I'm feeling fat and sassy

Pacing the Buffalo Marathon!

TLDR: Well the local marathon and half  REALLY needed pacers so I volunteered I ended up taking the first half of the 3:30 Group (1:45 half) and I'm happy to report that my pacing duties went well. I hit the half right on the nose at 1:44:53.

Long story: I was a little late to the start, getting there about 20 minutes before the gun and I people starting to flock near me. Some nervous questions about even pacing and trading off to a different pacer at the half way point. Also got a couple suspicion looks (probably because I don't really look like I can run as well as I manage to).  And we were off.

The weather was suppose to be horrendous, 85 by 11am (race started at 7am) with full sun and humidity but it held out and was only 65 by the start and ever reached over 75.  The runners go SO lucky. 

Since the half and the full start and run the first half of the race together I had a very large group with me. My goal was to run even splits based on my chip time but because of the slow start and the crowded first and second water stop I was about 30 seconds slow overall at mile 3. I was totally not use to the crowds at the mid-pack.  It's tough pacing because if I was alone I'd drop that extra time in the next two miles but I couldn't here, if I did I would be destroying people and ruin races. I slower dropped the extra time over the next 7 and by mile 10 I was right on the nose. It was tough holding the pace at about 7:55-8:00. If I stopped paying attention or let it run down a hill I'd drop down to my regular 7:35 pace for a couple second before I caught myself.  Another thing I was ready for was that you can't totally rely on your GPS watch because you need to run based on the actual miles. Being in a kind of a crown I ended up running sloppy tangents threw my watches pass off by at least 5 seconds per mile. Something else I needed to account for when hitting the mile markers.

My little heart attack happened at the pacer exchange (20k mark), I also almost missed the second half pacer. We ran by the pick-up and I called out to the pacers but no one came. I started to get a little panicked but he saw me as the pack went by and luckily caught up.  I was contemplating in those seconds if I had it in me to do the full (I'd rather blow up than abandon them at half way).  I figure I could have done it but it would have been ugly do to my shorter training and the fact that my nutrition plan for the half was only a couple cups of water.  Luckily I didn't come to that.  As we approached the finish/full split I took my group to the finish and the rest of the pack continued on.

In the end it was totally fun and I'd love to do it again. It was great glancing over my shoulder and seeing a wave of people behind me. A lot of  people seemed very appreciative that I was there especially the newer runners which made me happy.  I got a bunch of thanks-yous from all different types of runners with different stories.  From the first timer to the guy that couldn't afford a GPS watch. Plus the best is that I have a nice race shirt with 'Pacer' across the shoulders, it looks pretty legit.

This was also my first year running the Buffalo Marathon and it was a very well run race with a nice course and great crowd support (including live bands).  The weather is always a little iffy at the end of May here but I'd totally consider racing it next year. 

Checkers Practice #9 4x1000 w/ 400 recovery and 1x500 @ int pace. End with strides

Had to do this by myself this week because I was busy at practice time

4 to 5 1000 with 400 recovery at interval pace (3:40 ish, 5:51/mile) and end with 4x100m strides

2 mile warm up to the track
Becasue of HS track practice I did 4x1000 and a shorter 500 to end it.
2 miles home

Interval times were 3:27 (WAY TOO FAST), 3:36, 3:43, 3:38, 1:49 (the 500).  Pretty tough esp after screwing the first one up and it was very hot and sunny out

Easy run around town.  Average Pace: 7:46

Pre-race: I wanted to race a 5k to see how I was doing with my training and was hoping to break 18:30.  The race is in the evening held on a square and dead flat course.  It was a cool evening with a stead rain.  After doing my 2 mile warm up I made sure to line up at the front in the second row.  Also racing were a few of my friends from track practice

I forgot my watch so I was running blind (DOH) but it's only a 5k so not that big of a deal when my race strategy is run until it hurts and keep going.  I was also relying on volunteers to call out the mile and 2 mile split so they may be a little off (especially when I look at the paces)

Mile 1 (5:32 pace). I went out fast with the lead pack of 4 others that broke apart at about the 1/2-3/4 mark into two leaders, two chasers and me chasing at about 5 seconds off the back.  The first mile was mostly on a street that was being milled and resurfaced so the footing was a little rough in spots.  Was very surprised by how well I felt at the mile mark

Mile 2 (6:00). Mostly uneventful and focused on keeping the 2 in front of me w/in reach.

Mile 3 and 0.1 (6:09 pace) I was slowly reeling the 2 in front of me in and was able to pass them with about 1/2 mile to go and my job was to hold them off.  I managed an ok kick to hold them off by about 5 seconds and to take third overall with a time of 18:21.

My fastest 5k in since 2004 years and 40 seconds faster than my race two months ago. Track practices is paying off!! I was very excited how it went and pumped to run faster than I wanted to!  I wish I had my watch so I could have had more confidence in my splits because I don't think I faded that bad at the end.  I think the first mile may have been a little short which would make sense time wise but it's not that big of a deal.  Plus the post-race party had extra pizza and were selling them at 5$ each, score!

7 easy before work.  Went to the park and ran some loops on the cinder trail.  Average pace 8:00