Dayton River Corridor Classic

Am I capable of pacing a half marathon well 2 weeks after running a very difficult marathon?  I would find out on October 9th.

To be honest, I thought I was crazy.  I wanted to run the Dayton River Corridor Classic when I learned about it because is was a relatively cheap half in October and it seemed wrong to not run a half in October, despite my very busy September schedule.  But, I also knew that I would be exhausted and that this race would not be a great race for me if I were able to run it. When they posted about needing pacers, specifically a 2:30 pacer, on Facebook I thought it was meant to be.  I could get my half for free and I wouldn't have to worry about being fast, but even with that would I be recovered enough to be able to run a half marathon well enough to pace others?  I didn't even think about it, I volunteered and determined that I would do it.

Pacers

This was the first time in my pacing where I got to know the other pacers in the race.  I was added to a Facebook group with the other pacers and we were able to discuss coordinating our clothing, meeting for a photo, and other race information.  It was really nice to know what we were doing besides running our pace.  This was also the first pacing I have done of an established race and outside of the Race 13.1 series.  I felt that I had done well pacing for 13.1 and wanted to do the same or better here.

I arrived at the race, checked in, received my shirt, bib, and pacing sign.  After dropping off my shirt in my car I ran into a friend that I started running with in 2012, Jen.  She was a part of Reasons to Run and a ran with her a lot that year.  After the Columbus Half in 2012 we hadn't really talked much.  She decided to remove her Facebook account and I couldn't come to the 5 am runs in Troy anymore so we lost touch.  She was running with a friend and had been doing less running lately, but it was nice to see her.

Off we go.  Larry is on my left

I met up with the other pacers and we discussed the course, past pacing, and plans for the race.  Many of them were experienced pacers but Lisa (pacing the 2:20 group) was new to pacing so I was giving her some tips.  We got our group picture and placed ourselves in the starting chute.  This was the first time I've paced where we did spread ourselves out well for the runners.  Runners started streaming into the start area, lining themselves up to pacers and coming right towards me were Pam and her cousin Larry, two of my running buddies from Piqua.  I had no idea they were running this and I was very happy to see them.  Larry asked if he could hold the pacing sign.  I told him he could if they stuck with me for the first mile.  They were just there for fun and said they would try to stick with me.

The race began and if you are familiar with Dayton races you would be familiar with a lot of this course.  We started in front of the Riverscape Metro Park (Ghost and Goblin start in the past and where the Dayton Celtic Festival takes place) and went North towards 5/3 Field then West over the bridge near the ballpark (same course as Dayton Dragons 5k).  The course takes that road to another bridge which leads to another park (still the same as the Dragons course).  This is where the course becomes mainly bike path and we had our first water stop.  Some ladies who were running near me had already made a comment about calming down and keeping an even pace, to which the other lady replied that they needed to keep my pace.  They were trying to stick with me and I would do my best to help them.  We took a left in the park to follow a bike path that went over a bridge and onto a path that went beyond the park.  On the other side of the bridge was a large crowd cheering and this was around the mile 1 marker.  They were working a water station that we would hit twice later.

Me and my group at mile 3

We went left on the path down to the 3 mile marker.  This was turn-around 1 and also water stop number two.  This is where I ran into Pam and Larry again.  They had gone ahead at the first bridge and had a decent lead.  Pam stopped when she saw me and got a picture of me pacing.  At this point I should mention that even though this race is 40 years old they had to change the course this year due to construction.  This year the course was a Y shaped double out-and-back.  Many people weren't happy about this, but to me it meant that I could anticipate the course a bit better for pacing the 2nd part of each out-and-back.  It also meant that the pacers saw each other twice and could cheer for each other's groups.  I really thought it turned out pretty well.  We saw the leaders of the race twice and we could see the sweepers behind us twice.  It gave you an interesting perspective of the race.  By this time in the course it had been really flat.  The worst hills were the bridges, which weren't really that bad.  I was keeping my pace within 10 seconds above or below the goal pace and I was feeling good.

We headed back to the bridge where the cheering crowd had become a water stop, but instead of going over it we took the right leg of the bike path for our second out-and-back leg.  At this point I had gained some more runners in my group, ones that had tried to stay ahead of me, but were now just trying to keep up with me.  I was still keeping an even pace that would put me within 1 minute ahead of 2:30.  We took a dip into an area of the park that smelled like sewage, that was not fun.  We were all relieved when we got through that area, but we also knew that we would have to go back through it again since it was part of the second out-and-back.  The course continued along the river where there was another water stop, up a steep but short hill, and along the side of a golf course with a tall fence that included barbed wire.  I thought it looked like a nice prison, ha ha.  This led to a dip where we had out last turn-around at mile 8 with another water stop.  I had lost a bit of my group by this point, but one lady kept dropping, losing me, then catching back up.  She and I started talking during mile 8, which was nice, but accidentally slowed me down and while we were still on pace to finish well, if we had another mile like that we would be in trouble.  I was about 70 seconds ahead of perfect pace, after that mile we were about 20-30 seconds ahead.  We picked up the pace and I kept it right where it needed to be for the next few miles.

Lady in dark blue is the one that sticks through 

We got back to the sewage area during mile 12 and we must have wanted to get through that because my mile 12 was a bit on the speedy side.  I didn't lose my buddy through mile 12 though she could tell that I had picked up the pace.  We came back to that water stop by the bridge, went over the bridge, back to the first water stop, and back out to the road we started on.  I told the lady I was pacing before the mile 12 marker that she needed to leave me at that marker and go for the finish.  Due to my unintentional acceleration I gave her a surge of speed for the end.  I slowed down a bit for the last mile, when pacing I do not like to pass anyone in the last mile unless I absolutely have to pass them.  It really stinks if you have stayed ahead of a pacer for 12 miles and they catch you right before the finish, especially if your goal was to stay ahead of that pacer.  Even though my pace was slower, it really only made up for the speedy mile 12.  I was still right around a nice pace for the pace I was supposed to keep.  We didn't take the exact route out to go back to the start.  We started on roads, we finished on the bike path behind Riverscape Metro Park (same route as Celtic Festival 5k/10k finish).

Even though I slowed down, the woman I was pacing kept looking behind to see how far I was behind her.  I kept smiling and urging her on.  I was by myself at this point and I like when I lose runners I am pacing because they are running their last mile faster but I know some people see that as bad for a pacer.  I do wish my group had stayed with me longer than it did. It thinned out a lot by mile 5.  I came to a bridge about a half mile from the finish where a volunteer was worried that I would not be on time for my pace, he thought I was really far ahead of my time.  I told him I knew I was ahead, but I thought I was close.  I came to the finish and as I neared the finish line, through crowds of people who were already done, I heard a group notice me ("Here comes the 2:30 pacer, she's good") then look at the clock ("Wow, she's really good!").  According to the clock I finished within 30 seconds of 2:30 (2:29:30) and according to my chip I came in within 1 minute of 2:30 (2:29:05).  My best pacing ever!

Medal Picture

I got my medal, collected the pacing signs from the other pacer, and waited to pass on the signs to the last pacer.  The woman I had paced and encouraged had been looking for me.  When she found me she thanked me tremendously.  This was her first half marathon and even in training she had not done a lot of continuous running.  She said she never thought she could do what she just did and thanked me for helping her run continuously for the entire distance.  She was so happy.  I love that!  The last pacer came through (I think 3:00 or 2:40) with a huge group.  It was a speedy half that didn't have a lot of finishers after 3:00.  I'm not sure what the time limit may have been but usually 2:30 is not in the last 25% of finishers and in this race it was pretty close to that low.  I don't know if it attracts faster runners or has a strict time limit but it was odd for me to be that close to the back of the pack, even pacing.

After the race there was a PT tent (yea!!) so I had my feet treated for free again.  That's one thing that balances, I may be injured but if I keep running races I keep getting free treatment.  Runner logic, it doesn't really make sense but we use it anyway.  They also had a free pancake breakfast which was very enjoyable.  I didn't run into Pam, Larry, or Jen after the race, but they finished well ahead of me so I didn't expect them to stick around for me.  I have kept in touch with many of the pacers from that day and have even run with a few of them since that day.  A few days later the race asked us for feedback on the race since we had a unique view of it as pacers.  We also got some feedback from them, which was largely positive.

I really enjoyed pacing this race and was pleasantly surprised that I had recovered enough to run an even half marathon 2 weeks after my worst marathon.  I do hope I can pace it again in the future.  I'm also glad that I'm getting better with keeping an even pace.  Maybe one day I will be a Beast Pacer, I just have to keep pacing.