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<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">I had a chance to pace the 3:20 group at the Disney Marathon this year. I had previously paced at Disney (3:10 group in 2006) as one of my first pace gigs and I was fairly nervous…after getting caught behind a lot of slower runners, I had to burn some fast miles (6:50-6:55 vs. target of 7:15) to get on track which didn’t help the group too much so I was looking forward to running this race again armed with several more pace gigs worth of experience!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A few days before the race, I (stupidly) ran a hard tempo run without warming up because I was pressed for time, and I tweaked my groin/hamstring. Not too bad, but after running easy the next two days and it not feeling any better, I took Sat off and was a little concerned. Thankfully I wasn’t pacing 3:10, but I was still a little nervous that I may either miss my time, not finish, or do a little more damage. The weather wasn’t great for marathoning – probably not warmer than 60-65 during the race, but humid vs. what I have been running in.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">After a crap day of travelling on Sat (arrived 2+ hours late, waited on a shuttle bus FOREVER), Sunday started early…3 AM!! Took a quick shower, ate a Clif Bar (Blueberry Crisp – mmmm!) and had a Diet Coke to get some caffeine in me (not a coffee drinker). We got to the start area plenty early so we walked around, watered a bush or two, and then headed over to the starting area. We saw some interesting costumes, among others:</span></span>
<ul><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A guy in a Mr. Incredible costume that definitely had the build of the retired Mr. Incredible</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A guy in a Minnie Mouse outfit</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A dude wearing a gladiator outfit – mask, sword, cape, and a Speedo</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">We commented on the gladiator and recalled a guy we’ve seen at other races who wears a Speedo and nothing else…turns out Mr. Speedo was directly next to us as we said this, so we had a good chuckle with him. Small world (among other things being small as evidenced by the Speedo).</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">I also ran into the famous SRLopez in the start area so it was good to see him and hear he had PR’ed in the half the prior day. I also met Loopy and another guy from KickRunners in the start area but I can’t recall his name. Another guy was in one of my groups for the 4th time so we shared war stories about Twin Cities (long story short – the day sucked for BOTH of us!) I chatted with my group for a bit, chucked my throwaway shirt, and after the fireworks display off we went.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">My leg felt decent, we got a clean start since I was only 10 seconds behind the gun time, and the group was decent-sized. I was sweating pretty much right away, though it was cooler once we got out of the starting pen and got some fresh air without all those bodies smashed in close to one another. The first mile was a bit fast (7:26 vs goal of 7:38 ), but the second & third miles were too slow (8:01 & 7:48 ) so I think the mileage markers were a bit off because the pace didn’t feel any different. We seemed to settle in after that, though we were a little ahead of schedule – the next several miles were 5-12 seconds or so fast so we had a little bit of time in the bank sooner than I planned. No one was complaining and it was actually not too bad a strategy to run slightly faster while the sun was still down in case it heated up quickly after sunrise.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">We hit the half in 1:38:59, so 61 seconds banked…normally I like to have 20-30 seconds banked but we settled back down to a 7:38-7:42 pace for the next several miles and the goal was to just keep that banked time until mile 20 or so. I had a very good group – maybe 8-10 core people that I was chatting with throughout the day and another 10-15 people running quietly alongside us, plus stragglers ahead and behind of us that seemed to be keying off the group. Some of the folks I got to know were a Jersey girl who was on my hip for much of the day, an older guy who was shocked I picked up his Pittsburgh accent so quickly, a Canadian guy, an Englishman with a testy GPS system (more on that later), a guy who was trying to BQ despite having run the half the prior day, and a few other folks (I’m horrible at remembering names so I end up giving everyone nicknames). The mood is a lot more fun at 3:20 than in the 3:10 group – 3:10 is fun, but it’s more of a blood & guts group vs. 3:20. I like them both, however.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">We never had more than 67 seconds banked so the time was very steady after the half, and we gave back about 30 seconds the last two miles as I slowed down to rally people in. Jersey Girl fell slightly behind me at 24, but finished in 3:21. The older guy from Pitt (Gary) PR and ran 3:19 and a number of my group came in between 3:18 and 3:22 (the results are fun for me to search through to see the amount of people that were close to my half time and close to my finish time. And when the pics come out I try to see who actually made it close to 3:20). Usually I stick around the finish line to see some people come through but I had to hit the porta-potty BADLY – once I cleared out the warehouse, my leg really was tightening up so we headed to the bus and went back to our hotel. As the 3:10 pacer and I walked to the buses a few people stopped to thank us and chat us up, so that was pretty rewarding. One of the guys that ran with me didn’t say a word during the race, but he was very nice afterwards and asked if I could be in his finisher photo! That’s nice because you think people appreciate having someone run a steady pace, but you don’t always know if they like your tips or appreciate your jokes and it is very cool when people tell you that you helped them enjoy a tough event like a marathon.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Funniest thing that happened during the race – An Englishman’s GPS system kept beeping about 45-50 seonds before the mile markers and we kept making jokes about it. “If that’s my wife calling tell her I’ll be home in 18 miles!” Finally, after several times of his watch going off, he yells to the watch “Stop mocking me!!” So I said “Boy, that watch is a real tease!” and Gary from Pittsburgh said “Yeah, it’s a CLOCKtease!” I cracked up – I told Gary that I reserve the right to use that line at future marathons!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">My splits for anyone interested…I missed mile 9 as we entered Magic Kingdom and I think we scooted quickly through there – it’s the best part of the course (aside from the 5 feet after the finish line!). I think some of the mileage markers were slightly off according to my guess plus some of the other pacers (specifically 1 & 2, and probably miles 24 & 25):</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">1 - 7:26</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">2 -8:01</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">3 -7:48</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">4 - 7:32</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">5 - 7:25</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">6 - 7:35</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">7 - 7:25</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">8 - 7:28</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">9 - 7:28</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">10 - 7:29</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">11 - 7:44</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">12 - 7:21</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">13 - 7:27</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">14 - 7:36</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">15 - 7:41</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">16 - 7:40</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">17 - 7:42</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">18 - 7:40</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">19 - 7:36</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">20 - 7:38</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">21 - 7:35</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">22 - 7:42</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">23 - 7:49</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">24 - 7:26(</span></span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">?)</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">25 - 8:12 (?)</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">26 - 7:34</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">26.2 - 1:34</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">First half 1:38:59, 2nd half 1:40:35, chip time 3:19:34</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">All in all, except for building the bank a little earlier, it was a decent job. Frankly I think some of the miles that were far from the average (Miles 2, 3, and 25) were mile markers in the wrong place...I mean, it couldn't be MY mistake that I sped up or slowed down, right?!</span></span>
<ul><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A guy in a Mr. Incredible costume that definitely had the build of the retired Mr. Incredible</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A guy in a Minnie Mouse outfit</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A dude wearing a gladiator outfit – mask, sword, cape, and a Speedo</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">We commented on the gladiator and recalled a guy we’ve seen at other races who wears a Speedo and nothing else…turns out Mr. Speedo was directly next to us as we said this, so we had a good chuckle with him. Small world (among other things being small as evidenced by the Speedo).</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">I also ran into the famous SRLopez in the start area so it was good to see him and hear he had PR’ed in the half the prior day. I also met Loopy and another guy from KickRunners in the start area but I can’t recall his name. Another guy was in one of my groups for the 4th time so we shared war stories about Twin Cities (long story short – the day sucked for BOTH of us!) I chatted with my group for a bit, chucked my throwaway shirt, and after the fireworks display off we went.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">My leg felt decent, we got a clean start since I was only 10 seconds behind the gun time, and the group was decent-sized. I was sweating pretty much right away, though it was cooler once we got out of the starting pen and got some fresh air without all those bodies smashed in close to one another. The first mile was a bit fast (7:26 vs goal of 7:38 ), but the second & third miles were too slow (8:01 & 7:48 ) so I think the mileage markers were a bit off because the pace didn’t feel any different. We seemed to settle in after that, though we were a little ahead of schedule – the next several miles were 5-12 seconds or so fast so we had a little bit of time in the bank sooner than I planned. No one was complaining and it was actually not too bad a strategy to run slightly faster while the sun was still down in case it heated up quickly after sunrise.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">We hit the half in 1:38:59, so 61 seconds banked…normally I like to have 20-30 seconds banked but we settled back down to a 7:38-7:42 pace for the next several miles and the goal was to just keep that banked time until mile 20 or so. I had a very good group – maybe 8-10 core people that I was chatting with throughout the day and another 10-15 people running quietly alongside us, plus stragglers ahead and behind of us that seemed to be keying off the group. Some of the folks I got to know were a Jersey girl who was on my hip for much of the day, an older guy who was shocked I picked up his Pittsburgh accent so quickly, a Canadian guy, an Englishman with a testy GPS system (more on that later), a guy who was trying to BQ despite having run the half the prior day, and a few other folks (I’m horrible at remembering names so I end up giving everyone nicknames). The mood is a lot more fun at 3:20 than in the 3:10 group – 3:10 is fun, but it’s more of a blood & guts group vs. 3:20. I like them both, however.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">We never had more than 67 seconds banked so the time was very steady after the half, and we gave back about 30 seconds the last two miles as I slowed down to rally people in. Jersey Girl fell slightly behind me at 24, but finished in 3:21. The older guy from Pitt (Gary) PR and ran 3:19 and a number of my group came in between 3:18 and 3:22 (the results are fun for me to search through to see the amount of people that were close to my half time and close to my finish time. And when the pics come out I try to see who actually made it close to 3:20). Usually I stick around the finish line to see some people come through but I had to hit the porta-potty BADLY – once I cleared out the warehouse, my leg really was tightening up so we headed to the bus and went back to our hotel. As the 3:10 pacer and I walked to the buses a few people stopped to thank us and chat us up, so that was pretty rewarding. One of the guys that ran with me didn’t say a word during the race, but he was very nice afterwards and asked if I could be in his finisher photo! That’s nice because you think people appreciate having someone run a steady pace, but you don’t always know if they like your tips or appreciate your jokes and it is very cool when people tell you that you helped them enjoy a tough event like a marathon.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Funniest thing that happened during the race – An Englishman’s GPS system kept beeping about 45-50 seonds before the mile markers and we kept making jokes about it. “If that’s my wife calling tell her I’ll be home in 18 miles!” Finally, after several times of his watch going off, he yells to the watch “Stop mocking me!!” So I said “Boy, that watch is a real tease!” and Gary from Pittsburgh said “Yeah, it’s a CLOCKtease!” I cracked up – I told Gary that I reserve the right to use that line at future marathons!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">My splits for anyone interested…I missed mile 9 as we entered Magic Kingdom and I think we scooted quickly through there – it’s the best part of the course (aside from the 5 feet after the finish line!). I think some of the mileage markers were slightly off according to my guess plus some of the other pacers (specifically 1 & 2, and probably miles 24 & 25):</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">1 - 7:26</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">2 -8:01</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">3 -7:48</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">4 - 7:32</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">5 - 7:25</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">6 - 7:35</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">7 - 7:25</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">8 - 7:28</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">9 - 7:28</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">10 - 7:29</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">11 - 7:44</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">12 - 7:21</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">13 - 7:27</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">14 - 7:36</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">15 - 7:41</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">16 - 7:40</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">17 - 7:42</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">18 - 7:40</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">19 - 7:36</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">20 - 7:38</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">21 - 7:35</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">22 - 7:42</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">23 - 7:49</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">24 - 7:26(</span></span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">?)</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">25 - 8:12 (?)</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">26 - 7:34</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">26.2 - 1:34</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">First half 1:38:59, 2nd half 1:40:35, chip time 3:19:34</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">All in all, except for building the bank a little earlier, it was a decent job. Frankly I think some of the miles that were far from the average (Miles 2, 3, and 25) were mile markers in the wrong place...I mean, it couldn't be MY mistake that I sped up or slowed down, right?!</span></span>
