Blessed with pacer (Week Notes, 11, 2025)

I have been absolutely buzzing as I've finally got myself a gig as an official pacer for a big running event.

I'll be pacing the 2h 10m group at the Birmingham Great Run (Birmingham Half Marathon) on May 4th 2025.

I'm never going to be a great or fast runner, but I am a solid one. I've set myself a few benchmarks in terms of personal goals and I've hit them. Sub-2 half marathon came surprisingly easy, sub-4 marathon took me several attempts, and I know I can manage a reasonable ultra too. But I've basically peaked. I'm only going to get slower as I age, and in any case is there much point in pushing for a 1:40 half (possible from my current 1:44) when I know 1:30 is out of the question?

My next challenge was always going to be to help other people somehow, working with modest material to get other people to their goals too.

I've informally paced some friends to sub-2 halves already, but I've always wanted to wear the flag of the official pacer–and now I can.

I'd ideally like to pace the 2-hour group in the future, as it's a comfortable conversational pace for me and it's such an iconic time for recreational runners, but 2:10 will still be a nice comfortable pace to run, and I'm hoping to help a lot of people on their journeys too.

That's about all I've got for this week. Absolutely buzzing off it tbh.