What a race! I had signed up as pacer for the 2:10 group. Not awfully fast, but not terribly slow. The pace sticks had the pace time, not the finish time. I suppose that’s helpful for runners that want to keep a steady pace. I am the WORST at keeping a steady pace!
I started out “just right” but that hardly lasted. Some people will push their pace, trying to bank time for walk breaks at aid stations. I just sort of ran and tried to stay in range. It didn’t seem like anyone was relying on me to be totally accurate.
The race had an option to start thirty minutes early, which is nice! Early start is good for people that may not be very fast and are afraid of missing a cut-off or people that are sensitive to the weather and are afraid of heat injury, which is a real threat. A (probably) unexpected effect was I got to see friends a little more often than the usual once, maybe twice during an out and back. If I had been just running instead of pacing, I for sure would have started early.
There were so many friends running and volunteering! Sydney was pacing the 2:30 group, and Josh was pacing the 2:15 group. We were all off by some minutes. Cody had started early. After he finished, he stood at the last turn with a horn cheering in the runners!
There were only a couple of runners collapsing at the finish area. It was so hot and humid! After a while in the shade, everyone recovered.
The rock island trail course is rail to trail, crushed gravel, mostly shaded, out and back. Just a mile at the beginning / end is out in the sun. That little stretch sure did seem longer at the end of the race! There’s a cool bridge over the trail where the course photographer set up. The pictures are great!
The volunteers at the aid stations were top notch! The runners were asked before the event to use the provided cups and not fill personal bottles or anything, but there was plenty of water to accommodate everybody. I got ice at one of the aid stations. There was no fireball this time. It’s a good thing, I’m not sure I could have finished!
Phil let me stick my head in his truck to get a little a.c. but I had to get away real quick, or I would have climbed right in there and dq’d less than a mile from the end!
Overall, I felt it was a difficult race done well. I don’t have any criticism for the race directors or kc running company. I haven’t heard anything negative from anybody else, either. Just that it was hot. And humid. We can’t control the weather, yet.
W.W.R.H.D. 