Yesterday was my first marathon pacing gig as a new member of Beast Pacers. I paced the 6:45 (15:26 min/mile) group for the Montgomery Marathon. This the second year for the race and there were less than 150 marathoners. The race had a 7 hour time limit so I had the opportunity to help the racers in the back of the pack. For the first 12 miles, I ran with the half marathoners. After the marathon and half marathon split I ran alone until mile 21.

While running alone is distressing to many runners, I was happy that no one was behind me. This would prevent runners from being swept off the course. Thanks to my pacing wrist band I stayed on pace for the race. I had do a short sprint the last half of mile since my watch and course markers were off a bit. Overall, I finished the race within the 1 min time buffer for the pacing requirement. The 3 runners I passed on the way to the finish line were also able to meet the 7 hour course limit.