| It was an early(ish), coach this morning for the hop over to pacing duties at the Liverpool Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, after a snap decision that if I couldn't have a funky red pacing shirt (Mine went missing in the post, sadly) I'd have to make do with a quick red hair dye job instead. The coach was perfectly scheduled and thankfully exactly on time which reduced any creeping pre-race angst. A minor blip when I arrived at the arena and the pacing team was nowhere to be found (they had moved indoors from the June cold!) was swiftly solved by a very helpful member of the volunteers coordination team and I was then absolutely delighted to discover that I was not the only 4:45 pacer! My 'pacing buddy', Nick, had also paced several times before and so I was instantly relieved to know I'd have some company as well as another, more experienced eye on the clock! He politely inquired if I minded wearing the flag as he had an ankle injury. Seeing as I was expecting to anyway and didn't have an identifying T shirt, I was happy to do that but we did agreed to swap for a bit if I started having the chafing problems I was expecting! |  Ready to Rock! |
 The Pacing Crew! (I stick out a little less today!)  ...And we rocked it! | Actually, I was surprised how light and easy the flag and strap was. The flag ended up being simply some laminated plastic on a wooden pole, nothing like as onerous as some of the pace flags I've seen people sport at other races, and way better than the hand held ones I've spotted once or twice too! I'd brought a buff to wear against the anticipated neck-rubbing, so that was no problem and the only times I even really remembered I was wearing it were the occasions that it gently tapped me on the back of the head (thought that would get annoying but it didn't) and when I had to dive into a bush. Getting in was fine. I almost didn't get out again, Thankfully, Nick carried the pace team on and no one got enthusiastic enough to follow me in, though I think I worried one or two of the 4:50's when I legged it past them to catch up! The race itself was simply a delight and I really enjoyed the whole day. I never realised how relaxed the start line of a race can be, but when you're in the last corral, there's a distinct lack of pressure compared to the faster waves where everyone is desperate to PB or equal faster times. Everyone around us was instantly chatty and I got to hear so many stories, so many reasons for running and so many random facts that had nothing to do with running whatsoever that the miles felt as though they were flying past, despite the fact that we were at a slower pace than I have been used to. |
Thankfully, Nick was really on the ball with time, and though I'd take a glance at the Garmin for pace when I remembered, I got caught up in conversations (and other people's speeds!) a bit too often and he did a fantastic job of reminding me to drop the pace when needed (Especially after the caffeine gel stop!). The hardest thing I found near the end, was when we overtook people who saw us and realised they'd not meet their goal times. From my recent experience at London, I know exactly what it feels like to see a pace team sail past, trailing your hopes and dreams with them! As much as possible, we'd hang back a little (we had some time in the bank) to try and help pick them up and I think we probably did help a little, even if they couldn't keep up with us for long. We did drop the pace quite significantly towards the end, so ran a positive split but that just meant we could help a little more towards the end with those struggling I think. There were a few people who ran with us for a good chunk of the way, who we advised, as they were looking so comfortable, to keep up their steady pace and not stick with us any longer as we were going to be slowing down in order to be nearer our goal time. I'm sure they did especially well and got far faster times than they were expecting.
 The (Unofficial) Dirt! | After a dip in energy on the course between roughly miles 23 and 25, there was a bit more of a buzz as we approached the finish line, where people realised they were nearly there and dug deep for a little sprint. One of my favourite moments of the day (thought I've not even come close to mentioning half of them, there are just too many!) was the look on one lady's face as she saw me come alongside and realised what her time was. She grabbed my hand and we ran for it; I'd have loved to cross the line with her, but I had to send her off ahead in order to stick a little closer to my team. I did get a big hug from her on the finish though! Obviously, the Garmin data at the end wasn't perfect (I'm assuming it's not a short course!) but it's absolutely to Nick's credit that we were as close to perfect timing as we were. The official result has me down as 4:44:43, still pretty damn spot on! So what have I learned? Well, that I love running races. I love running as fast as I can and I love the feeling when I work for and achieve a PB. However, that feeling lasts only as long as it takes me to go 'so can I go just a little faster?' and that's not really very long at all. |
| If I aim for, and achieve a PB, great, but that's one PB and quite frankly, unless I'm going to invent teleportation, there's only so many times that can possibly happen, especially for a non-professional, almost middle aged 'athlete'. Running slower than my 'natural' pace is just as hard as running faster. It hurts indifferent ways, and I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with the 'ran too fast' tingly sharpness that comes when you've pushed yourself as opposed to the dull, heavy 'meat leg' syndrome I get from going slow. Knowing I made a difference to a handful of other runner's races though... Now that's something I can feel warm about for far longer than any physical afterburn and doesn't seem to get caught up by the 'can I do it better?' doubts. If I eased the boredom of a mile or two with my inane chatter, helped shave off a few seconds by inspiring a mini sprint, provoked a smile with my stupidity (I felt daft but breaking in to a rendition of Kate Bush as we were 'running up that hill' seemed to at least provide some distraction from the gradient) or even just helped out with the blood sugar (I didn't want to take all those gels home again anyway) then that is time spent far more productively than beating myself up over the minutes. So yes. I love running races, not racing them quite so much. I love the atmosphere and the people and I get way more out of that than my own 'achievements' and I still got a medal! I've also reinforced my belief that success is all about perspective. I've come away from this race feeling like I've achieved so much more than my goal, despite being half an hour slower than my last marathon, in which I felt like a complete failure. But then, if I stop and compare that to this time 2 years ago, when I was just beginning to train for my first half marathon, having completed just one race... If you'd told me then that I'd have just run over 26 miles as a training run for my first ultra marathon in a week's time... I'd have barely believed you and then politely enquired what an 'ultra marathon' was. I certainly wouldn't have asked you how quickly I ran it. |  If you know Liverpool at all, this is where we went!  AND I got a medal! |
