A week and a half ago, I was back in Annapolis with another opportunity to do one of my favorite things....helping other women achieve their running goals. For the third time, I was a pacer at Zooma Annapolis for the half marathon distance, which is enormously rewarding.It all starts with entering the starting corral with a stick that shows the goal finish time you'll be guiding. Women start asking you what that pace is, how you will achieve it, what the course is like, doubting whether they can keep up, knowing they'll rock it. The questions and emotions are all across the board.
Then the starting gun blasts and you hit the pavement. The first mile of a race is always tough, because you're getting the kinks out of your legs from standing in the starting corral, so I like to distract runners by asking where they are from, whether this is their first "fill in the blank distance" race, whether they have had the opportunity to explore the town. Really anything to distract from the torture of the first mile.
A little later on, I like to preview upcoming tough sections of the race to eliminate surprises. On this course, the back half of the race is hills....no kidding, tough hills. It can be a real bitch to hit those without having known about them in advance. I also like to play tour guide. After all, this is Annapolis, one of the most amazing towns in the US....you wouldn't want to miss anything (just because you were panting and cursing your bad luck to sign up for a race that is almost always sweltering hot and humid).
When I get a few miles in, I also like to really start getting to know the folks around me. Many racers have amazing, funny, or tragic reasons for strapping on their shoes and starting a race. I enjoy learning about why runners run and drawing some of my own inspiration and motivation from them.
Back on course...the Zooma back half, which I already said was tough, include three U-turns, which are mentally tough for all runners, let alone novices. Providing motivation to keep moving means digging deep and overcoming my own angst over U-turns (though they do allow me to see more of the runners on the course and wave to friends).
But the real fantastic part of pacing Zooma comes in the final mile. Ladies are worn out. They've just completed a grueling several miles of hills, the
sun is starting to beat down, and all they want to do is be done with it, hitting the wine tent at the finish line. Mentally and emotionally pushing runners through this part of the race can be tough, because I feel the same way they do (especially this year since all my own training has occurred in the desert where it's dry, not humid like the mid-Atlantic).Then you make the right hand turn, see the Blue Angel looming in front of you and give the ladies one big "this is it....DO NOT LET ME CROSS THAT LINE BEFORE YOU!" And they don't.
What means more to me than all the rest of it are the ladies who come up to you after the race and tell you they couldn't have done it without you, or that they've never gone so fast, or that the near constant "ladies, you've got this" gave them enough of a lift to meet their goals. Almost nothing tops the feelings generated by the comments I receive from my runners after the finish line. If you ever have a chance to pace a race, do it!
A note about my pacing philosophy: Some pacers will hold a steady pace the whole race. Some will go slower at the start to save energy for the end. Because I only pace for races in Annapolis, my philosophy is focused on getting runners through that tough hill section, which appears in every race 10 miles and above - I like to push the runners about 5-10 seconds per mile faster than the average required split to bank time while the temps are still low, energy is still high, and runners aren't questioning the wisdom of entering a race with so many hills yet. This bit of reserved time almost always gets used up once the heat of the day emerges, hills happen, and energy is sapped. Then, as I stated above, I like to push my runners in the last couple hundred meters to leave me in the dust. Frankly, leaving that last bit of energy out on the race course always boosts your pleasure at meeting your goal because you know you put everything you had into it. And then, I try to loop back with as many of my group runners as I can find for high fives and "you rock"s. So, Lara, thanks for once again calling on me to serve as a pacer and to Lululemon for supplying the pacing team with great tops! Come find me next time at the Annapolis Ten Miler in August! Happy trails!!!
2017 miles to date: 719 miles
Observations: I took a few days off from running after Zooma to heal a couple injuries that have been plaguing me this spring - both on the left side of my body. As I launched into my own marathon training this week, I didn't want to be staring down at overuse injuries too early in training. While the time off was helpful, I'm still watching the tendon near the calf and the tendons in the foot (last year's injury that landed me in a boot after Ragnar). If they get any worse, I'm going to consult a sports doc to ensure I'm training safe. No goal is worth laying yourself up for days, weeks, or even months....if need be, I can always defer the BQ to next year (I already deferred it from last year due to getting out of the boot only a week before my goal race).
MARATHON TRAINING WEEK ONE:
Monday - 5 mile repeats (completed on Tuesday)
Tuesday - 6 miles easy (ended up being 6 miles sustained hill workout Wednesday)
Wednesday - 5 miles tempo (turned into 5 easy on Thursday to compensate for two effort days)
Thursday - Off (well, you know I ran because I had to take Monday off)
Friday - 3-4 miles easy
Saturday - 10 mile long run
Sunday - Off
