I joined the Running Free Team on Saturday at the ATB expo booth for a few hours to volunteer. I met some new faces and fellow racers, which was nice.
Sunday was a great day to be a pacer. The conditions were amazing. The sun was shining and the wind was not noticeable. It was almost warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt. However not having to run too fast I layered up for a good training run.
I have ran Around the Bay a couple times which made it easy when pacing to give everyone the heads up on what was coming up as we were running the course. I had a large group of male and female runners with me from the beginning to the end. The first half of the race was pretty normal, with a little bit of congestion around the water stations and some tight corners. The rollers through back half seemed to go by pretty quick as we ran through each kilometer marker. Coming up to the dreaded 25/6k mark (the down & up hill) my group stuck together and charged up the hill with me. I kept telling everyone to maintain their effort all the way up to the top and warned them about the blind corner turn at the crest. After the hill, on the way into the downtown to the arena, it was time for those who were still with me to leave and finish strong on the downhill for the last 2k. It was cool to see a number of runners take off. After that, I pulled a few guys with me on the last 500m and got them in for their silver medal.
Gun Finish Time – 2:14:51!
Hey Troy,
I was in your 2:15 group. Had blackshorts, a blue long sleeve and shades. Thansk for the great pacing and the silver medal. Crossed the line at gun time 2:14:11 (4min pb). Looking forward to shooting for sub 2:10 next year.
Luke.