Pacing Miss Daisy

So I have obviously been busy but here is my very belated quick pace report from the Cleveland Marathon.


Daisy is the one with the wild arm warmers center left.

I have started a trend the past few years of pacing my girls through their first marathon or ultra and I owed Daisy as I had kind of bailed on our initial plan to take Boston easy and race Cleveland so the plan was to go out and cheer on the marathoners and half marathoners around mile 2.5 on the hill coming up from Browns Stadium so that I could see all my friends and my cousin who was running her first half marathon. Then we would head out to mile 13 to pick up Daisy and escort her to a 3:30 finish. Solar (can I just reiterate how excited I am that my girl finally has a blog?) decided to join me so we had the loudest cheering spot on the course and the best looking pacers out there too ;)

Got to the race a bit early and headed down to our cheering spot. Thankfully there was a bridge we could stand under to hide from the rain. As more and more time went by we were starting to worry that perhaps the course did not actually come through here but we spotted a few wheel chair racers and eventually saw the runners making their way around the turn and up the hill to greet us :) We were able to stand on the ground as the fast guys came through but the course got crowded quickly and we made our way on top of the barrier to cheer. Probably not the smartest move but it sure was fun :) Had a few scares when cheering a little too emphatically and started to get lightheaded (not ideal when the ground is a good ten feet below ya!). It was hilarious when runners would go to high five us and do it real gently so as not to knock us down! I got my first spectator hug early on from a runner who saw my Boston shirt and hugged me and informed me he ran Boston too. Also got a little card from a man dressed as a Crab King who apparently belongs to the couch potato running club. You gotta love spectating!

Solar with the sign Daisy made for me to cheer on our SERC runners.

Between our two loud mouths and the bridge echoing we were making quite a racket. Took a ton of photos in hopes of catching those we knew on camera, which you are more than welcome to peruse on Flickr. (E-Speeds Cleveland Photos) Somehow missed my cousin and many others in the mass of people. There were actually still a few final marathoners coming through as the elite 10k runners came blazing by the 4 mile mark. We decided to wait for Lou and JoAnn to go through before ducking out and heading to mile 13.

We stripped our outer layers in my office bathroom and ran about 2 miles to the halfway mark, just trying to get into 8 minute groove and be ready for Daisy. Got there a few minutes early and eagerly awaited Daisy's arrival. The 3:30 group passed and no Daisy. I started to worry that maybe she was ahead of pace and we missed her. As the 3:40 group passed I started to get really nervous. We decided to run back to the aid station at 13 and see if Tri Eric had seen her. As we were making our way back she appeared. I told her the 3:40 group wasn't too far ahead and it would take some work but we would work to catch and pass them and get her the PR she was going for.

Unfortunately a few minutes after that Daisy's heart rate sky rocketed and she started to have some real trouble breathing. It seriously looked like an asthma attack. I offered to call her hubby but tough chick she is she waved that idea away as we walked it off. The rest of the day passed much in this same fashion, try to up the pace then walk it off when the heart rate got too out of control. Not exactly how any of us thought the day would go, but that is the trouble with marathons. When it is not your day, it is a Loooong day.

Making it look fun even though all we wanted was for the next 5 miles to disappear!



Cheering on Daisy to the finish, trying to get the crowds to cheer a little louder!

We eventually did get to that finish line all a bit stiff and hungry. Solar and I had to high tail it back to my house so I could finish up the florida salad for the party and get the grilled foods on their way. Solar took this task seriously as we cruised through the streets of Cleveland at around 6:30 pace. Let me tell you running that fast after averaging 12 minute miles for the last 13 miles was not a nice wake up call for me. All in all got in around 16-17 miles for the day which is good time on my feet training for teh Buckeye 50k. The SERC after party went great and I was glad to see Daisy feeling fine and kicking back with a few drinks. Many of the SERC crowd got PRs which is amazing considering the shit conditions that morning. As always so proud of all my SERC peeps!

After that it was straight into the field for me for two days hence the lack of posting. I'm still trying to get caught up at work and playing catch up with some running I missed from working in the field this week hence the lack of posting. I'll get up a weekly wrap up soon and some thoughts that are going through my brain on post marathon blues. Also should be getting up a race report as Blossom is tomorrow!

Hope everyone is enjoying this great weather! Why couldn't the marathon have been tomorrow? I am sadly getting some work work done today but will thoroughly enjoy my Monday off by getting down to the Buckeye Trail!

Hows that for the most random pace report ever?