Pacing in Cleveland

After a week of being sick, I did indeed pace 16 (longer than the 15.8!) miles of the Cleveland Marathon on Sunday.  I then went home, cleaned up, and came back and gave out water and Powerade at the water stop that was also at the 16th mile where my daughter and husband worked.  I really love pacing races for a number of reasons with the best one being that it is my way to give back to my sport.  It is incredibly rewarding and always so special when you can get others to complete their goal.  We even got a facebook message thanking us (the 4:10 pace group) for our help.  Funny thing is that I have never actually run with a pace group - weird, I know.  I was surprised that I felt ok during the race even though I knew that I wasn't 100%. We kept the pace right on the money and for 10 of those 16 miles we were at a 9:27 pace  - just like clockwork.  Our first mile was slow at 10:15 and we had a couple of quicker ones around half way.  We hit the mark at 16 at 1 min under which was our goal considering that the only real "incline" on the new course is at mile 22. I must say that pacing with Bill and Amy (two other Boston marathoners that I train with) was a pleasure, and I was ever so happy to see Amy (and her family) at the halfway point.  Those fresh legs gave me the definite boost that I needed to get the group to mile 16.  Kudos to Bill for running the entire course and to them delivering the group at 4:09:34!

Cleveland was the first marathon that I paced back in 2004 and I've done it 4 times since.  From there I got involved with another pace group and have paced marathons in Fargo, Myrtle Beach (SC), Leading Ladies (SD), Chicago, Madison (WI) and St. Louis. 

Here we are this year in Cleveland:

And here I am at mile 14 in Rocky River:

I also made sure that I carried Jerry with me through the race.  Speaking of Jerry, he was just moved to hospice care last week.  I'm glad that he was able to pick the place where he wanted to be, but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the whole thing.  As our mutual friend, Cristal, told me in March, I probably won't see Jerry again.  The best I can do is to dedicate those miles and every one race that I run in 2014 to Jerry and make sure that we indeed continue to have his back.  I also found out this morning that Jerry has been given his last rights.  He is apparently ready to cross the next finish line.  I will miss him, but he will always be with me on my runs.

I finally felt pretty normal on my run this evening with the local Second Sole group.  It is finally summer here in Cleveland as it was 73F, but it appears as if we skipped Spring altogether. I was surprised that I felt so good so I'm glad that it went well.  I also went to work with Jake and it felt like a long time since I'd been in the gym.  It was good to sweat a little. This weekend we are headed to Chautauqua to open our summer house.  It will be nice to run in them there hills again.