This is just going to be a quick one – not too many photos, I just wanted to have a record of this in case I decide to do it again (or in case it can help anyone else!)
I have done the McLaren Vale Half Marathon a number of times. My first time was in 2014, and then I did it as a pacer, the day after running the Masters Games half marathon in 2015 (not recommended!) and again in 2016 when I was appropriately dressed as the Devil as the weather was diabolical! Both these times I paced 2 hours. I had also previously paced 2 hours at Adelaide, Clare and Barossa so I had quite a lot of experience in this role, but my last time pacing at any event was in 2019.
I ran the half again in 2017 just for me, and then for some reason I went back one more time in 2018 just for the 5k!
I think I was tempted into pacing this time around because a few friends were planning on running it, and I didn’t really fancy pushing myself but I expected there would be wine afterwards and I had FOMO! They didn’t end up doing it, but the seed was planted. It was 5 weeks after I’d run the Sydney Marathon, so I figured I’d be well and truly recovered by then.
I put my name down for 1:45, as I’ve done a number of halves in the past year and a bit, and most of them (OK all of them except Pichi Richi) have been under 1:35. So I figured 1:45 should be a nice easy cruise! (I was given the option of 1:50 but I thought 1:45 would be ‘easier’ – primarily from a mental maths point of view).
Other than pacing a significantly faster time, I was also pacing for the first time with a flag rather than balloons. Previously we had used helium balloons but they have a number of issues (absolutely terrible if it’s windy, environmental disaster, tendency to pop, very annoying for the runner behind you when they blow in their face). Now we had a flag attached to a backpack. Comfortable, reusable, less annoying for everyone else! I had never tried the flag before but those who I had spoken with, who had used both flag and balloons, all agreed that the flag was a much more comfortable option!
I went out and practised running a 1:45 half marathon the Sunday before, as my long run. I ran on the river where I like to do my solo long runs, as there are no roads to cross, and plenty of water and toilets if required! There was a bit of elevation, but I wasn’t too concerned about that as I was under the impression that McLaren Vale was flat and so it should theoretically be easier on the day!
I had pace alerts set up on my watch, to alert me if I was outside the 4:55-5:00 range. I had thought that I needed to average 4:59, but after that run, I realised that to be safe I needed to be more like 4:58. I ran 21.2km on my watch and was only about 20 seconds under the magical 1:45. (The extra distance was because GPS watches are never 100% accurate, and almost always tell you you’ve run less distance than you actually have). Based on my previous pacing experience, I felt like that run should have felt a lot easier than it did!
I didn’t do anything special that week, given that I wasn’t ‘racing’, so I did parkrun on the Saturday, giving my brand new Nike Vaporflys their first run. Not sure if that was the best idea, as I went out WAY too fast in the first kilometre, and although my time was not much better than what I’d been running in the old ones, my hip flexors felt very tight the next morning!
Because the previous week’s run had been hard work, I had an energy drink on the morning of the event (normally I would only do this for a ‘race’, certainly not when running as a pacer).
I arrived at McLaren Vale in plenty of time for a toilet stop before collecting my flag. (I figured that getting into a portaloo with a flag strapped to my back might be a bit challenging!)
The backpack itself was relatively comfortable, although it wasn’t quite as tight as I’m used to with a running backpack, even with the straps adjusted. It was very lightweight, and most of the time I didn’t even notice I was wearing it. (I normally would run a half marathon in a singlet unless it is very cold, but I thought a T-shirt was a better option if I was wearing a backpack, because chafing!)
Coach Kent gave me a few pacing tips before the start. I previously had always started my watch on the gun, however he advised me to start it when I crossed the line. After all, anyone who was hoping to use me as a pacer would presumably be with me at the start, rather than in front or or behind me. He also advised me to check my pace/time at the kilometre markers, rather than relying on the distance my watch told me.
I said before that ‘most of the time’ I didn’t notice I was wearing the backpack. I did, however notice it when going under trees and bridges – but thankfully most of this was over and done with early on.
I did manage to sit on my target average pace of about 4:58 for the first little while. Then came the hills that I had forgotten all about! Imagine if there was some way I could have known about that in advance…
One of the reasons I write these race reports is so I have something to reflect back on if I’m doing the event again – the details are so quickly forgotten! I have not one, not two, but THREE race reports from this very event – one of those was when I ran it as a ‘race’ as opposed to as a pacer, so that probably would have been a useful thing to have looked back on before doing this (and certainly before committing to running 1:45!). Will I look back on THIS report next time I decide to do something so silly? Probably not!
On the rare occasion that we weren’t running uphill, we were running into a headwind. I DID remember the wind from 2016!
I had quite a crew around me, and it was nice when people thanked me for pacing. I was hoping I didn’t let them down, because with probably 7km to go and seemingly no end to the hills, I was starting to think I wasn’t quite going to make my goal time!
Initially I was having difficulty judging my exact pacing from the kilometre markers, because the markers were not ‘on the kilometre’, but rather they were indicating how many kilometres were left. When we passed the first marker, which said 20km to go, rather than 1km done, I thought I was WAY off the pace, until I realised. From then on I’d check my watch every time I went past a marker, and gauge how far out my watch was. The last time I checked it was about 100m out, which is actually quite a lot when you’re trying to judge accurate pace!
Towards the end, particularly in the last 5km, I was able to gauge where I was at a bit more easily. If I was sitting just under 1:20 with 5km to go, it meant I had 25 minutes to run 5km, which meant 5 minute kilometres would get me there. See what I mean about easy mental maths? From that point on I knew that (barring more hills) I would be able to come in under my goal time.
Notably, there was no marker showing ‘1km to go’. I was talking to 1:30 pacer Lu after the finish and he was also looking for it to gauge where he was at with his pace. I finally reached a point where I knew it either was never there or someone had moved it – there was no way I was NOT inside the last kilometre!
I ended up crossing the line at 1:44:35 on the clock and 1:44:25 net time which I was happy with. After collecting my medal, a water and an apple (and then going to seek out a Coke!) I went to find some of my running buddies and sit down for a bit. I decided to leave the flag on for the time being, because I remembered after Adelaide half marathon wanting to go and thank the pacer but he had taken off his flag and I didn’t know what he looked like. I did have a few people come up and thank me afterwards which was nice!
As it turned out, I later worked out that in my 5th McLaren Vale half marathon I actually ran a PB! (OK 2 of the previous 4 were as a 2:00 pacer, but the other 2 I was going my hardest!) Which makes it even more ridiculous that I would be a 1:45 pacer – I’d never actually run McLaren Vale under 1:45 before!
Record crowds, fantastic weather, and as always wonderful volunteers made this another great SARRC event.
Would I pace 1:45 again? Maybe, but probably not at an event that a) has hills and b) I’ve never run that time at before!
Ah well – I’m kind of glad I did it, but mostly relieved that I managed to pull it off!
