Pacing An Unpacely Pace

Lining up for any major marathon is an experience in-and-of itself. Especially if you are a ‘middle of the pack’ kinda guy like myself. No matter what direction you look, you are surrounded by a sea of people. With so many colors of tshirts, hair, hats and headbands, it is nearly impossible to distinguish one person from the next no more than 30 feet behind or in front of yourself. But there is one thing that has a tendency to stick out like a sore thumb (or, given the occasion, a sore foot). Flying about four feet higher than the tallest person and spaced every 20-40 feet, are those glowing orange signs signaling a pacing person. These are the guys whose job it is to signal what their finishing time will be and allow runners who have a certain finishing
time goal in mind to line-up with them in the starting corrals. They are volunteers who have run in marathons before and have the discipline and knowledge to know what their pace is while running and have the ability to maintain it (for the most part) over the (running) course of a 26.2 mile running course.

While I find these pace setters to be generally useful, it is always somewhat surprising to see those volunteers who promise run participants that they will be running anywhere from a 13 minute/mile pace to an 11 minute/mile pace. For those of you who have run on treadmills before that is the equivalent of running at 4.6mph-5.5mph. Now, while I am by no means a fast runner, even I can appreciate that that is a relatively slow pace. And, since I have been on treadmills before at those paces, I can tell you firsthand that it does not seem so much different when running at 4.6mph or at 5.5mph. I guess my point is that it just seems odd to me that there are people who are practiced marathoners who want to, and have the ability to, maintain such a slow pace (and bear in mind that these people are not very old in terms of their age, so father time cannot be blamed for their slowing pace) for such a long amount of time. I also feel that, even if it ended up that I had averaged between 4.6mph and 5.5mph for a whole marathon, I would never have made the conscious decision to begin the race assuming that would be my ultimate pace.

I am sure there are many out there that will strongly disagree with my assertions, but, hey, there's nothing wrong with differing views and some good ol' fashion debatin' (albeit, mine are correct). And so, dear readers, with the fall marathon season fast approaching, good luck on your training. Good luck in whichever marathon you are participating in. And, here to hopin' I don't see you at beginning a marathon intent on averaging 4.6mph-5.5mph!