Thought it might be interesting to share experiences of running with a pacer.
First marathon for me and I stuck with the RW 9 min pacer from Red 5 until Narrow Street. I think his name was Justin, very encouraging, shortish bloke with a short 9 lollipop, might have been a Kiwi.
I had "Joshi" on a Hospice in the Weald vest and wondered how he and other followers got on after I separated.
Comments
i am from hildenborough. ran london yesterday and met a lady who was also from hildenborogh. i wanted to follow the 9 min pacer from blue start. but he was at the front of my pen and didn't chatch up with him until mile 6 then ran just behind for.amile or so until i had to.stop for pee. never saw him again
WHAT A LEGEND
Tommygun2 - Yup, another Hildenborough resident- we've probably nodded to each other as we've run along Tonbridge Road!
Barney - sounds like he did a cracking job but good on you for staying with him. Was he from the Blue start?
Even better Barney- you must have felt like you were in the Olympics, kicking at 25 miles to leave the pack for the gold medal!
Or perhaps it's just me who uses sporting imagery like a ten year old...
The Pacers did an absolutely sterling job and they get my full praise! It's a shame that more racers don't do it.
The guys that I ran with (I ran with a few...) were all smiling, helpful and making sure that everyone was ok. The guy from 11 Minute miling (we called him Jesus because we were all following him...) made a point of announcing each mile with a huge cheer. It was great to see!
The other run walk pacer - red start - got around in 5:13:06
The run/walk 5.14 group is the slowest pacing group at VLM.
It was the perfect day for it, my group had a ball (I hope!)
Does anyone know what the 9 minute pacer finished in who started in pen 5 on the blue start? Think he was called Andy? I lost him about 20 miles (ish) can' really remember. His mile splits were a bit quicker than 9 minutes & think that's why I struggled with the last 10k.
Managed to finish in 3.59.21 but legs buckled just before the finish line and had to be helped across - it was agony!
Great to hear from you and am really pleased you got sub 4.
Did you have a black Nathan belt bag? And/or a Scottish accent?!!! If you're who I think you are, I think we had the briefest of chats when we crossed paths after losing him: I think you clocked I was flagging and said something empathetic like "It's tough going now". I think I grunted in reply! I did think about trying to stay with you but just didn't have it in me and finished at 4:01:02. I'm really chuffed though because my second half was only a minute slower than the half and I felt like death. I had a post-finish wobble but not as dramatic as yours sounds! I take my (white running) hat off to you to have found the strength to push on because you must have got some really decent second half splits.
Will message you, off-thread!
[EDIT: Don't think I can message you for some reason!]
The RW pacers were at the back of pre-determined Pens.
eg. 9 min/mile in Pen 5.
Justin's gang from the start included me and some of the others I clocked were Brian (from Hendon!), Tony, Louisa and Lord Rickus.
I think Sphinx (above) came from a Pen further back.
Hilden Bro - Yeah that was me! Scottish with the Nathan waistpack - well remembered! Anyway, glad to hear you finished in around the four hour mark too. That was Naughty Girl who had the spectacular finish though, not me. I crossed the line looking pretty awful (judging by the photos...) but managed to remain upright, thank goodness.
JB is right - I only caught up with the pacer later on in the race (around mile 8) because I started in pen 7 on the blue start. I was totally amazed to have caught up with a 9 min/mile pace group because I had no idea I would manage a sub-4.
Anyway, it was fun to follow the pacer for a while, but wow it was hard to keep track of him in amongst all of those crowds! In the end it was defintely easier just to keep to my own pace, rather than constantly trying to weave in an out of people, in an effort to keep him in sight.