Setting the Pace

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The San Diego Track Club supplies pacers for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, which means I tend to know some of them. My former training partner, Tara, will be the official 5:30 pacer this Sunday. You need to normally run at least 20 minutes faster than your chosen pace, and apparently not stop to pee or be slowed down by things like dehydration and muscle cramps. I am nervous for her.

My friend Terrell was the 4:15 pacer a couple of years ago, and he created some controversy when he finished in 4:10. I privately thanked him for giving me a good (ok, ok...questionable) excuse for why I couldn't keep up with him ("Hey, I trained for 4:15....") and finished in just over 4:30 that day. He later explained that the crowds at the end don't know you may have started five minutes after the clock, so some will boo -- yes, boo -- the pacer if it appears he or she blew it.

And as you can see from his thoroughly entertaining blog, and especially his latest entry, T's all about image. Here he is posing with a cake I made per his request.



I am still nursing that muscle pull in my rear end, so I won't be at the track tonight for the final send off. And I just found out that in addition to my daughter's prom on Saturday night, one of us has to get the other daughter to the airport Sunday morning. During the marathon. Let's hope everyone gets off to a good start this weekend.

[Photo courtesty of Cindy Evans]

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