Earlier today, I paced the 1:45 "group" for the Marine Corps Historic Half. "Group" because it's so crowded at the start, anyone who was standing around me before we set off needed to weave through the crowd to keep up with my weaving. It was the only way that I was going to be sufficiently on pace early to have enough of the pad of time for Hospital Hill. I hate not having a core group from the very start. But at least it was a plenty long stick that the sign was on so I was able to hold it high throughout.
Video of start (I'm a blur at :53)
The day started out at about 60F, and since the start was pushed up an hour compared to normal, we crossed the start line only a few minutes after sunrise. So the sun didn't get overly high, nor the temps rise much, throughout the race. That said, after passing the first two water stops, I had to start dousing myself to keep my core temperature down.
There were three men who wound up running with me for the majority of the race, and slowly pulled away from me before we got to Hospital Hill.
The pacers' group leader and I good-naturedly argued several times during the expo and this morning before heading to the starting corrals about how difficult Hospital Hill is. I leaned more towards it's "brutal" reputation, where she thinks it's a breeze. One of the other pacers, after the finish, mentioned to me that he understands the two interpretations: I wind up running the hill (though a fair bit slower than the rest of the race's pace) whereas our group leader walks it, and then picks back up for the finishing <1 mile.
Most of the race was supposed to be at 7:45 pace. The two hills in the early part of the race (late in mile 2 and late in mile 3) were supposed to be 8:00 pace, and Hospital Hill was where I planned to give back the banked time before finishing fast.
Mile 1 was slow because it was so crowded and I had to weave to get close to pace. I need to keep that in mind for next year if I pace again. The jump of HR in miles 8 and 9 was unexpected, and I'm not sure Garmin was accurate there, as I really wasn't feeling much different. However, by the time I got to Hospital Hill in miles 11 and 12, the HR seems reasonably accurate.
I definitely like being a pacer. I just need to better figure out how to not only collect the group at the start, but also make sure that it stays together when it's a cramped, crowded start, especially when the runners aren't well-organized by pace.
Hopefully the people who used me as a rabbit made their 1:45 goal, even if I was unaware of them during the race. Despite Garmin time above, my official result was 1:44:48. (12th M50-54 (out of 181), 184th Male (out of 1,672), and 214th overall (out of 2,917))
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