Fast Running Blog

I'm not sure if anyone has commented on this yet, but Jeff has some face time on runnersworld.com.  He had told me before the race that Josh Cox (50K American record holder) was going to pace him through the first half.  If you go to the website, click on the Josh Cox video on the front page.  Jeff joins him for part of the interview.  Really cool!

Sweet!

How exactly does some random guy from Idaho manage to get this sort of perk. (I'm some random guy from Idaho maybe someone will pace me :)

Anyway, gratz.

Thanks for the heads up. Worth the viewing. Way to go Jeff.

I spoke with Jeff after the race.  He won a raffle at the expo.  How cool is that!  The pacing wasn't the only benefit.  I'll let him explain though.

Thanks everyone!  It was a total luck of the draw thing.  I was at the PowerBar booth to get some free samples while my wife tried on some clothes.  A gal asked me if I wanted to sign up for the raffle...initial thought was "No thank you!" but I said "Sure!". 

I met Josh Cox later that day for an autograph and a pic and he asked if I entered the Pro Pacer raffle.  I said yes, told him my goal and he thought it would be cool to run this pace for the gig.

Later that day while we were boarding the "T" for Harvard to get some cupcakes (after the Sam Adams Brewery tour), I got the call from PowerBar saying I won.  They wanted to know if I still wanted to do it..."H@#$ yes!".

Met the PowerBar folks the next day, talked to Josh Cox and Peter Reid (3 time Kona Ironman World champion, pacer for the second half).  Got to meet Adam Goucher and Coleen DeReuck as well.  PowerBar was great and got VIP passes for my wife and friends spouses and rest is history. 

Josh was being filmed by Runnersworld.com and they asked me to be in the video (though I didn't plan on the cheesy smile!). 

The PowerBar Party afterwards was the icing on the cake for Kami and I...we had a blast. 

Overall this year's Boston was great!   Hope everyone else had a great time as well.

BTW, here is the link:  http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/microsite/video/0,8034,s6-239-506-64,00.html?bcpid=1439819617&bclid=1463300967&bctid=20319661001

So you dropped your PowerBar-sponsored pacer in the second half, then. They did not think they'd be pacing somebody who would run 2:40 in those conditions. Add that to your resume, maybe next time they will select you as the Pro Pacer.

And if I remember right, you were the only pacer at Virginia Beach that was able to keep up with the lead woman, correct?

Many of us runners don't really care about famous triathletes, but Peter Reid far outweighs the athletic accomplishments of Josh Cox. This dude has run a 2:35 marathon to finish an ironman. To triathletes he would be in the league of Ryan Hall.

Jeff is the man! He's a world wide PLAYA! 8)

For you to ditch Peter, did he just have a bad day or wasn't in great shape right now?  It's pretty funny that you outran your pacer.

2:35 marathon at the end of an ironman?  Wow, that is very impressive.  Josh Cox is a 2:13 marathoner, so elite, too.  Quite the crowd you are hanging out with, Jeff!

Peter is an awesome athlete and I was honored just to run with him.  To his credit, he has been retired for over 3 years and is now in the "real world" as he put it being a bush pilot in British Columbia.   He hasn't competed since then and still was able to cover the last 14 miles of Boston only 2 or so minutes behind me...on no training!  That is awesome! 

He indicated to me after the race that he put on his racing flats for the first time in 3 years for this run and is now kinda inspired to look at running again in the Master's category!

Both of these guys are tremendous people, both as athletes and just nice guys.  It was such a pleasure to run with them and get to know them, even a little bit!

Jeff you're the man :D

While being able to run a 1:27 half after three years of no training is an indication of talent, I am rather perplexed, although perhaps I should not be knowing just how it usually goes, that PowerBar chose to send a big name out of shape rather than somebody currently in shape  capable of doing the job regardless of the name. Bad marketing move at least if they are trying to market their products to me. Tells me they are more interested in inflating the fluff than in doing the job.

Also, a  very educational experience. A name in business takes you a lot further than it does on the road. You can make profits off a mediocre product if you just have a name. However, you cannot run fast times just off your name, you need to be fit for every race as if it were your first.

I think they (PowerBar) were interested in doing both, promoting their product and running.  The panel of people they compiled to speak were top notch and Josh and Peter are both more than up to the task of pacing the folks that they usually get in the sweepstakes...a 7:30 runner.  I just happened to be faster (in fact the fastest runner they have paced in 6 times doing this) so this no way reflects on what they were trying to do.

Coming from the person who actually received the chance, I think that PowerBar, Josh and Peter did great.  My other option was running the race without any of this, so I don't see how I lost anything nor that they did a bad job.

Cheesy smile?  Man, I would have been grinning like the Cheshire Cat! 

So did you finally breakdown and give those guys your autograph?  8)