Keeping Pace

On May 19th I ran the California Classic Half-Marathon.  This was the third year in a a row that this event was held here in Fresno, Ca.  This was also my third year in a row running it.  Originally I planned on skipping it, but when I was offered a chance to run the event as a pacer I couldn't pass it up.

I really enjoy pacing.  I've paced the Fresno Marathon for the last 2 years in a row, and I have another upcoming Half-Marathon that I'll be pacing at this coming September.

At the California Classic I was the pacer for the 2 hour 10 min pace group.  I ran each mile at as even of a split as I could during the entire race.  I was trying to come in as close as I could to my targeted time, but I ended up finishing about 30 seconds early.  I think the clock read 2:09:30 when I crossed the finish line.

One of the things that made pacing this event a little tricky was the fact that someone forgot to put out the mile markers on the course.  Luckily I knew from running the event last year that the course was a little long. Last year my Garmin read 13.22 miles from the start line to the finish line.  This year it read about the same.  When I paced the race I knew ahead of time that I needed to pace a 13.2 mile race at a 2:10 finish, not a 13.1 mile race.

It's always nice to run events like these as a pacer.  I love meeting new people, helping others get a new PR, crossing the finish line with people I've helped out during the event.  To me, pacing is an awesome way to give back to the running community.  I will never turn down an opportunity to pace... unless it's a pace that's too fast for me.  I'll never be the guy pacing a sub 3 hour marathon.

I'm keeping this post short because it's late, and I need to be up in 6 hours to drive to San Diego so I can run the San Diego 100 miler this weekend.  I ran this event last year and unfortunately went off trail for a few miles.  This ended up leading to me missing the time cutoff around mile 31ish by 20 mins.  My Garmin showed that I had actually ran 37 miles when I hit the mile 31 aid station.

So, this weekend I'm taking another crack at the San Diego 100.  If all goes good, on Sunday morning I'll have completed my seventh 100 mile race.

I'm headed to bed now so I can get some well needed sleep.


until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!