Space Coast Marathon

For several years, now, I've been hearing about this race from one of my friends and fellow co-pacers because she lives, literally, one block off of the course. Finally, I decided I would go down and be one of the pacers.

Another one of my friends, who has cheered me on at many race and is currently in med school and doing her specialty rotations right now, was able to come out for the weekend. After she picked me up at the airport and we grabbed lunch, it was off to the expo, to pick up my bib and do a brief shift for the pacer booth, where I helped answer a few questions from some of the weekend's runners, but there wasn't all that much foot traffic at our booth, so I was happy to have only a 1-hour shift.

After the expo, we made our way back to our hotel to check in, have me do my prep for race day the following morning, and then head on out to the lazy river pool for a little while.

(Getting the selfie just right was rather a comedy of errors. While the desk attendant came around to take a more "proper" photo of us, this one definitely was the better option.)

After being the curmudgeons who were slightly ticked with the little kids who pushed their way past us in our respective inner tubes on the relatively narrow lazy river, and feeling a bit chillier than we expected, we made our way back to the room in relatively short order to get ready to head out to the pacer dinner at the hotel that most of the pacers were staying at. 

It was a nice spread - your typical pre-race pasta dinner setup of salad, pastas and sauces, meatballs, bread, and dessert (brownies). I found out that I had been reassigned to an earlier pace time than the 4:10 I had planned on pacing. (I was given 4:05, and another pacer was given 4:10 -- so I needed to bring that pace sign to the start line to hand off in the morning.) After dinner was mostly dinner, we held our team meeting to go over our usual items - pacing expectations, emergency scenarios, pre-race photo timing, and shuttle bus schedule. There seemed to be a bit of paranoia about how long it would take to get to the start line area from the hotels, so most people sounded like they would be on the 4am shuttle (or self-driving by about 4:15am). While slightly concerned by that paranoia, I resolved to give myself the extra 30 minutes of sleep and simply make sure that we were on the 4:30am bus. Given it was only a 15 minute drive over and would only take a few minutes to walk to the start area, I was confident I could do everything I needed before we had to get the photo and then line up in the corrals.

We wound up taking the pacer photo about 2 minutes ahead of schedule, and all started to break off when I saw Laura (the local who lives one block off the race course less than a mile from the start/finish line) running over to the start. Sorry, you missed the photo! Two-pacer photo it was, then, after which we ran around to the fountain to have a meet-up schedule that Laura had arranged for with a group of runners, several of whom I associate with the Disney races.

 

While Jess tried to beg off of being in the photo, not running on the day nor "being a runner," she was encouraged to hop in -- there were others in the same boat who were part of the photo.

The space that we had in the corrals to line up was not much. For 1300 runners in the marathon, broken up into nearly two dozen pace groups, there was barely any space between the consecutive pacers. Hopefully things would spread out pretty quickly after the start. Soon enough, it was off we went!

Turns out, once we made the first turn after the course, it was almost immediately spread out, so the cramped corrals didn't really affect anything.

The race started at 6am, so it's dark for a decent bit. The main advice that I had been given by one of the other pacers while we were waiting in the corral was to make sure to run in the center, because it is far too easy otherwise to trip on the curbs on the side of the road.

After a relatively brief time, I tried to determine who/how many people were in my particular pace group. Seems like it was about a half dozen or so -- not that many. There were one or two people who were willing to chat while we ran, while the others were relatively quiet/non-responsive to some of the questions I asked/prompted them with; c'est la vie.

It was a hot, humid day, so as I am wont to do, every time I saw the water station, I made sure to scream out to everyone to "drink and douse!" It's one thing to stay hydrated, it's another to make sure to do your best to cool your core temperature as best possible. Doing both certainly helps prevent any problems from slamming you later on, once the sun is high and you've been baking in higher temps.

Shortly before Mile 13, one of the women in the group started to break away. I called out for her to pull back - no need to go that fast - but she answered back that she really wanted to get a first half that was under 2 hours. Seemed unwise to try that, given how late she was attempting it, she'd need to expend lots of energy to do that (since we were right on pace to get there at a bit under 2:02:30 -- making up more than 2 minutes in less than a half mile was unlikely). Nevertheless, she proceeded to pull off. And even though I could see she hadn't gotten to the 13 Mile flag yet when my watch indicated 2 hours, she remained in front of me -- somewhere -- the rest of the time; I never caught her again. Nice! I'm hoping that simply meant that she was successful in finishing well in front of me, rather than my passing her while she was in a pit stop, or her being tended to on the side of the course -- both possibilities, given the day.

 

Another lady broke away shortly thereafter, but I wound up catching and passing her by about Mile 23. And most of the men in the group when up falling off pace by about Miles 18-20. It was distressing and amusing when at one point in that range, I decided to do my MCM "give me an Oorah!" sort of prompt, and as I looked around, there was only one person remaining with me. (Dang! I waited too long!)

Relatively late in the race, myself and the one remaining group member were approaching a long line of half marathoners who were walking several abreast with barely any space between them. As I proceeded to approach on their left (and crossing over the double yellow line into the oncoming "traffic" of the back-of-the-pack marathoners to do so), I gave the gentle warning, "on your left" -- to advise the lady not to shift left. I got a snarky "go around!" reply. Um... duh! That's exactly what I was telling you I was doing. Maybe if you didn't have more than 2 people side-by-side and blocking the progress of other people, we wouldn't have needed this interaction. Sheesh!

Before we hit Mile 25, I told the guy who was still me (rather surprisingly, since he was a first-time marathoner, and somehow managed to avoid hitting the wall on a day that naturally would have had lots of people hitting it early, given the heat and humidity) that if he was feeling good in the next mile to break ahead of me through the finish. And that if he was still with me at Mile 26, I would yell at him to make sure to get in front of me. Needless to say, he took it to heart, and less than a minute after we passed the Mile 25 flag, he broke in front of me and pulled away. Turns out, he finished more than one minute ahead of me (4:03:06).

Despite some minor see-sawing within each mile (many times I was advising the people around me to slow down "just a touch" because we were going a little too fast, at which a couple of people responded positively to hearing we could slow down a little bit), I hit my goal almost exactly -- 4:04:21 (true goal being 4:04:30).

After getting out of my sneakers and socks as quickly as I could get to the gear check, where my flip-flops were awaiting (to try to prevent blisters from being even worse than I knew they already were), I grabbed the various food on offer and we headed back to the hotel for me to shower and change (so glad for a late check-out). But the bus ride back to hotel, in a regular school bus, was difficult on my legs -- especially my right knee. 

Then we headed out to Long Doggers for lunch. Yep, you guessed correctly what I got:

By the time we finished up, it was only a short time before our next adventure for the day:

Pacer Laura, having just paced the 3:55 group, was part of the ensemble along with her son, Soren. How she managed to do some of the moves after the effort she put in on the course and with minimal recovery time between her finish and when she got to the theatre to do that prep before going on-stage, I have no idea. While it is community theatre, and expectations as a whole are usually fairly low for community theatre, I must admit that they did a pretty good job with the show, and it was a pretty packed house, too.

But the production being three hours long (including a brief intermission and some speeches between the two acts) and sitting in cramped seats where I couldn't do anything for extending my legs -- they were really hurting afterwards. 

We met up with the burgeoning stars afterwards and grabbed some really good ice cream around the corner and just hung out for a while. (In fact, we closed down the place!)

At that point, it was time for Jess to head on out and drop me off at Laura's family's house (as they were generous enough to host me for the evening). 

Last selfie of the trip, this time with their dog, Lt. Barclay -- a very sweet fluff ball. 

With that, my race calendar for the year comes to a close (though I'm still looking to see if there's yet one more race I could/should run -- if I find out this week that I've gotten a charity bib for Boston, I might sign up last-minute for Dismal Swamp Marathon to try to get a BQ to use for 2027, one that wouldn't need a buffer.)

Final (?) Pacing Gig for 2025

I'm finally getting down to the Space Coast Marathon, which I've heard about for several years now, ever since I first met (and paced, spur-of-the-moment in what became a horrendous thunderstorm) one of my running friends (Laura, who has since become a pacer herself) at the Florida Marathon. While I'm confident in my ability to hit the time, I am not happy about the predicted conditions.

While the weekend itself looks like it will be comfortable for being out and about, and great for the spectators during the race, these temperatures are way too high for comfort for running a marathon.

And even worse when you look at the current hourly forecast.

With that temperature and high humidity, I'll be throwing lots of water over my head the whole time, to be sure. With good fortune, the clouds will mostly obscure the sun. At least it looks like the wind will be a cross-wind, rather than a headwind; so that might actually do a bit of a job in moderating our core temps.

Looking forward to wrapping this up (marathon #11 for the year (7th pacing this year), #92 overall) and then seeing Laura and her son Soren performing in a local production of Annie shortly thereafter -- should be lots of fun this weekend.

Icarus and Achilles

I had my first training run with the local chapter of Achilles International last week, and, unfortunately, I was out of town this weekend, so couldn't make it to one this week (which was eventually canceled, as it turns out). However, that didn't stop me from practicing how I would handle the "course" that I was on for my outdoor run on Saturday.

I went up to Vermont this weekend for the opening of my goddaughter's senior project art installation. She is studying to be an art teacher and had pieces in many different media: sculpture, photography, watercolors, ceramics, embroidery, collage, and possibly one or two others whose types I don't know the proper names for. Suffice to say, a rather eclectic mix, mostly because she wants to make sure she is conversant with the different media that she will need to be teaching to elementary and/or secondary school students. If you are in the vicinity of VT University, Castleton, up through December 19 (and possibly even as late as mid-January), you should swing by the Fine Arts Center and take a look. My favorite pieces from the show:

(No, despite the title of the blog post, these wings are not made out of wax, rather feathers. Over 1,000 feathers glued onto tulle.) 

It was a nice, albeit chilly, weekend. When I went outside on Saturday morning, it was about 34F. Surprisingly enough, my MCM mock, running pants, knit cap, and (relatively thin) knit gloves (sans hand warmers) did a decent job of keeping me warm enough during the first mile until I was generating my own heat.

The scenery was definitely a nice change of pace compared to the same stretches of road or W&OD trail that I run on when going outside, and I was encouraged that outdoor running in those temps really aren't so bad. The hills were a little taxing, but a couple of the houses were really cute. While one had a "flock" of pink flamingos standing out front, another had a large variety of bird feeders on tall colored poles. I can only imagine just how unique a scene it is in warm temperatures with a wide variety of birds flitting about and dining from the differently shaped and colored houses.

Despite it being a simple rhomboid 2-mile loop (that I ran 3 times), there were enough tricky spots for me to pretend I was tethered to someone else I needed to lead through the area. There were several sizable inclines/declines to be pointed out, a couple of large swaths of fallen leaves to be mindful of a slipping hazard, spots where we would need to be single-file because of it being narrow (typically because of an obstacle in the way), and some tricky zig-zag type turns to navigate. While it felt a little awkward to be talking out loud to a phantom athlete, 1) no one else was around to hear/observe and 2) it didn't matter if anyone was able to understand what I was doing as it is helpful to become better accustomed to doing all of these activities when running outside. It will behoove me to continue doing at least one run per week outside while also practicing this, whether it be during an actual chapter run or just on my own. I'll certainly need to refrain from it while doing my regular pacing duties, though -- I think that could be rather confusing. (Though, frankly, some of the same warnings apply, regardless, when it comes to any sizable hills (up or down), obstacles upcoming, or other oddities that really need to be called out.)

I also interviewed with Achilles International on Friday for one of their very limited (read: five) bibs for the Boston Marathon. As I understand, everyone who interviewed will find out in the next few days (as they said they would decide before Thanksgiving). Fingers crossed that I didn't put my foot in my mouth -- at least too egregiously. I was truthful, potentially to a fault, providing slightly more detail than was necessarily warranted. At least I don't have much additional time I will need to wait for a final verdict.

Achilles International (tm)

                                         

Anyone who has run in or spectated at some of the larger marathons has seen people running in Achilles International shirts -- either athletes (be they amputees, blind, mobility impaired, or those in racing hand cycles) or guides. While non-runners often marvel at how the runners are able to go for 26.2 miles, we runners are similarly floored at so many of these Achilles athletes being able to overcome whatever their particular impairment is to persevere and go the distance.

Today, the newly formed Loudoun County chapter held its first training run, and I joined in. Slowly but surely, the word will spread. We had many more guides (or newbie guides, like me) than we had athletes, so several of the newbies were paired up with some veteran guides to help simulate -- in my group's case -- guiding a blind runner.

It's one thing to have seen lots of these small 2 or 3-person groups in dozens of marathons over the years, but this training run very much opened my eyes as to just how difficult it is for a blind runner to navigate a race, a guide to provide the appropriate directions and communication, and the trust that a blind runner must place in their guide, possibly meeting that person for the first time at the race itself.

At least for the time being, unless someone has and transports their own racing chair, our chapter will be focused on those athletes who are ambulatory. I'm looking forward to being able to expand my repertoire in races where I'm not running for myself. While I expect most of the time will still be as a pacer, whenever otherwise possible, I hope I can be used as a guide.

I'm also in the process of applying for their charity team for the Boston Marathon next year. Regardless of whether that pans out or not, I will continue my journey to guide Achilles athletes and do more than simply yell "Go Achilles!" on the course.

Harrisburg Marathon

The Harrisburg YMCA puts on several races throughout the year. This year was the second time I was set to pace the marathon. It's a very small field (both for the marathon and relay, and the half marathon), but for those who want to get an early shot in the season at a BQ, this really is a great race to do so -- the course is mostly flat (the few hills are relatively brief -- basically on/off-ramps as far as some bridges are concerned being the "worst" of them) and, at least for the past two years, the weather has been great -- nice cool day, and the start line so close to the parking lot that if you really wanted to, you could keep warm inside your car until about 10 minutes before race start.

I arrived early afternoon on Saturday to packet pickup in the Y itself -- a painlessly fast process. I took a chance at not bothering to pay for the on-street parking as I figured I'd be in an out in less than 5 minutes. It was even faster than that -- maybe 2 minutes total. Later in the evening, I went to an Italian restaurant (and piano bar), but unfortunately the pianist wasn't set to start performing until about 7pm (and I was finished with dinner before 6pm).

The morning arrived quickly enough and I "caravanned" down to City Island with one of the other pacers who was also staying at the same hotel. It was perfect weather -- in the upper 40s, mostly cloudy, and barely any wind. We pacers picked up our pace signs and gathered for our obligatory group photo.

(The time on the clock on the right was how long the walkers, who set out first, were already underway. They get a full extra hour.)

We all lined up in our respective spots and awaited the start. I warned the few people who self-identified to me as running for 4:30 a couple of the places on the course where they would need to be extra careful -- which I repeated each time we approached them on the 2-loop course; spots that are easily visible but that if one is "in the zone" might not be paying sufficient attention to recognize.

While it's a somewhat awkward/tight start at the beginning, and a little precarious given the condition of the asphalt in the parking lot we start/finish in, quickly enough we were spread out and coalesced into our respective groups. This year my pace group was pretty small -- from what I could tell, I didn't even have a dozen people at the start.

It was a little difficult to determine just how many people were in my group, because most of them weren't all that responsive when I engaged with questions and goaded them to shout "Oorah!" (a habit I maintain from Marine Corps Marathon -- I think it's a great cheer usually). Only the two or three people who were directly next to me engaged, and even prompted their own questions to me every now and then.

Once we finally made I way down directly along the river (around Mile 2 for several miles), the river was a gorgeous clam sheet of glass. Pacer Patrick shared a photo (not sure if he took it or someone else did) which gives a good indication of the sorts of views that we had along the river.

Given how small a field runs this marathon and half marathon, there are relatively few people who come out and cheer. While there are a few pockets of loud cheers, many of the miles are quiet. I attempted to break up that silence with some of my usual questions and prompts, but didn't get much responsiveness, which made it all the more difficult (I think) for some of the people in the group to keep on task.

To me, the water stops on this route are pretty awkward. They are *very* brief  (basically a single table), and the water (more often than not, from what I could tell) is in sealed large (16 oz) bottles -- lots of waste, as people aren't generally going to take and hold onto the bottle for many miles. And picking up the various snack items (candy/chocolates, goldfish/other salty snacks, bananas) very much required a full stop to find what you wanted to take and head back out -- it didn't seem like there were sufficient volunteers to assist with the snacks, just enough to assist with the drinks.

(One of very few unique signs found on course. When you've run as many marathons as I have -- with this having been #91 -- it's hard to find a sign you haven't seen many times before.)

While I did see a couple of photographers on the course, and it looked like they were taking photos of our group, it seems the only ones that were taken of me and those around me were at the start/half/finish line of the 2-loop course.

One of the people in my group was using this race as a qualifying race for his entry to the Comrades Marathon in South Africa next year. For those who are unaware, the name is a misnomer, as the race is approximately 85 km long, not "just" 26.2 miles. While he eventually fell off our initial pace, he ultimately beat the time that he needed (5 hours). (Thanks, Robert, for the correction on the distance being about 56 miles. Going to the website, they say 88-90km. Oops!)

Another person in my group was running her very first marathon, with her 40th birthday being next month. 

The one person from my initial group who stayed with me the entire time was a 17-year old running his first marathon (on the right side of the above photo). He took me up on my insistence that he charge ahead of me as strongly as possible by the time we hit the Mile 26 marker. While I was nearly exactly on pace for my 4:29:30 target, he had enough gas in his tank to finish in under 4:29:00. (Congrats, Esteban!)

I stuck around after the race for a little while cheering on some more runners making their way around the last turn before the finish line gets in sight and then headed on out for my regular post-race lunch: a good cheeseburger at a local joint. That it was barely out of the way on my return trip home was a bonus.