Personal Pacer

After I landed in Seattle on Thursday, my dad called me to make sure I got there safely.  I think I'm still stuck as a child in his eyes, and will be forever.  Besides asking me how the flight was, the airport, the landscape, our conversation quickly turned to the annual Labor Day race in the city where my parents live. 

The Labor Day race features both a 5k and a half marathon.  The past two years I have run the 5k, but decided earlier in the summer that I was not going to run it.  The race is on Labor Day, and with training for the Chicago Marathon I thought it would just be better to stay in the Chicago suburbs for the weekend.  Then, I heard some surprising news. 

My dad's company has sponsored the run the last few years, which gives him 2 free race entries.  It is a nice bonus for me...how many races do you get to run for free?  My brother, who has helped organize the event in the past, was talking to my dad about sponsoring it again.  In that conversation, my brother said that one race entry could go to me, and the other to him.  My dad then shared with him that I did not plan on running the race.  My brother said that he would pace me in the half marathon so I could finish in 1:39:xx.  If you've been reading my blog, you know that this has been my goal since the spring. 

I immediately decided that I would run the half marathon with my brother.  The fact that he even offered to pace me was so kind.  He typically runs half marathons in the low 1:20s, so running my goal time will be like a walk in the park for him.  Thinking of me was so thoughtful.

With a renewed sense of determination and goal in mind, I went out and had a pretty good track workout.  Eight 400s at sub 5k pace (1:32-1:37 pace) and then a 4-mile tempo run at 7:30 pace left me feeling good about PRing at the Labor Day race. 

Has anyone offered to be your personal pacer at a race?  Or, would you rather always run on your own?