Pacing @ Des Moines Half-Marathon

Today, I gave back to the running world by volunteering to lead a pace team at the Des Moines Half-Marathon.  My task called for me to run a 90-minute half-marathon (6:52/mi pace), while controlling the pace, planning for gatorade/GU stops, recruiting/cheering/encouraging runners, all while carrying a 4-foot sign.  My wife, who has become pretty familiar with my training, asked about today's difficulty and guessed a rank of 4 out of 10 (which was pretty accurate).  My response, however, was that the biggest challenge today would be holding up the sign. ........


A small group of 8 runners rose to the challenge to run with my group.  Since I am "uniquely qualified" by also being a coach, I went above my call of duties and also doled out advice on breathing technique and body positioning to some of the runners in my pace team.  Maybe I shouldn't have been corrective, but hearing a man gasping for air is awfully irritating after having ran for 11 miles ... AND it helped him.  Midway through the race, six of my runners picked it up a bit.  They must have felt really good or were sick of me, but they left our group behind.  Eventually, the three of us who remained passed two of the six, and in the end all 8 runners met their goals.  A year ago, I had 22 runners in my group and 18 of those made it.  Successful pacing is considered a rate of 40%, so my 87% over two years is pretty nice.  It has helped that there were optimal running conditions both years.

The most disheartening part of being a pacer is coming across runners late in the race who got in over their heads and their legs are giving up on them.  The most comical was around mile 12, when we came upon a guy who stated very matter-of-fact that we were way ahead of pace.  Sorry, buddy but we're right on.  Fortunately, he regathered himself and did not let us pass him.  Others were not so lucky.

My official time was 1:29:53 for 102nd place.  Last year, it was 1:29:54 for 103rd place.  I guess I'm consistent.  Both years, I have regretted not racing because I have been in great shape, the weather has been fantastic, and the field of quality runners has been deep.  I certainly would have lowered my PR into the 1:13 range.  An aside, my half-marathon PR was ran in March, on a whim, in a race of less than 100 runners, in 30-degree weather, partially on gravel roads, following 5 hours of sleep and a 2.5 hour drive.

After the race, I planned to wait around to watch a former high school sprinter of mine finish her race and congratulate her, then run 8-10 more miles with a cross country runner I currently coach.  So, I went to grab a banana and a chocolate milk to recharge.  In that short amount of time, she surprised me from behind.  The girl who had never ran a race longer than a quarter mile had finished moments behind me.  She went from 4 sprint events at the state meet in May to training for and rocking it at a half-marathon less than 5 months later.  I am totally amazed.  She ran 1:32:xx and won her age division.  The coaches always knew she was something unique, but she was content running varsity races of 100-200 meters and resisted our pleading for her to move up in distance.


My XC runner decided to sleep in and not come to DSM (good choice), so I was off to Ames for my second run, beginning just a little over an hour after the half-marathon finished.  The wind had picked up considerably by then, but I was ready to go.  We ran several loops on a hilly cinder path at Ada Hayden Heritage Park and called it a day.  The second run was about 9 miles at a relaxing 7:28 pace.  After running 500 miles together this summer, it certainly wasn't our longest or fastest workout, but cross country season ends in 2 weeks.  It has been really nice to see her goals being met and others that are within reach.  She just won the conference championship, is within 1 second of the school record, and has commit to run at the D-I level next year.

In all 24 miles for me today, not the best move for someone running a 50-mile race on Saturday, but if I can find 26 more miles in the next 5 days, I guess it'll be my first ever 100-mile week!