The Surf City Marathon 2012

This first attempt at pacing for a marathon was very memorable. Since being a Santa Clarita Runners Club member for almost two years, I always admired those cool long sleeve tech shirts. Great designs and colors. I would say, "Man, I gotta get myself one of those!" When I received an e-mail from Chris Louie regarding a pace slot to fill in for the Surf City Marathon back in October, I jumped right in. I decided to pick the 3:40 pace group. I figured if I get close to my goal at The Santa Clarita Marathon in November, then I would feel that Huntington Beach would be reasonable to pace. My time in Santa Clarita was close, a couple of minutes over. Feeling that I can live with that, I made the conscious effort of making Surf City a helluva training run for The Los Angeles Marathon this coming March.

Obviously, pacing correctly for any long distance race is the key. When I mentioned which group I was pacing, Sir Nigel simply replied, "That's one fast pace group!" I really started to think of how am I going to train for this? Listening and learning from the veterans of our wonderful Club. Key points for me to remember:

1. Long run Sundays are not for racing. Keep them steady and slow. Sorry David Flowers!
2. Only work on speed work twice (at the most) during the week. Too bad I can't make it to track Tuesdays with the master Phil Howard.
3. Try and do a warm up race before then, such as The Rose Bowl 10K to get myself into the groove. I did it "Bandit Style" and had a blast! I know that is frowned upon. Sorry Kristen Schranz, but I was alluded by free BEER! What would you do??
4. Have fun. You are not into it for the money!

The night before was perfect. Dinner at Macaroni Grill was a blast with the Club and my friend Steve (non-runner) who was celebrating his birthday one day later than Phil Howard! Dinner was late and cold but I didn't care. Great friends make it all good. The Comfort Suites was cheap yet clean and there were plenty of fellow runners staying there too. My friend, Steve and his brother Dave kindly got me up well before my alarm was supposed to go off. Didn't matter because I'm a light sleeper anyway. Those single guys out on the town...what was I to expect?

Race morning came about without a hitch. I was able to get a ride to the shuttle by a lovely lady by the name of Queen, a retired Dean from Cerritos Community College. After all, being driven down Beach Blvd. at 5:30 in the morning by my friend in his condition wouldn't be smart. Queen was only doing the 1/2 and didn't need to drive me that early so I tried to give a $5 bill for coffee but she refused and said the lord wouldn't bless her if she took. Bless her heart! When I approached the Expo tent I found my pace partner Andrew. He has done pacing before and a couple of Ultras so I really felt a bit of a load off my shoulders. When we saw Ann-Marie and Nigel (the 3:45 pacers) my nerves really subsided. Knowing that those guys were going to be pushing us along really helped mentally.

6:35 am and Blam, off we went. The social part of being a pacer was the best part of starting off and even going through halfway of the course. Getting to know the people you are running with was truly awesome. Getting to know my pace partner was pretty cool too. A physical therapist from Anaheim who is the same age as me and love for trail running kept the bulk of the race at a nice steady groove. As the mid-morning sun began to bring on the suffering of most runners at Bolsa Chica, I felt fairly strong. But, shortly there was a problem. I noticed that Andrew wasn't hydrating enough after the halfway mark and as we made the last turn at mile 21 we were not that far ahead of Nigel & Ann-Marie. Were they going a bit too fast or were we going to slow? Not to panic. I just kept checking with Andrew and we were not to too far off the mark. At 22 he asked me for some Gu gel. I ran out and he forgot to bring any. I gave him the rest of my Shot blocks. He soon said he would make a quick stop at a med station. Not good news! He had the Garmin. But, I had my cheapo Nike Band and made the best of it. He said he would catch up. I knew better. Nervous and getting overheated, I was lucky enough to grab an orange slice and between mile 22 and 23 I kept the pace slightly faster. I was alone with my trusty pace sign. This I felt was not good. I'm supposed to be bringing people in!! So, I slowed down through miles 24-25. I just wanted to bring in this nice lady trying for Boston and she sure was laboring. Her wheels were falling off. She chugged along and this forced me to pick it up in the final 1.2. We came in at 3:41:42. I apologized to her and I felt like sad for her. She wanted it so bad! She was kind and said it wasn't my fault. She was just so happy that her kids were there to see her come in.

Reflecting on the race at the famous Beer Garden, I felt sore but not tore up. The SCRs and the Kona brews sure did help! Beach Burger was the trick before the shower and ride home. Thanks Kristen for the tip! The responsibility of pacing has given me the strength and knowledge to be at peak performance not only for LA, but for the rest of my life. Everything is about "time management" and "running a straight race on a crooked course". Such as life and great words to live by and hopefully teach my children.