Edmonton 10k - When pacing goes wrong

Having ducked a Saturday parkrun I felt a runner's duty to honour my offer to pace a pal at the Edmonton 10k. Yet at 0835 I was still at home, asking the wife for reasons not to run, principally all reasons were weather related.
Make no mistake, the weather was beyond abysmal on Sunday. I'll happily admit to being a fair weather runner, in 3 years of running this was my first wet race. And to call it wet would be economical with the truth, apocalyptic might me more accurate.
I drove down to the impressive Lee Valley Athetics Centre (once touted as a World Championship venue) & despite the questioning of sanity by the organisers, got myself an on the day entry.
Fergie arrived in due course and we discussed how we'd pace the run. This was going to be a different kind of challenge for me. I've become reasonably proficient since March at pacing myself, running easy and targeting Times. Could I pace another person to a target 10k time?

The Run

A small field lined up at the start line, this wasn't a run for casuals, mainly club runners and those of questionable sanity like Fergie & myself. The course was a simple out and back, about 5k along a soaked, puddled and narrow canalside path.
Fergie's target time was to break the hour. This makes the mathematics of pacing easy, 6:00 per kilometre. My aim was to maintain a 5:50-5:55 pace to ensure we had time should it be needed later in the race. Steve had run a 1:00:22 the week before so there was definite potential in breaking the hour.
Our early pace was good, my Nike+ suggests the first km was completed in 5:13, though the km marker on the course suggested around 5:40. By 5km we'd built about a 45 second buffer and Steve was happy and talkative.
By 7km we were close to a minute under, the 59:00 was in danger of being smashed. Steve then mentioned he needed to slow a bit, no problem we had time banked, three 6:20 kilometres would still bring the target time.
Then things got scary. I was thankful that I'd taken a canalside position as Steve's legs went and he buckled in the centre of the tow path. At first I thought it was a trip, then Steve advised his legs had gone. We were joined by another runner, Alan and between us we stayed with Steve as he tried to get to recover. The camaraderie of runners was in evidence here as everyone who passed us wanted to know if they could help. After a few minutes Steve was able to get to his feet & with arms around him Alan & I started to walk back to the finish.
Throughout this my mind was racing. Had my pacing been too aggressive? Had I pushed slightly too hard and caused this? It sounds selfish but these were secondary thoughts, we needed to get our man back and checked out by the medical team.
We ensured that Steve was supported all the way back, the organisers even sent a car, but he wasn't to be denied a finish time and a medal. There was never going to be a DNF against our names. We crossed the line together at 1:12, last but one! Now it was imperative to get warm and medical attention.

Fergie able to give the thumbs up post race.

Once Fergie was armed with a cup of tea, banana and a team of Edmonton Running Club's first raiders attending to him the world was a happier place. No major damage to his knees, just impact scrapes. It then dawned on Fergie what the probable cause was. The collapse had been a diabetic incident, likely due to a lack of breakfast / pre race fueling.
Despite this my feelings were a mix or concern and relief. Relief that my pacing wasn't the catalyst, yet concern at seeing a friend collapse like this in a race. 

Trainers are not so bright now....

We were both equally concerned at the bollockings that would be coming from our wives!! This race taught us both a lot. I learnt that I can pace without extending myself too much and get something different out of a race. I also learnt that maybe I need to take a basic first aid course. Steve learnt the hard way how important fueling is. One of the things I get told by my wife is that my expression in running photos is always a grimace, despite my attempts at smiling. Yet on Sunday, for the first half at least I was affording a smile, doing something for someone else, when running can often be a selfish activity.
We both learnt how great the running community is. Fergie has a great team of friends, both at the race and in the outside world that were concerned for him. His friends finished ahead of us, cheered Steve over the line & ensured we had cups of tea. Alan, our stranger that became an instant friend also deserves a lot of credit for helping us get to the line. He's new to parkrun, I suspect he'll get an invite to Oakhill in the near future.
The organisation & marshalling of the event was superb. The offers of assistance before the finish line & afterwards was exceptional. If you're local to the area, then Edmonton Running Club came across like an excellent bunch of people. I always leave these races wondering, maybe I should join a club....

Fergie is more than capable of crossing the invisible line between runner & jogger that is perceived to exist at the one hour mark. I hope I'll be there the day he does it.

One last lesson I learnt, wet races = a need for vaseline or plasters. Runner's nipple, I'll say no more.....

A nice demonstration of Runner's nipple.

The Eat

We got to Sunday evening, realising that nothing was out of the freezer, time to be creative with dinner. I thought this was the perfect time to fry up that 3 month out of date chorizo in the fridge for a Spanish omelette. Unfortunately it had somehow migrated to the bin, so I had to swap in some bacon. Half an hour or so later, I'd cooked up a nice reward for the day's efforts.