to drink every water stop if they needed to. Everyone reported feeling great and at mile 14 I was hopeful that I could bring in at least 10 for a sub 3:15 finish. By mile 16 however people began to lag, and despite letting everyone know we were running pace and that I was not speeding up (it just felt harder) people began to drop off one by one. One of the runners went ahead at mile 17 saying he was feeling great (he ended up finishing 3:14:07). By mile 19 we had 5 left, and by mile 22 only two were left. One dropped around mile 24 and I was down to one.
I told Tom (my last runner) that I was going to be running even pace through the finish line and if he was feeling strong he could push ahead. He told me no way and kept with me. He still said he felt cramps forming but he managed to stay strong through mile 25. Around 25 1/2 he was starting to slow down. I slowed slightly to keep him with me as we were about 30 seconds ahead of pace with less than a mile to go. At 26 he was still lagging, and I told him he needed to beat me, needed to push hard and leave nothing out there. He managed to dig deep, pass me and finish about 15 seconds ahead. When I saw him at the finish he was bent over and was being helped by the volunteers. I gave him a big congrats.
Overall it was a great experience! I enjoyed getting to learn a little about each of the runners and help motivate them to hit their goal. It is always disappointing to see folks drop off during the race and I would have liked nothing more than to help every runner cross the finish line. Unfortunately, that's not the way pacing works. I worked as hard as I could to rile the crowds to cheer on our runners. If the fans didn't remember the 3:15 pace team, I would be shocked.
I'm really proud of the runners that attempted this goal and even more so of the ones that summoned the strength to bring it home.
They changed the course slightly this year, and it seemed like we ran more roads, small loops, and cut through's across grass that could have been bad if we had more rain. Other than that, it is a great course, and I will definitely recommend it to people looking to run a local marathon. Mile markers were slightly off, but not as bad as last year from what I recall.