Well, I figure I’ll throw up a quick race report from the Utah Valley Marathon on Saturday. I paced the 3:40 group at the Utah Valley Marathon for the second straight year. Last year, I went 3:40:00 on my Garmin and 3:39:58 chip time. I was joking that I wanted to improve on that this year. I strive for perfection when I pace. I take it very seriously. If I ruin my own race when I race, that’s my own problem. But if I ruin somebody else’s race, that’s a different story.
The pace team advised us to bank a little time in the first half, because it was a big downhill course that’s fairly flat for the final five miles, but I decided I’d try to run as close to even splits as possible. The way I saw it, if somebody was in shape to run a 3:40, then going at a little bit of a lighter effort would conserve energy, and the best races are the ones where you finish strong. Hit 21 with some energy and you should be able run your goal pace the rest of the way in. Plus, in trying to run a perfect race, I don’t want to plan to slow down on flat ground.
So, I told my group the strategy, told them they didn’t owe me anything as far as following my pace — if they wanted to go a little harder on the downhills early, I wouldn’t be offended. But I told them not to let me pass them! Of course, when running a race, it never really goes completely according to plan. While an 8:20ish pace downhill is not a challenge for me, I’m still human and it’s still something I have to do physically.
As is always the case when I’m an official pacer (this was my 7th time as an official pacer), I struggle for a mile or so locking into a groove. I adjust to make sure I’ve got the right effort, then lock into that and monitor my pace frequently. It was actually a bit tough at first. Physically, it was easy on my legs. But the starting elevation was somewhere up around 5,800 feet, so I was gasping for air. I’m a sea-level guy.
For the first few miles, I was running miles in the 8:17 – 8:20 range. The mile markers were off a bit early, so I didn’t really know where I stood overall for the race. I finally figured out that I was about 20 seconds total ahead for the race about seven miles in, but I gave it back when we covered a series of hills over the next few miles. I was about 10 seconds behind, but then started picking it up a bit when we started back on the downhills and eventually I was about 10 seconds fast for the race by the halfway point.
In my perfectionist ways, I expect to be perfect, so I was a little mad at myself for not being spot-on. But I know that in reality, I was a pretty decent target for 3:40 hopefuls to follow.
In the second half of the race, I hit two consecutive miles — I think 17 and 18 — about 10 seconds too fast. That brought me up to about 30 seconds ahead of pace and basically wrecked my chances at finishing with a solid time. I’m not going to run a mile 20 seconds slow just to reel myself in. I knew all I could really do was try to go about 3-5 seconds per mile slower than I should to get myself closer to the target pace and hopeful reel people pack in. The danger of going too fast is that people lose hope because they think they can’t make it based on where you are, even though they’re pretty close themselves.
I got down to only 14 seconds ahead through 25, but I went too fast while talking to a guy running his first marathon and ended up running six seconds too fast for the mile. I finished the race in 3:39:40, my third-worst pacing effort I’ve done. I felt pretty consistent, but I was a touch too fast. I got a lot of thank-yous in the finish area, so I know people were happy with the job I did, but I always know I can do better. Shoot, I even had a guy approach me in the airport and thank me for the job I did!
Two cool stories from this one. First, there was a woman who was running fairly close to me for most of the race. At mile 19, she told me she was excited because she felt great about getting her Boston Qualifier. From the sounds of what she was saying, she was being conservative with her effort and just going for the I started talking to her real quick about her training, because with the new registration process, a 3:40 will qualify, but a 3:37 is probably what it will take to get her in.
I had about two minutes to get her background. I asked her about her race times, her training paces and her training cycle. I asked her how she felt physically and mentally. I explained to her the reality about Boston and she said she wanted to go for broke. Based on what she told me about her training, I thought she had a reasonable chance to step it up and kick. I started doing math in my head. We were about 25 seconds ahead of pace for the race. She needed to gain another 150 seconds over six miles and she was willing to roll the dice.
So, I told her to step it up to and run as close to 8:00/mile starting at 20, then step it up to 7:45 at 24, then go for broke at 25. No telling what would happen, but I told her that was the only way she’d really get into Boston. She’s training for a half-Ironman in August and then her next marathon is after Boston registration closes. This was her only chance.
At about 19.8, I gave her the line I give everybody and that I use on myself in goal races. I told her than she’d built a solid foundation for her race with 20 great miles. She needed to go seal the deal with a 10K. Physically, I thought she could do it. But she’d need to stay tough mentally until the finish. I told her that each time she hit a mile marker, to tell herself, “I’ve run X great miles. I’m not going to let those go to waste with Y bad miles.” 21/5, 22/4, etc. When we got about 100 yards from the mile 20 marker, she asked me if she should just go, and I said no, that 20 sign was her start line. I wanted her to build one last little bit of excitement and focus on what she had to do.
She took off at 20, I wished her well, and I didn’t see her again until the finish area. She got a 3:37! I was so excited — it totally made my day. I don’t know her name and I’m sure I’ll never hear from her. But it was awesome to know I got her to push her 3:40 to a 3:37. Hopefully she makes the cutoff for Boston!
Also, the reason I was up there for the race in the first place was to support Alicia Verburg, who is doing a great job building her Train 4 Autism chapter. She was looking for a big PR from her previous best, a 4:38. We talked a bit and she thought she had a good chance at breaking 4:30. If all went really well, she thought she had a chance at sub-10:00 miles, which would be a 4:21:59.
I talked to some people in the finish area for a little bit and then decided to run out to run her back in. Based on when I left, I thought I’d catch her about a mile out. Much to my surprise, she was right there just .55 miles after I started running! I knew she was in line for a great time. I turned back around to run her in. I asked her a couple of questions to see how she was feeling and what her chip time was. I knew she had a fighting good chance at breaking 4:20. It seemed that the sub-4:22 was a lock.
I gave her the same line — I told her she’d run 25 1/2 awesome miles and she couldn’t let that sub-4:20 slip over the course of just a half mile! I could tell that she couldn’t talk. She needed all her oxygen for running. So I just pulled in front of her a little bit and tried to give her a good target so I could pull her along. We got up to a little quicker than a 9:00 pace. I knew she was kicking hard at that point, because who runs nearly a minute faster than their pace for a marathon in the 26th mile? She told me she was trying her best and I did what I could to find the right balance to pull her along, but not too hard.
We got in and she stopped her Garmin. 4:19! She got it! It was awesome to see her get that. She gave me some credit when I texted her later on Saturday, but it was her legs that got her there. I just had fun finishing up the run with her.
So, I didn’t run the race as well as I would have liked to, but it was a beautiful course and it was fun (as always) to help other people.
Now, I can get back to focusing on training for the San Francisco Marathon. It’s next month … I can’t wait!
Adair Renning says
Great Race Report, and I love the stories about the 2 runners you helped. I’ll bet I could convince Asia to run another marathon if you were pacing it :>) We’re wearing out OJ Marathon shirts to her practice tonite. Take care,
Adair
Adair Renning says
Any group would be lucky to have you for a pacer!!!
Alicia Verburg says
My legs may have gotten me there but my legs were perfectly okay with a sub 4:22 before I saw you. 😉 Thanks again, Sam!
Candice says
I love both stories! I will remember them in future races for sure. I am so glad I was able to meet you and think what you and Alicia are doing is amazing!!