Just when I thought I've done the craziest thing running, something else comes along that raises the bar. Hmmmm, there's been running more than a mile in general, running in snow, running in below zero temps, a friggin Marathon, what next? How about getting up at 3 am to run a race? Giving up quality beauty sleep, I must be nuts!
Prior to this race, there was some discussion about the possibility of getting a motel room, but when the race starts at 6 am, figure I'd be getting up at 5 am anyway, what's two more hours? Might as well get up early and drive instead of only saving two hours sleep. Besides, it makes for a better story and this is what this is about isn't it?
Training for the next Marathon has been more relaxed this time around. CT and I haven't been putting nearly the same number of miles that we did training for the first one. Even though the miles are down, what we are running is quality. This Half Marathon had a specific goal, run at the pace CT needs to qualify for Boston. That time is averaging 8:30 per mile. I haven't run enough where I'm comfortable even running my own race, but the plan was stick with CT and pace her. Though, I told myself once at the race, size up the competition and if it looks tough, then stick with the plan of pacing CT, if not go for it...and leave her! I've never paced anybody, but how hard could it be?
6 am, the gun goes off. We started out nice and easy. It took some time to thin out to avoid having to dodge people, but soon CT and I were side by side, running very comfortably. 6:08:34 am, I report to CT "We are doing great, we are right at the pace we want, 8:34". Her response, you'd think I told her I killed Bambi! It was something along the lines of "That's not doing great, we are behind", almost in a panic. Four seconds behind after 5,280 ft with 12 miles (or 63,360ft) to go, wasn't a big deal to me. Clearly, my job as a pacer was in jeopardy for daring to run so recklessly!
Side plot time. Of course the goal is an 8:30 pace, but CT has this very competitive streak and she likes medals. It's one thing to get a finisher medal, but she also wants a place medal. I was specifically told she wanted to bring home "The Bling", meaning both. Placing in the top three of your age group is difficult! Prior to the race starting, I said I was sizing up the guys who looked to be about my age, well I was also checking out the competition for CT. I keep hoping for a race like this to be filled with Biggest Loser contestants. Instead, everybody looks serious, fit, and fast. To me, it looked like she'd have her work cut out for her, but I did take mental notes of women I thought could be a problem.
Unnerved slightly from my failure of an 8:34 pace, I decided we'd pick it up some and targeted my first female target, who must be serious because she had a drink belt on in addition to a matching runner's outfit. Next mile was an 8:20 pace. I felt very relaxed and we had closed the gap on the target. I reported this "good news" to CT. What form of gratitude did I get back? I got told "I don't want to know anymore, it only makes me tired"! Wonder if there are any books on Amazon to being a good pacer, because clearly I'm missing something. New plan of attack, making sure we don't dip below 8:30, but solely concentrate on catching the targets. Drink Belt Girl was starting to tire because we passed her somewhere around mile 3.
The next female was running with her sports bottle. She proved to be a very good adversary. We chased her down for what felt like forever, mile 5 I finally saw her start to struggle and by mile 6 we were past her. From mile 6 on, I couldn't even see another female runner. I debated pushing our pace more to try to find another one, but this course had long stretches of road and didn't think it was worth the risk to push harder when we were already way ahead of the 8:30 pace we wanted and seemed to be running so well.
At mile 10, my job as a pacer really got tested. At this point, I felt so good, I was itching to take off and run hard. We were so far ahead of the goal we set, I was confident that even if I left CT, she'd be able to get it. Personal glory, personal glory, was what my mind was telling me. Then I got to thinking how did I get here? We made a plan of starting out easy, I said I was going to pace, we were doing great, lets finish exactly how we planned.
The last mile, the temperature was rising, I could tell CT was starting to get tired. Looking back, I could see the female with the water bottle gaining some ground on us. Which was impressive because were maintaining our pace and hadn't slowed down. CT asked where she was, I told a slight fib that she was a ways back. Suddenly, there was a hill. This almost flat course, finally had a hill, but I wouldn't consider it a REAL hill. We train on much bigger hills than this! I remember confidently boasting "You call this a hill" (any doubt to how I felt?) as we powered up it. After clearing the hill, looking back, our threat was nowhere to be found. Guess somebody doesn't train on hills.
We crossed the line with a blistering 8:06 pace. That alone should be celebrated, but checking the results, you should have seen the smile on CT. Not only did we crush the pace we wanted, besting her previous best Half Marathon time by twelve minutes, but she got the "The Bling" too. Not just any bling either, first place bling. I didn't do as well in my age group, but even so, I only finished three minutes off from placing in my age group. Am I bummed about missing out on my first medal in a Half Marathon, of course. But, in my mind, I ran the perfect race. I had a goal, made a plan, and stuck with it. No regrets....okay maybe getting up at 3 am...we could have waited until 3:15!
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