The 4:30 Pacer Who Ran a 4:22

Last weekend my friend Tara and I ran the Carlsbad Marathon together. Our primary goal was to get Tara to a PR finish of 4:20, and our secondary goal was to finish before 4:30. To prepare for the race we did several of our long runs together including our 20 mile run. We were running right around a 10:00 pace each time, and knowing that Tara was a sub 2:00 half marathoner, I thought we'd have no problem finishing around 4:20.

When we started out running we saw both a 4:15 pacer and a 4:30 pacer, and spent the majority of the race between the two. Somewhere around mile 20 though when we were running right around a 10:00 pace, the 4:30 pacer slowly crept by us, and continued off into the distance. In my own running history, the moment I'm passed by the pacer whose time I want to beat, I feel like crying. Instead of picking up the pace and fighting harder, I instantly want to give up. When I saw the pacer go by I looked at Tara's face and she looked devastated. I was really confused though because I didn't think we were on track to finish after 4:30. I looked at my watch and did some math and told Tara he must have been running too fast. She didn't seem convinced so I asked her to look at her watch too. Her watch showed an elapsed time of 3:20, we were running about a 10 minute pace, and we had 6 miles to go. 3:20ish plus 60ish minutes does not equal more than 4:30. Once I had convinced her that the pacer was ahead of pace, she seemed comforted a bit, but I still worried that this was going to slowly erode into her confidence.

 

(Photo Source)

After the race a friend of Tara's pointed out a post by the pacer on a message board about his plan to finish in 4:22 right from the start, based on the decision that he and his pace group runners made. Wait a minute, he planned to run a 4:22 from the start while still holding the 4:30 sign? According to the Carlsbad Marathon pace page on their website "Pace group leaders run a steady pace throughout the race so members of their group are able to finish the marathon or half marathon in the projected finish time for that group." 

I think a page from the Albany marathon explains the importance of a pacer best:

"A pace team is a group of runners led by an experienced leader who run together in the marathon. The pace leader runs a steady pace and keeps track of that pace so that the group can achieve their goal of finishing the marathon at a particular time. There are wonderful benefits of running with a pace group. You’ll be supported by a cheerful leader and will be side by side with other runners sharing the same goal as you. One of the biggest mistakes that marathoners make is starting out too fast and then hitting the wall in the later portions of the race. The pace team will run at an even pace per mile. If the pace feels too slow in the beginning of the race that’s normal. Just stay with the group and ask the pace leader about an appropriate strategy for the second half. If you find the pace too fast in the early miles, then slow down and drop back from the team so you’ll be able to finish the race."

A sobering statistic about those who run with a pacer though from this article on "The Day in the Life of a Marathon Pace Leader":

"Seventy-five percent of the runners who start with a particular pacer won't go on to finish with the group.  Some will go ahead, and a few are forced to drop back.  It's not usually a problem with the pacer, but with the runner's expectations.  Some people who choose to run with a pace group are pushing themselves to the limit, trying to reach a goal that they aren't yet ready to achieve.  But when they do make it, the rewards are spectacular."

 

Here is the strategy that this pacer had per his post on a Runner's World forum:

I ran the full and was the 4:30 pacer. 

My role as a pacer was still up in the air five minutes before the race when the guy in charge of meeting the pacers with the pace sticks was a no show.  He had arranged a 4:45am meet at the start yet looked like he had just rolled out of bed when he finally arrived five minutes before the race start.

With only five minutes to spare, it didn't allow for much time for a group to assemble but about 10 runners started out with me and I told them my strategy of being about a couple minutes fast going into the big Mile 9 climb and running pretty even splits and everyone seemed on board.

However, going into the Mile 9 climb, when I told the group we'd be slowing, the thuggish group commandeered the ship and most of them voiced in that they liked the pace we were going and wanted to continue at that pace.  Not wanting to look like a Nazi, I allowed democracy to prevail and we kept our pace constant and reached the half marathon point around 2:11:30.

There was a funny split point at Mile 16 of the marathon / Mile 7 of the half marathon where a few marathon runners went the wrong way with the half marathoners and at least one of my runner friends ended up with a DQ with a 22 mile finish.  It was not the best marked and with 6 half marathoners for each marathoner, I see how some of the marathoners could have missed the sign and a few people in my own group thanked me for guiding them the right way saying they were preparing to turn to the left with the masses but instead followed the 4:30 pace sign.

Of the original 10, however, by the time we hit Mile 20, only about 5 of them remained.  By Mile 24, a couple of them had raced ahead, a couple had fallen back and just one lone runner and I remained.  By Mile 25, the lone runner confessed that she couldn't believe she was still running at this pace and that she usually runs this pace in single digit training runs but never thought she'd be able to maintain a 4:30 pace the whole race, yet less the 4:22 pace that we were on.

Crossed the finish line in 4:22:03 (chip) and helped a couple runners to times that must have been 4:20 or 4:21 and the sole hanger on to a 4:22:05 finish and even though it was just the two of us by the end, it was greatly gratifying to be able to help her far far far surpass her goal and complete her first marathon.

Felt great after the marathon and looking forward to the next pacing gig at Surf City (4:40).  Hopefully, there is a less thuggish group in this race that will follow the script instead of demanding a re-write.

(from a followup post)

Trust me, had I been able to cross out 4:30 mid race and put in 4:22, I would've done it.  But, each runner has a certain responsibility to know her/his given pace and it does not require rocket science to do a little quick math.

My bigger responsibility was to my group than to other runners on the course. The few times when I was aware of other runners appearing shocked to being passed up by the 4:30 pacer, I made a point of telling them we were a few minutes fast.

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So okay, I do agree that its every runner's responsibility to do their best to judge their pace, their effort, their elapsed time, and their projected finish time. Sure you can do some "quick math" to figure it out, but since my watch had auto-paused once when I stopped to go to the bathroom, I was suddenly afraid it had auto-paused other times, and that it wasn't 2 minutes off chip time but more like 10. I can do math quite well actually, but at mile 20 in a marathon I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box. I didn't even recognize one of our GOTR coaches that we spent 3 1/2 months with when we passed her somewhere around mile 18. I mean I recognized her and smiled and waved, and then said to Tara in surprises oh, was that Debbie? (A different coach.) Tara looked at me like I had four heads and said "Um, no, that was Christine!" WHOOPS!

Anyways, I know Tara and I weren't on track to finish at 4:20, at the time the pacer passed us we were probably on track to finish in 4:22 as well, and in the end we finished at 4:30:18 because we slowed down quite a bit in the end when Tara was hurting. I understand that we ran our own race and we're responsible for our finish time. I don't think that its right that a pacer held a sign with a finish time he had no intention of meeting. Sure 8 minutes doesn't sound like much over 26 miles. Its a 18 second difference per mile. It IS a big difference though. I was fairly insulted by the backlash on the forums from the pacer and his friends about how we shouldn't have cared that the 4:30 pacer passed us and was running a 4:22 race, and I posted the question to my dailymile friends to see what others thought. I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only one that was bothered. Even if we aren't running directly WITH the pacer, we see his sign. Maybe we're trying to stay ahead of him, or behind him, or somewhere near him. We weren't blaming him for us finishing in 4:30. We finished in 4:30 because we took a few walk breaks in the end, and slowed down to 11:00 miles. There is no blame, there is just dissatisfaction. David thinks we're being silly since the guy was a volunteer and how can you be mad at someone who volunteers to do something? Point taken, but still, here are some thoughts from some other running friends.

"The guy has a responsibility to run at the pace he's given. Now, if I were to ever be a pacer, I'd come in maybe 30-60sec ahead, if only because I'm always paranoid about times and like to have a buffer.'

"Ummm...a pacer's job is to keep people at the pace they trained for, not to set some sort of PR. If I run with a pacer with hopes of going for a PR of 3:45 and he tries for 3:35 he will burn me out by mile 16!! I would be pissed."

"I agree, the pacer's job is to keep the pace at the expected time. that's what people are following him/her for. if they want to speed up, its their decision."

"I agree! Stay to your stated pace, not all of us talk to the pacer but it doesn't mean we don't use them."

"4:30 is 4:30! They should stick with that time."

"It's wrong. A pacer should run steady and hit exactly his advertised pace."

"It's definitely wrong. I don't blame you for being confused. As soon as he breaks what 'his' pace should be, he's no longer a pacer in my opinion. It sucks for the poor people who couldn't keep up to 4:22 finish. I'd be pissed if that were me."

"I agree with you but have many times seen pacer finish faster than their stick and they never seem to run a consistent pace they are all over the place"

"If other runners are counting on a pacer to help them achieve a goal, then going faster is just plain wrong. Pacers should always assume that there are others counting on them, even if they don't know who those runners are. Some may be slightly back, not want to talk during their run, etc."

"Pacers PACE, that's what they do. Totally think it's wrong to speed up to finish at an earlier time. If the people in the group want to go faster, then fricking follow a different pacer, or go on their own. I would be pissed if I were following a pacer and they did this."

"A pacer is there for a reason! People train for MONTHS for an event and they have a goal... Nobody should crush that goal or decide they can push more (if maybe they already are"
 

"Not cool. If you want to run faster than the pacer, PASS THE PACER. People all around them judge their times as such, even if they aren't close enough to listen to them."

"I had a pacer do something like that one time. She told us that during the downhill she was going to speed up and then get back to pace on the flat, but that averaged out to a much quicker pace than I could keep overall. :-("      

I'm not trying to attack the pacer, I just feel like its false advertising to run with a pace sign that is different than your plan. Yes, I always run with my Garmin. Yes, I know how fast I need to run to hit my goal. Yes, I understand that in the end I am the one running. This won't ever change the emotions I feel as I either pass, or am passed by a pace group. Going forward I will try to pay less attention to them, but I can't say that they won't affect me mentally in some way or shape. And after all, isn't a lot of a marathon mental?

Have you ever run with a pacer?

Do you think a pacer is responsible to finish at their advertised time?