Pacing the Sydney Half Marathon 2014 - 2 hours

A fortnight ago I paced 2 hours at the Sydney Half Marathon. Comparing to Canberra, it was anything but as straightforward as Canberra. Here, where all that that can possibly go wrong, will all go wrong. Here’s what happened.

0-5KM: We got to the start line without an issue - on time and in good spirits. Time to switch on my Garmin!  It won’t register – the GPS simply kept…blinking and it just won’t get any reception! Horror! How would I know I am running at 5:40min/km pace now? A nearby person heard me telling my pacing partner of my watch issue and asked: “how are you going to pace us properly?” I answered…calmly…in my yoga voice. “it’s ok – my partner’s GPS is working  - and mine is just erratic and delayed for now…”

Even though I was freaking out inside! Problem was, I can no longer rely on the average pace function on the GPS (which is what I was relying on at pace training) and I can only use a timer watch which allows me to split/lap when I see the KM marker. Once the GPS works again I can also use the spot pace to give me an idea how fast I am going.

5-10.x Km: As we were making our way down to the 7km mark, my partner was saying that we were 30 seconds ahead of schedule. But I suspect we were going slower than what was registering on his GPS…my spot pace was telling me I was running at 6:20min/k pace! In a moment of confusion, I have no idea what to believe. So I picked up my pace and just started…running by feel! I know that, at my current point of fitness, 6:20min/k pace is my “singing” pace, and at 5:40min/k, I can still whole a full conversation but can’t sing, and that’s where I should be. So I just…ran by feel.

10-15Km: Eventually my partner caught up around 11Km mark and conceded that we might end up coming in late. As we head up to the rolling hills in Pyrmont, I lost him again. At that point I just decided to just keep going – at least one of us is on time (the weight of responsibility)! At this stage of the run, another issue popped up – the KM markers were off – it was…11km, 12km, 13km, 17km! 17km when my (now a bit dodgy GPS) watch reading 14.5km. And it certainly didn't feel like 17km at this stage. I am really thrown into the deep end learning how to run by feel…

16-20K: Forget about the KM markers – they were totally…everywhere! As if they were just placed along the side of the road randomly. For me I just kept going. Talking to, mostly myself along the way, and when my watch goes off at a kilometre, I called out encouragements to the people nearby me. At that pace, my body felt it is a well-oiled machine. This is my comfortable pace at my current condition – not too slow, not too fast. Just a special sweet spot for me. I was, for the first time, running by feel. That-magic-moment-of-enlightenment. Ding!

I also felt strangely alone. My pacing partner went kaput (turns out he was only a minute or so behind me, and he was closer to the 2 hour time than I was!) so I ended up talking to myself like a mad woman. The people who were holding on to me also went kaput. I was alone. Later on a friend of mine, who was looking over the pedestrian bridge at King St Wharf, said there was a MASSIVE swamp of people behind me. I was this…tiny bee with a tiny flag, and a swarm – literally, at least 100 people, were chasing for their PB using me. Me! This tiny Bee!!!

21-finish: When I saw the Opera house, I knew there was about a kilometre to go. I yelled out words of praise to my pace bus. “Well done guys! Just one K to go – don’t give up now. It will be over in 6 minutes!” I spoke to people around me, encouraged walkers to start running again. It was an exhilarating experience once again, and I managed to get PBs for a large group of people. It was the most exhilarating experience! Just getting people their PBs. Amazing!

And bravo to me too – I took them home without the aid of my Garmin. I just ran by feel. And it felt great.

Post-blog comment: One of the strangest comment I received was around the 13km mark where I was saying “great work guys, we are way pass the half way mark”. Two girls turned around and one exclaimed: “O wow there’s the marker person! We are not that slow! And the marker is a GIRL!” Umm…ok…what, girls can’t run? O_o”

Lazy checking her watch...one KM till the finish! Job well done!

Post pacing thoughts

My début pacing gig was a success! My average pace was 5:35min/k which has allowed me to bank in around 70 seconds. I crossed the line at  1:59:47 and a net time of 1:58:48. It seems trivial (jeez - one minute?!? one second?) but it's a lot in the running world, where the winner is often determined on a 100th of a second.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gig (apart from the dreadful chlorinated water taste). It was heaps fun chatting to my partner and randoms on the bus (i.e. the group that follows the pacer) the entire way and encouraging people along. It's strange to look back now, how 2 hour half marathon is now a cake walk, or in runner's talk, "recovery run". Some googling showed that only some 17% of females and around 40% of blokes do under 2 hours*.

On that note I realised I have came such a long way since I started running in races...2005 maybe? or maybe it was 2003 when I started... I remember I can barely run from one light pole to a light pole, let alone a half marathon/marathon. I remembered I was encouraged along in my first half marathon...many years ago, by an elderly lady who saw my gait reduced to a walk.

And now I am pacing a half marathon. Under 2 hours. Running like the wind. With ease. Like a gazelle.

Towards the finish line, I saw my bus and their suffering faces. And I said:


"the finish line is just around the corner, 250 meters away. Don't give up now. You are so close!"


Their faces lighten up, suffering became hope and excitement and later...relief. It was a joy to see people crossing the finish line and achieving their goals.

The Canberra Half route and the final 10K splits

*just google - I really don't know the source/reference...

Pacing splits

Wow...My first pacing gig is 3 sleeps away. I am quite excited. I hope I can get as many people as possible to realise their under 2 hour dream
.
For me it is more of a routine (some sour sop out there was clearly shocked that I CAN RUN THAT FAST given my past woeful marathon results ha ha!!), but for a lot of people, a sub 2 hour half marathon is a dream. My job on Sunday is to be an enabler, a motivator, in making many people's dream come true.

Pacing practice

So my month long recovery from HK marathon has finally come to an end. Lazy cannot be lazy any more. I have been doing some light running here and there, but nothing specific. I have signed up for a pacing gig in 26 days’ time so I better get training. I thought – I needed some motivation to keep training, but I am not ready to race for another PB yet. How about some rabbit pacing magic?

Here’s the map of the course:

I will be pacing 2 hours (120 minutes) at the Canberra Half Marathon on 13 April 2014 (5:38min/km) (banking in one minute). It will be fun running with a flag up my ass.