Pacing Sucess!

Today was the 10K in which I was a pace leader.  I was really nervous about this because I am so bad at judging my pace.  There was one other 65 minute pacer and she also has a Garmin.  I set my Garmin to give me a split every 1/4 mile and figured out that it should be 2:36 per quarter mile.  We were pretty close most of the time.  Most of the time we were within 3 seconds of 2:36!  It felt like I was running so slow.  I could easily talk while I was running.  It was a pain to constantly be checking my Garmin but it was all part of pacing.
We came in at 1:05:04 which is pretty close!  The runners all sprinted in once the finish line came into view and some picked it up and took off after the 6 mile marker so all of the runners that stayed with us finished under 1:05.  It was hard not to pick up the pace especially when the finish line was in sight.  Another really STRANGE thing was to finish a 10K race and NOT feel like collapsing into a heap on the ground!!
It was a freezing 25 degrees this morning.  I ended up handing out the pacer bibs, their safety pins and their shirts and I didn't have my gloves on and my fingers were so cold and numb that I had to sit in a running truck belonging to the people setting up the finish line timing equipment so that I could pin my bib on.  We had a tent to wait in but it was still 25 degrees!  When we were standing in the starting area, my feet became sooooo cold.  I hate cold feet more than anything.  I have a pair of winter trail running shoes that keep the cold air out, unlike my regular running shoes.  A couple weeks ago, my feet were hurting in my trail shoes so I figure they are probably getting too old.  It's hard to know because I only wear them in winter.  So, anyway, I've been wearing my regular running shoes for all running now.  The days I ran in the snow, I wore two pairs of socks.
Here I am right after the race with my sign:

65 minute pacer

 

 

official time was 1:05:04