She Runs by the Seashore

In April, I paced a half marathon for the 19th time — the Coastal Delaware Running Festival Half Marathon in Rehoboth Beach. This was my sixth year pacing this particular race, but it was a little different than usual for me. I decided not to run a spring marathon this year, so I really just hadn’t been running a ton of long distances. Thirteen point one miles would feel longer than it usually did.

I knew I could run the 2:45 finish pace that I signed up for; I would not have agreed to do something I wasn’t confident I could complete. However, for the previous two years, I was three weeks out from a marathon and actually added on to the race distance before and after. Ahead of time, I was glad to actually be able to finish my run when I crossed the finish line.

I paced with Beast Pacing. As a pacer, you have a goal time, try to run a consistent pace, and hold up a sign throughout the race so that others can run with you and try to meet their goals and use you as a guide.

One of the other pacers, Debbie, was able to pick up my race packet, and I made the drive to Rehoboth Beach – about an hour or a few minutes more without traffic — early on race morning, April 13. The pace group was meeting at 6:20 a.m., ahead of the 7 a.m. start for the marathon and 7:40 a.m. start for the half marathon. It was pretty chilly in the morning. The previous weekend had been warm, so I was glad we would not be dealing with that again.

It had been since December, when I paced the 2:45 group at the Rehoboth Seashore Half Marathon, that I’d run the half marathon distance. I did make a point to do some longer runs leading up to the race, including the Shamrock Shuffle 10 miler (at which I was well under the pace I’d need to run for a 2:45 half), a run the weekend after that of slightly over 10 miles, and a run about two weeks later of eight miles.

The Coastal Delaware Half Marathon starts and ends on the boardwalk. Since this was my sixth year pacing the half marathon at this race, I knew what to expect along the course. I base my running off the mile markers along the course, and I knew that there is never a Mile 9 marker because it is on a bridge. My watch was pretty much right on with the mile markers for the first half of the race.

I always like to see the first mile marker before I get into a full rhythm, so my first mile is usually slightly fast. I ran the first mile in 12:07, then slowed down a little to get into the pace I’d run for most of the race. Although I enjoy run-walk intervals when running on my own, when I pace, I do a consistent run pace and walk the water stops. Running the first mile a little faster also allows for that time to stop at the water stops.

I went through the next miles in generally the mid-12s. The average pace for a 2:45 finish for 13.1 miles is 12:35, though as pacers, we have to adjust to whatever the course is — not what our watches say.

Somewhere, probably a little after the halfway point, my watch started not lining up with the mile markers. I use a pace band with cumulative times that I should reach each mile marker. I’d gone from being about 10 or 20 seconds ahead of pace when I got to each mile marker to being a little behind. Mile 7 was my slowest of the day at 13:12; I did have a gel during this mile. After noticing I was no longer perfectly aligned with the mile markers, I started gradually speeding up.

Although I felt like I was speeding up, my mile times really didn’t reflect this that much. I was thinking about how I could get to the finish line as close to my goal time as possible, without going over, and I also didn’t want to speed up drastically, so I wouldn’t be too hard on any runners who were using me as their guide. Plus, I needed to reserve some energy for myself, too.

There were some runners who were near me for much of the race, including Bob from Ocean City, who found me at the beginning.

After a residential portion at the beginning, the course heads north to Cape Henlopen State Park, and much of the half marathon course is in the park. A lot of the course is on crushed stone trail, and there were multiple water stops. At one point, I noticed a dad telling his young daughter, “She’s helping the other runners,” referring to me pacing, which was cool.

The last few miles were a bit stressful, as I tried to calculate in my head while keeping up a consistent pace. I crossed the finish line a hair under my 2:45 goal, at 2:44:54.

I then waited for the next pacer to come in, and a marathon pacer came through soon after the 3:00 half pacer, Heather. Heather and I walked over to the post-race party at Grotto Pizza and enjoyed food, drinks and chatting with other runners. The party offers a full buffet of food — pizza, chicken, baked ziti and salad — and runners can also have up to three beers.

This race is always generous with its swag, too. There are challenges people can participate in for the opportunity to earn more medals. In addition to a medal or medals, finishers also receive a trucker hat, and runners also received a shirt and pint glass.

It turned out to be a great day to pace a half marathon, but after a race the following weekend, I really haven’t gotten back into distance running yet. I did sign up for a fall marathon, so I will have to soon!

Splits

Mile 1: 12:07
Mile 2: 12:23
Mile 3: 12:37
Mile 4: 12:46
Mile 5: 12:19
Mile 6: 12:26
Mile 7: 13:12
Mile 8: 12:24
Mile 9: 12:50
Mile 10: 12:27
Mile 11: 12:09
Mile 12: 12:26
Mile 13: 12:10
Last bit (watch had .25): 2:33 / 10:26 pace

Final on results: 2:44:54 / 12:35 pace; final on watch: 2:44:56 / 12:27 pace