All about that pace

I make no apologies for the pun. It tickled me when it came into my head, even if it does mean I now have that Bass song as an ear worm.
That's to the festive parkrun rules Saturday saw me complete my fifth event in ten days. Just think how quickly I could achieve 100 club status if we had more public holidays! This would also be my third volunteering effort during that time, extra brownie points for me.
The first Saturday of every month is pacer day at Chelmsford. I'd volunteered twice previously and on both occasions ended up working overnight so having to pull out. At the third time of asking I would be donning the 30 shirt and trying to lead folks to a PB. Regular readers will know my success rate at pacing stands at 50%. Perhaps 66% if we remove the Takeley 10k where I was clearly too slow for Alec and told him to go on after a kilometre. I'd brought PBs to Emily & Joel, but also seen Fergie collapse (Edmonton 10k, still one of the more popular posts on this blog). I was confident that I could keep my success ratio increase on this occasion.

A variety of pacing options

I'd picked 30 minutes as it appealed for the simplicity of it. Six minutes per kilometre, no longer division required and even with my lack of training recently, a very achievable pace. The rather dank weather conditions had kept many away, but there still seemed to be a crowd of 250 assembled for the pre run briefing. Anyone that did score a PB would also have the opportunity to ring the PB bell, a new concept for Chelmsford and one that I shall be stealing! Perhaps a PB klaxon instead though (or clown horn)? 

The Run

Before the run started all of the others were paraded in front so that everyone could see who their pacers would be. Anyone wanting pacing would start to the right of the main start line, where we'd all lined up in time order. I was slightly concerned that the 31 guy behind me was already talking about potentially going faster than me, not sure that was the point!
It was tough to hear the run start over at the pacing area so suddenly we all saw the main field running. It meant I couldn't start my Garmin ahead of time to ensure I'd definitely be on pace. I appeared to have around half a dozen with me, the weather had certainly left some in bed for the day.
Progress on the first kilometre was slow, naturally as you're further back in the field and there were some nice large puddles that everyone wanted to avoid. We went past the marker at 6:08, so I kept everyone informed that we were over and would need to increase the pace for the second click. It was logical to do so, everyone was into a rhythm by this stage and the third kilometre included a muddy section that could slow people down. So at the 2km marker we were back in credit after a 5:46 split. I checked to make sure everyone was ok and still with me and we carried on, crossing the bridge and onto the grass & mud.

Leader of the pack...

The 29 pacer was at a decent gap ahead, I was using lampposts to ensure at this stage there was a decent 25-30 second gap. True to form, Mr 31 was far closer to my tail that I'd have liked.
The third kilometre also included a short climb in Admirals, this appeared to reduce the group around me as I tried to maintain pace. A 6:02 third click had us pretty much on the money for pace and after negotiating the downhill field in Admirals it was back into tarmac for the always longer than expected return to home.
The fourth kilometre is usually where I become unhinged in my parkrun efforts so I was aware that this could be make or break for my group. I kept talking, at 3.5km we were pretty much dead on 21:00, so I encouraged everyone, nine minutes and we're done.
By the 4km marker we were slightly under time, my fault as the smoothness of the surface had been conducive to a 5:51km. I now had just two ladies actually keeping with me for pacing and I was giving updates every 200m. As we passed under the viaduct, the finish line is in sight, though a nice 600m lap separates you from it. We had nearly four minutes to complete this as my runners had naturally sped up into the final lap. At this point one pushed on and I stayed at the side of my one remaining runner.
Entering the back straight I encouraged further, plenty of time to bring in a sub 30. As we turned the corner I sauntered home, no silly sprints for me this week. My job was to get people to the final corner with a sub 30 in sight and I'd achieved that.

So fast I was a blur

I crossed the line myself in 29:20, attributed to a faster final kilometre as my pacees sped up and the Garmin suggesting we were 50m short, which would account for all of 15 seconds.

The Eat (and shop)

To say I was cold and miserable after leaving the park would be an understatement. I should add that I was only miserable due to the persisting drizzle that had soaked me. I was taking a much travelled route to Greggs when I recalled that Run Active had a sale on and they were next door.
You have to get the order of things correct here. Don't load up in Greggs and then go into a running shop, they might not have discovered the nutritional qualities of pastry and you'll waste half an hour telling them about the hotter than the sun sausage roll actually burning calories using it's incredible heat.
So I went in to browse shoes first. Browse, honest. I'd been eyeing another pair of trails with Great Notley, the Forest and Endure 24 in mind. The New Balance are a good entry level trail, but conditions at Notley have called for something more extreme. What a coincidence that Run Active have a sale on all trail shoes then! The inov8 mudclaws were only available in precision fit, but after chatting with the staff it seemed a worthwhile exercise to try some on.
With saturated socks this meant another purchase was also necessary! Turns out the mudclaws fitted very nicely, I just opted for half a size up. And with a swipe of the credit card we'd seen another expensive parkrun adventure! If Mrs H isn't going to forgo a lie in to run or spectate then she's accountable for the spending, that's how it works right?

Hello pretty....

With some garish yellow shoes bought it was time for some replenishment. I popped into City Diner (formerly of Starburger fame) and got myself a chocolate thickshake. They use the same machines as Run for the Eat's #1 restaurant, Wimpy so I was onto a winner. Then just opposite was Gregory's the Baker and their equally loved sausage rolls. With a running shop, milkshake outlet and pastry emporium all based together, this end of the High Chelmer shopping centre appears to have been designed with me in mind!

The Conclusion

Pacing is fun and something I've got lots of enjoyment from. This was slightly different to running with a friend as you're not set on achieving a goal for just one person. If you're with a friend you can adjust pace to accommodate their needs. The idea here was to just maintain pace, only in the last kilometre did I step up with those that remained with me.
Of course as volurunning it counts to both the volunteering total and run count, so a good recommendation for those less inclined to give up a run.