Pace Reports

Since I've been doing so great at blogging and didn't want to overload this blog with posts, I've decided to combine my last two pacing gigs into one report. A few weeks ago, I paced the Goldy's 10 mile, and on Sunday I paced the the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon.

Originally I was slotted to pace the 7:00 minute / mile group at Goldy's, but since I'd only run 10 miles in training once, I begged out of the 7:00 group to pace the 7:30 group. Fortunately, there were three pacers in my group, so that took the pressure off. It was a chilly day, so I opted to wear running pants and a long-sleeve tech shirt underneath my pacing singlet, along with a hat and gloves. It was a good choice as I was comfortable temperature-wise for the duration of the race.

The race itself went pretty smooth. One of the pacers in my group was having some problems with asthma, but he managed to finish with us, running most of the race about 10 yards in front of the other pacer and me. The course wasn't super-easy--it had a good amount of hills, including a decent one right at a turnaround, and another decent climb coming into the last couple miles.

My knee didn't give me any problems, and I was able to hang on to the 7:15 pace throughout the race, finishing in 1:15:01. Not bad for shaking the rust out.

The race gave me enough confidence to say "yes" to pacing the 1:35 group at the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon, a little more challenging 7:15 pace. I would also be without any co-pacers, so I'd be on my own to hit the pace.

The start of the race was pretty chilly--I was wearing shorts and arm-warmers with my singlet, along with gloves and a headband. Unfortunately, the race start was delayed when the lead police car wasn't ready at the start. Once we got going, however, I warmed up quickly and probably could have shed the gloves and the headband. Since I didn't have anyone to throw them to, I decided to keep them on rather than throwing them, as they were a little better than "throw-away" quality.

The whole way I had a handful of runners running with me. I felt like I kept a pretty even pace for most of the race, and went past each mile marker within a few seconds of 7:15. The course was decent--through the fancy neighborhoods of lakefront houses and along Lake Minnetonka, with several rolling hills, but nothing too extreme.

The last mile I think I accidentally picked it up a little too much. After being within a few seconds most of the race, I ran the last mile about 15 seconds fast, and ended up finishing in 1:34:41. After the race I had about half-a-dozen runners thank me for my pacing, which always feels good.

Pacing those two races was a pretty good confidence booster. I feel like my knee is better, and I'm hoping I can continue to up my mileage. I'm not really planning any big races, but I think that if I can stay on track this summer I might be able to run a decent race at the TC 10 mile in October. Besides the 10 mile and racing the TC 1 mile this Thursday, it looks like I might also be running the Ragnar relay--should be a nice summer of running.

Happy Running!