13.1 miles
This was my 13th or 14th time as a pacer in the Space Coast Half Marathon, all done on the South course. In the COVID year when they did not allow pacers, I ran the race as an age group athlete. Since then, this weekend has become very popular with our Palm Beach Roadrunners group.
I drove up at about 10:00 AM on Saturday arriving just before my pacer Expo shift from 12 noon to 1:00 PM. It was good to see familiar faces and the atmosphere at this outdoor venue is always lively with good DJ supplied music. I enjoy meeting the people and explaining what we do as Pacers, I also picked up a very nice pacer singlet for this event, and my 2 hour pacer sign.
Our local run club met for a group picture at 3:30 PM. Each time we try to set a different background with the family and friends who have joined the runners for Sunday’s race.
I went with Mike, Maureen, and Stephanie to Hogan’s Irish Pub, a place none of us had been to before. It was a good option since the Village Biergarten has been closed. I ate a small shepherd’s pie which was a portion large enough for a cat. I’ll remember to visit this place only for beer in the future, the portions are ferociously small.
I checked in first at the Hilton hotel and went to our pace team dinner. This was well organized and already set up for us to eat at 6:00 PM when we arrived. We had buffet style pasta, salad and a sweet brownie for dessert. This is a much better arrangement than individual waiter service which seems to drag on forever when we opt for that. We had a quick meeting, and it was fun to catch up with Lisa Rippe and Teresia – who was restarting her pacing after a 2 year injury hiatus.
Race morning – I woke up at 3:50 am, took a quick shower then left the Hilton at 4:15 am and drove to a good parking spot further than the racecourse crosses the roads in Cocoa Village. This so that if I wanted to leave before marathoners were done running through the halfway point, I could do so without delay. I visited the restroom, did a 1.5 mile warmup jog then revisited the portable restrooms in the boat yard parking area. We took our group photo at 5:15 (a tad early for those that arrived right on time) and it was time for the half marathon pacers to disperse to the boat yard parking lot for the corrals starting with letter “E.”
The marathon corrals A-D assembled and started on time at 6:00 am. We were too early looking to be in our corrals at 5:30 am, because the race volunteers held the corral signs on long poles and kept repositioning themselves in new places. This caused us to shift back and forth in the driveway area as we were the first corral in the half marathon. Everyone had to come through our corral area to visit the 60 portable toilets or get to any corral after E. It was confusing for the folks that had already found me holding the sign for the 2 hour group.
Once settled in our spot for assembly, I introduced myself and ran through the things I always tell my runners. I covered shoe tying, we’d be doing straight and even pace running, how we handle the “on the run” pass though of the aid stations. I explained about the option to use the Galloway pacer that would be finishing in the same time and who was positioned right behind us. I had a good-sized group and a few took and shared these photos with me.
Once the race began, we made our way through the narrow and sometimes dark streets of Cocoa Village, down to River Drive and the long straight road to Rockledge. Our first mile was completed in 9:12 which was great considering the people we had to wobble around and pass in just the first 10 minutes of the race. I had a few ladies that ran right next to me for the first 2-3 miles. We did have the whole road to ourselves this early in the race. We were on a great pace for the “dark” miles, I was making sure to call out anything odd in the road like sewer caps or uneven pavement. A local runner from our area, Scott, ran with us for the first three miles. When I announced we were 4 seconds slower than perfect pace, he left our squad and ran solo up the road. I told the ladies that ran with me that he usually has a 2-hour goal and for whatever reason doesn’t land there. Now I knew the reason! I like to report in to my group how far we are from “perfect pacing” every time we passed a large white mile marker flag. At miles 2-5 we were always within 4 seconds of the pace band I wore, the one that would direct us to finish in 1:59:30. The pace chart included on the signs & stick I carried would have had us finish in more than that time, I was glad to have made an accurate one in large type so I could see it in the dark.
The sun rises early and we were running diagonally towards it. A breeze was coming from the east (said the weather app) but for us, it seemed like a SE wind – partially in our face. That was ok, we stayed on pace for the now well-lit miles of 4, 5 and 6. This is where we see and cheer for the race leaders who are now coming back at us. I knew a few guys in the top 10, so I shouted out for them. I made sure to tell my group about them and their chances of keeping or advancing their positions overall. I had a sizable group still at the “Key West” style southernmost point turnaround. Now we are the “fast runners” that the other pace groups wave to and cheer for as we head north. The wind and sun were now at our back, we crossed Miles 7, 8 and 9 all within 2-3 seconds of ideal finish pace time. At the turnaround, Megan with a hydration vest joined us, she was running strong and right next to me. Karen Pino and Maria Triana were also tucked in close at proper pace.
We had a few runners drop off our stride, but they stayed within sight distance as a peeked back in the 8th and 9th mile. At Mile 10, a guy with no shirt joined us and took part in some of the chatter that was by that time mostly me. It was fully light out by then, and many of the runners that made the trip up from our area called out my name, etc. I joked with the group, ”Isn’t is amazing that every person coming the other way that has guessed my name has been correct?” They liked that and the little snippets I had about many of the Palm Beach Roadrunners passing us on their way to the turnaround.
After Mile 10 we re-encountered Scott. Now he was walking – I encouraged him to join in with us but no-go. He was walking with his head down, done for today’s event. I kept using the large condo building at mile 0.75 and the sight of the bridge as evidence we were getting close – reminding them we didn’t even have to run as far as that bridge for this year’s course. At Mile 11 I saw a tall high school age boy walking on the grass wearing Chick’n Legs shorts. I yelled out , “C’mon Chick’n Legs, you’re with us, you’ll finish right around 2 hours. His name was Isiah. He joined in and during the next mile explained he was sick for Thanksgiving and wasn’t sure he’d even run today. As we went past water and aid stations, other kids yelled out to him, they must have known him from school or cross country. We saw his mom taking photos of us with a little less than a mile to go. We were right one pace, three or four of the group went ahead at my suggestion. The small last few turns saw Isiah do the same in Cocoa Village. I ran in with two or three of the girls that had been with me the whole 13 miles, pausing briefly to get the last one in with me at under the 2 hour goal she wanted.
I finished at 1:59:31 – just a wink above perfect pacing. This was a fun day on a familiar course.
We stayed to watch and cheer for Peggy Rydberg, who completed her first marathon!
-dm
drun4fun 