Paced the Pocatello Half marathon yesterday with a fun group. It was a fun and much needed weekend getaway. Our pace leader was somewhat of a nazi and expected perfection from his pacers. Luckily for me I finished perfectly in 1:50:00. All of my splits were even as he asked within 10-15 seconds except the first mile which was 8:48. woops!
Honestly I thought going into this the pace would feel way too easy and I would have a hard time holding back.....but apparently my legs were just that tired because it felt just right. Pacing is interesting because I always worry it will be hard to hold a pace but once your legs lock into the pace it is pretty easy and actually kind of hard to switch gears to a faster or slower pace. Anyway I had a good pack with me until mile 8 when the hills started and my group slowly faded. :( I did like being able to help a lot of full marathoners towards the end and I picked up a few halfers along the way as well.
Awesome race that I would definitely go back to. They had everything organized down to perfection and the course is great for the full. A lot like Utah Valley except no hills in the first half.
I did a 1 mile jog (9:45 pace) before the race and ran 4 miles after. Ran back to run Smooth in and then did 1 tempo mile in 6:55 that felt way harder than the pace. It was a great weekend and I am glad I had the opportunity to pace and hangout with some great people. | 