13km today and for the week so far, 17 runs/18 days this month
Today I volunteered to run 'The Run to the G' event, 10km and act as a Pacer for the sub 50 minute group. With a Brooks tech T with orange writing on the back, 'Runner's World Pace Leader' and a big green balloon with 'Hi I'm Stu & I am running 10km in 50 minutes', with a big smiley face.
I arrived at the RW Marquee around 8am and was shown where all of the gear was for the other 4 Leaders and we were asked if we could make ourselves available for questions from the participants. I managed to get a 3k run in to warm up and to check my pacing with the km markers in Flinders St/Wellington Pde.
The 10k event got off a few minutes late, a slow start which is an excellent way to start off. I had a few people who approached me prior to the race, they told me they would be staying very close, in particular 2 young boys who were hoping to run 49 minutes. I suggested they should run with me and start to move away around the 6k area. Andrew from the RW forum introduced himself prior to the start and he was hoping to stay with me, but after the start I was not sure what happened to him. Slightly different role to pacing friends, where I was employed this time to run 50 minutes no matter what was happening around me, I hope I helped many.
Splits:5.05, 5.03, 5.04, 5.02, 4.49 (25:04), 4.48, 5.03, 4.55, 4.56, 5.12 = 49:59
The 5th & 6th kms were a few seconds each faster than I would have preferred, I was hoping to gain a few seconds but not 20 seconds over 2k, the final km was slow due to when I got to St Kilda Rd I was near walking encouraging as many as possible to get in front of me. Throughout the run I called the time and the pace per km for those around me and encouraged those who we caught up to. Lots of thank you's which is nice and gives you that rewarding feeling.
My plan afterwards was to go for a run along the river, but I ended up having a nice chat with a few friends so a walk back to the Shrine was all that happened.
A nice morning, not cold and no wind.
6 comments:
well done, 1 second off, can't do better than that, sure your group appreciated such a steady pace.
Did you get to take the balloon home?
Gosh, what perfect pacing. Well done!
Did you manage to get a pic of you and your balloon?
Great effort Stu. Hope you got a photo of yourself. Your new CR Avatar ?
No I didn't keep the balloon, when I finished a little boy (probably 2) seen me taking the balloon off, I gave it to him, I hope his name was Stu....
To the best of my knowledge, no pictures where taken!!!
Wow, well done Stu, you are the "perfect pacer"! Do you find it difficult, when your own pace is obviously much faster? Although I guess the discipline come easier from knowing that you are doing "a job"... Putting in plenty of k's and days, good stuff.
Post a Comment