As a pace group leader, you really get spoiled. They gave us a couple shirts, a 1/2 zip pullover, a pair of shorts, and a pair of shoes. In addition, Rogue kicked in another 1/2 zip for helping them out on some practice pace runs. Of course, we also have the responsibility of running 26.2 miles at a certain pace. 3:20 works out to 7:38/mile. That's a nice pace for me, but certainly not an "easy run" pace.
Race day turned out really nice. It was cold at the start and gradually warmed up throughout the race. The start on Congress Avenue was nice and smooth. We ran under the fire works on the bridge and were able to get on pace pretty soon. The first couple miles were a little slow because of the crowd and the hills, but we made it all up easily on S. 1st St. In fact, we got about 30-40 seconds ahead of schedule and just held it there for most of the race. We had a really large group with us at the start and we all seemed to stay together through about 18. From there we slowly dropped some people while some others ran on ahead. By the last few miles we only had 4-5 left, but it felt good to see them finish and meet their goal time.
I felt pretty good most of the way, but started feeling some tightness in my left hamstring around Great Northern. It wasn't enough to slow me down, just bothersome enough to irritate me. The last few miles were pretty tough for both of us but we kept up the pace. Since we were still 40 seconds fast, we slowed down the last couple miles and kept urging people to beat us to the finish. You could see the pain on some people's faces when we would catch them. It would have been nice if they could have kept up with us, but normally when the pace group catches you at the end of race you're toast. It's a feeling I'm really familiar with.
The finish on Congress Avenue was really cool with some large, loud crowds. We slowed a little and yelled at the guys behind us to hurry up to beat 3:20. Duane fell in with a couple guys and pulled them to the finish. I pulled off my wig and started swing it around to get the crowd to yell. It looked like we were going to time the finish perfect, but our official finish time was 3:20:03.
This was my 12th overall marathon, 6th in a row at Austin, and my 1st time to complete the Distance Challenge. Other than St. George, it was probably the most enjoyable marathon I've run. It felt great to have people come up afterwards and thank us for pacing them, even the ones who didn't finish with us. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do it again next year.
