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Background: I've wanted to be a pacer for quite a while, so I was pleased to find out that the Knoxville Marathon wanted me to be one! They offered me any time slot I wanted, and I took 5:00. While I've heard various reports of pacers getting all kinds of stuff like free hotels or even cash, I just wanted to give something back to the sport and get my entry fee waived.<br><br>
The Trip: I had a free flight coming from Southwest Airlines, but I had to do some driving on both ends to make it work. I flew from Tulsa to Nashville, by way of Kansas City. When I got to Kansas City Friday night, I was looking at a scheduled 4-hour layover, but with delays it was going to be 6 hours and put me into Nashville at 1-something a.m. I politely asked a ticket agent if there was anything she could do to reroute me so I wouldn't have to endure this. She courteously and efficiently took care of it, even though her supervisor balked at first because it was a free ticket. I flew to Chicago and then down to Nashville, arriving just before 11:00, a few minutes earlier than I was originally scheduled. I got my rental car, and just in time. The clerk said I wouldn't have been able to get it at 1:00. I made a short drive over to Lebanon, Tennessee for a free night's stay at the Hampton Inn. I got into Knoxville in the afternoon, discovering that it's such a long state from west to east that they have two time zones, so I lost an hour.<br><br>
The Marathon: I met the pace group leader, Nicole, at the expo and worked the booth with another pacer for a while. She gave me a bag with all my stuff-the regular goody bag but also a cool pacer tech shirt, and she gave me the instructions for the morning. I had a wonderful dinner with the Master's Club, and afterwards, Jjjessee invited me out to his place any time for some home brew from the still out back.<img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> Rosecoloredglasses overheard this talk of drinking and invited me to Mass. I was staying at the host hotel, so I "slept in" until 5:45 so I could meet up across the street at the Convention Center at 6:15. I made a quick bowl of oatmeal in my room, and went over and got my pacer sign on a flimsy wooden stick. I turned on my Garmin 205, turned off Auto-Lap, and it said, "Are you indoors?" I ignored it. I met a guy who was doing his first marathon and wanted to finish with me. We chatted and went outside to the start in a while. It was IRC-raining the day before and after but not during the marathon.<br><br>
The gun went off, and I pushed the timer on my Garmin. We started moving slowly, so I looked to find out what pace we were at. Ooops. No data, just the watch. I knew instantly what was wrong but not what to do about it. I should have turned it on outside. After agonizing for about 2 miles, I finally just shut the thing off and restarted it. Luckily, it saved my time, but of course I had only data for the remaining 24 miles. Then to complicate the pacing, I somehow got ahead of the 4:45 guy. I think he was off pace, or maybe we both were. It turned out we both had to go to the bathroom around mile 5. There was a long line, though, but I didn't have a choice. If he was stopping, I needed to let him get ahead of me. I lost a lot of time there, so it ended up becoming a race! I had to catch the 5:15 guy and pass him. I got a few funny looks but just focused on catching the one guy I knew I was supposed to be pacing.<br><br>
I also picked up a lady, or should I say she picked me up? She flirted and said she might want to finish with me. I locked into the right pace and had fun after that. She was my shadow, never letting me get too far ahead of her. I finally found my guy about miles 24-25, struggling, and I passed him. I told him to keep his head up and not to worry about his finish time because it was his first. I also encouraged several others who were obviously struggling. I didn't make my goal either-I finished in 5:05:12-but I came in with a nice little group, including my shadow. I gave her a high five at the 50-yard line of the big football stadium at the University.<br><br>
Although I don't have the Garmin data to back it up, I think this was my hilliest marathon ever. With the elevation correction on Sport Tracks, it says Climb +1,583 feet and -1,460. That's not including the first couple of miles, either.<br><img alt="" src="http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u135/KarlRysted/Knoxville.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
Rose and the Rocket Scientist were kind enough to meet me at the finish. We made plans for the evening, and after naps all around, we did go to Mass and then dinner. It was a wonderful evening to cap off a wonderful weekend.
The Trip: I had a free flight coming from Southwest Airlines, but I had to do some driving on both ends to make it work. I flew from Tulsa to Nashville, by way of Kansas City. When I got to Kansas City Friday night, I was looking at a scheduled 4-hour layover, but with delays it was going to be 6 hours and put me into Nashville at 1-something a.m. I politely asked a ticket agent if there was anything she could do to reroute me so I wouldn't have to endure this. She courteously and efficiently took care of it, even though her supervisor balked at first because it was a free ticket. I flew to Chicago and then down to Nashville, arriving just before 11:00, a few minutes earlier than I was originally scheduled. I got my rental car, and just in time. The clerk said I wouldn't have been able to get it at 1:00. I made a short drive over to Lebanon, Tennessee for a free night's stay at the Hampton Inn. I got into Knoxville in the afternoon, discovering that it's such a long state from west to east that they have two time zones, so I lost an hour.<br><br>
The Marathon: I met the pace group leader, Nicole, at the expo and worked the booth with another pacer for a while. She gave me a bag with all my stuff-the regular goody bag but also a cool pacer tech shirt, and she gave me the instructions for the morning. I had a wonderful dinner with the Master's Club, and afterwards, Jjjessee invited me out to his place any time for some home brew from the still out back.<img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> Rosecoloredglasses overheard this talk of drinking and invited me to Mass. I was staying at the host hotel, so I "slept in" until 5:45 so I could meet up across the street at the Convention Center at 6:15. I made a quick bowl of oatmeal in my room, and went over and got my pacer sign on a flimsy wooden stick. I turned on my Garmin 205, turned off Auto-Lap, and it said, "Are you indoors?" I ignored it. I met a guy who was doing his first marathon and wanted to finish with me. We chatted and went outside to the start in a while. It was IRC-raining the day before and after but not during the marathon.<br><br>
The gun went off, and I pushed the timer on my Garmin. We started moving slowly, so I looked to find out what pace we were at. Ooops. No data, just the watch. I knew instantly what was wrong but not what to do about it. I should have turned it on outside. After agonizing for about 2 miles, I finally just shut the thing off and restarted it. Luckily, it saved my time, but of course I had only data for the remaining 24 miles. Then to complicate the pacing, I somehow got ahead of the 4:45 guy. I think he was off pace, or maybe we both were. It turned out we both had to go to the bathroom around mile 5. There was a long line, though, but I didn't have a choice. If he was stopping, I needed to let him get ahead of me. I lost a lot of time there, so it ended up becoming a race! I had to catch the 5:15 guy and pass him. I got a few funny looks but just focused on catching the one guy I knew I was supposed to be pacing.<br><br>
I also picked up a lady, or should I say she picked me up? She flirted and said she might want to finish with me. I locked into the right pace and had fun after that. She was my shadow, never letting me get too far ahead of her. I finally found my guy about miles 24-25, struggling, and I passed him. I told him to keep his head up and not to worry about his finish time because it was his first. I also encouraged several others who were obviously struggling. I didn't make my goal either-I finished in 5:05:12-but I came in with a nice little group, including my shadow. I gave her a high five at the 50-yard line of the big football stadium at the University.<br><br>
Although I don't have the Garmin data to back it up, I think this was my hilliest marathon ever. With the elevation correction on Sport Tracks, it says Climb +1,583 feet and -1,460. That's not including the first couple of miles, either.<br><img alt="" src="http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u135/KarlRysted/Knoxville.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
Rose and the Rocket Scientist were kind enough to meet me at the finish. We made plans for the evening, and after naps all around, we did go to Mass and then dinner. It was a wonderful evening to cap off a wonderful weekend.
