10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About Pacing The Charelville Half Marathon Badly

1. Charleville or Berlin

I think that it is terrible that I wasn’t able to race both Berlin and Charleville. I had a great feeling of sadness yesterday not to be doing either. Berlin had proper weather for once and Charleville would have been a great victory over Jeremy, John Meade and Mike Morgan, probably. Instead I agreed to Michael Herlihy’s request to pace 1:35 and save myself for the cross country.

2. Warm Up

I think that it is very difficult to know what sort of a warm up to do for pacing. I was half wrecked before the race as I had finished fourth or fifth in the session at the farm on Saturday morning beating Michael Herlihy significantly. It had been my first time in spikes in about 6 months so my calves were a bit tight. I settled for half a mile of a jog during which I met Jeremy who was devastated that I wasn’t racing.

3. Vietnam vs Indonesia

I think that one of the reasons Michael Herlihy gave me the 1:35 pace group is that it is probably what he thinks I would run for a half marathon if I didn’t have magic shoes. To prove him wrong I wore my simple non magic New Balance 880 V12s which were made in Vietnam. With New Balance shoes you have to get the ones made in Vietnam because the ones made in Indonesia fit a half a size smaller. I have told this story about New Balance shoes and where they are made to many people on runs but no one seems to be interested in it. I think it is fascinating.

4. Balloons and T-Shirts

I think that it was very kind of the Charleville half marathon to give all the pacers a free t-shirt and a free balloon. The Charleville t-shirts are very nice as they have lots of random sponsors sort of like the t-shirt you get at a Spanish road race. The balloon with 1:35 written on it was also very handy as I could give the balloon to Billy afterwards.

5. Kilometers or Miles

I think that when pacing a half marathon it is better to go off km pace than mile pace. 1:35 was 4:30 per km which is easy to remember. The problem is that GPS watches are terribly inaccurate lying machines which you can’t trust so you have to err on the side of 4:28 or so to account for the course being measured properly. This was what I was aiming for anyway.

6. Trickle-Down Economics

I think that Charleville is a very difficult course for a pacer. The first mile is a little bit downhill so you end up running it a bit faster. I’m still not sure if the pacer should run exactly the prescribed pace for this mile. I don’t think that would make any sense because the first mile isn’t the same as any other mile, it’s sort of like free money. Anyway I didn’t do that because I’m very logical, so we went through the first km in about 4 minutes. We then ran along the very flat and featureless road until we reached 10k at Kilmallock in about 44:20 which I thought was excellent pacing even though we had 40 seconds in the bank.

7. Sound of the Alphaflys

I think that the worst thing about pacing is that you must listen to Alphaflys for an hour and a half. They make a terrible terrible clapping sound. I’m not sure if I could stick it for a marathon. Unfortunately, due to Kipchoge’s world record I had to buy the orange pair immediately after the race so I’ll soon find out if they are as loud and awful when you wear them yourself.

8. Wind

I think that everyone in my pacing group should have thanked me when we turned back onto the main road after ten miles. There was no evidence of any wind before the start but by the time we arrived onto the road a strong headwind had developed. I gathered a bunch around me and gave them great shelter with my huge frame over the next three miles. Because of my quality pacing we had plenty of time banked to account for the headwind so we didn’t have to worry.

9. Quality of The Pacing

I think that anyone who complains about pacers should be banned from running a race ever again. Pacing is an incredibly difficult job, probably more difficult that race organiser. You have to account for winds, road surfaces, hills, downhills, humidity, GPS watches, magic shoes all while getting paid nothing. The only solution to avoid people complaining might be to get one of those pace lights like they have for the Diamond League or perhaps have electric bicycles with pace lights cast onto the ground behind them. That way it couldn’t possibly go wrong. I’m sure Michael Herlihy could sort this out. It’s probably the next step for the race.

10. Volunteering

I think that volunteering doesn’t suit me, it was awful to watch Jeremy, John Meade and Mike Morgan running times that I would have liked to have run, they were all too happy afterwards while I had to make do with the lesser endorphin hit of pacing albeit badly. My pacing was probably the only thing that wasn’t perfect about Charleville this year. Everything else, even the weather seemed to be perfect.