After my long trail run yesterday, I had a very different day today. Yesterday was a ton of fun, and so was today. This morning, I helped pace a good friend, for his virtual marathon. 

I obviously didn’t run the whole thing, but I was there to watch him achieve his goal of a PR. Together, we had prepared for his race all week, and it went exactly as planned.

He ran the marathon at the local park, where I do a lot of my running.  There was actually a half marathon race happening in the park this morning, so we had to plan our timing, to avoid the congestion that might occur with this race.

We met early and he started running, just after it got light. I rode my road bike along side him.  This enabled me to talk to him about pacing and about the details of the loop he was running.  It also meant, I could carry drinks for him, so we didn’t have to worry about placing drinks along the route.

The route involved five loops around a lake.  I rode my bike for the first four, and then ran with him for the final loop.  He was running so well, that I had to run hard to catch up with him, after dumping my bike. The last loop went really well; I could tell he was hurting, but he never let up. I kept him on my shoulder and tried to push the pace as fast as I dare.  He dug deep and never left my shoulder and ended up with a PR.  He  also had a significant negative split for the run, which is very hard to do in a marathon.  It was just so good to see him hitting his goal. 

This is the third time that I have paced someone for a race, and every time it has been so rewarding.  Just being there for support and hopefully providing an encouraging word at the right time, is awesome.  If you have never paced anyone in a race before, give it a try. You won’t regret it.