This morning I get to be a "Pace Group Leader" for the Parks Half Marathon: I'm supposed to run at a steady speed, like the moving blue line magically superposed by the television network on the swimming pools during coverage of the recent Olympic Games. The goal is to help runners keep a steady pace, enjoy their race, and achieve a better result than they might otherwise. To help prepare his pacers, MCRRC organizer Ken Trombatore sent a link to a recent article in Runner's World magazine by John Hanc. It's titled "Party at My Pace" and includes a lovely description of a well-run marathon by ace pacer Starshine Blackford:

"We're going to run these first ten miles with our heads, the second ten miles with our legs, and the last six miles with our hearts. So during this first ten, run smart, run conservatively, run controlled."

(cf. DecelerationParameter (2003-12-28), TimeVault (2006-03-15), StartSlower (2006-11-02), ...) - ^z - 2008-09-14

(correlates: VeryGood, GrayGreenGap, TakeTime, ...)