Quad Cities Marathon Pacer

For the 3^rd year in a row, I had the privilege of pacing the 3:40 (8:23/mi) group at the Quad Cities Marathon. With the race being 2 weeks after Ironman Wisconsin, I had a rough time closing out those final 6 miles in past years. As a precaution, I worked with the pacing director to have someone take over at mile 20 this year.

Attempting to spew wisdom on my fellow athletes at the expo =)

The weather was looking pretty rough with a 100% chance of rain from 3AM-6PM. As we were driving to the start, there wasn’t any rain. As everyone lined up in the starting corral, still NO RAIN! It wasn’t until 6 miles in that any rain fell, and at that point it was perfect for cooling us off.

Using that pacer sign as a prop for photographer

For me, this was one of those days that I didn’t internalize I was running a marathon until the Anthem was being sung. I found myself lost in conversation with my pace group, and after a few introductions the cannon went off. The first few miles are always a little tense as I focus on hitting the pace, but once we settled in, we were on target. This year, my group had TONS of energy and positive vibes. We learned everyone’s name, where they’re from and who had the most interesting job (hypnotist and poison control were the top 2). We even talked about how most of our conversation will probably be forgotten (as I now struggle to remember what else we talked about). The rain came heavy at mile 8 and everyone’s shoes were soaked, but I just kept hearing how good everyone was feeling. I have never had a group so positive.

Leading my tribe through the rain

I always try to do a little coaching and encouraging as we are running, giving advice on breathing, run cadence or staying on the tangents. Every mile I’d update the group on our previous split and where we stood on pace. Up until mile 17, I had 3 guys, 1 girl and a relay runner going strong. At that point the group started to get a little quiet and I was doing most of the talking. We had 1 slowly drop off at 17 and another around mile 20. I always struggle seeing someone fall off knowing I can’t slow up for them. Up until this point, I was feeling strong, but some GI issues had been nagging since mile 15. Once I got to mile 20 and handed the pacer sign off, I took care of business. I caught back up to my last 2 runners with 5 to go. At mile 25 I told them to leave the nest and to soak in their finish.  Within a minute, they were fading off in the distance

Jay ran a 3:43 last year and wanted to PR by
running under 3:40. Way to crush it!

Why I love being a pacer.

The opportunity to help others reach a goal

Getting to know fellow athletes that I wouldn’t normally meet

Supporting the local community (go QC!)

FREE supported training run!

Not sure why I'm grimacing so much at the finish 

At the end of the day, we couldn’t have asked for better conditions considering the forecast. This was my 3^rd year pacing the marathon within 2 weeks of an Ironman, and I felt so much stronger than the previous years. I think this is an indication of how much stronger I am and how much harder I’ve been training this year. Louisville is in less than 2 weeks now, and I’m ready to being my final taper.