The Pacing Bug Bites

I went down to Cape Town for the Two Oceans in 2006 with the intention of running the race. Little did I know that I would return home with the notion that I must try pacesetting, but once the idea had taken hold, I was hooked.

I met Runner’’s World Marketing Manager Ashleigh Bird at the Runner’’s World pasta party two days before Two Oceans and she spoke about pacesetters and how fellow KZN walker and Forumite Lone and myself should think about pacesetting. I must say, for days afterwards I toyed with the idea of ““Dave the Pacesetter.”” At the time I was with Run/Walk for Life, where I was a road leader who basically paces time for members on the road. So what the hell, I mailed Ashleigh and said yes I would do it.

I collected my flags, pole and waist bag from Touchline Media’’s Durban offices and went home to assemble everything. That afternoon at my RWFL session I carried the flag to see how it felt - it was interesting. Another KZN pacing stalwart, Clem Simpson, had shown me how to fix the pole so it did not move too much but I found that it restricted my ability to look left and right, and it really took some getting used too.

My first pace-setting race was a 10km race called Tyre Force. Man, my nerves were finished. So I arrive at this race doing the back of the pack pacesetting of sub-1:30. Flags fluttering above my head in wind and everyone I know coming up to me to say ““Oh, you are a pacesetter now.””

The gun went off and I was away, keeping a check on the Garmin Forerunner and the Runner's World pace chart. To my surprise, at three kays I had a bus of 15 people. I was shocked that on my first pacing race 15 people had put their faith in me. Well, that changed at five kays as one for one they dropped off the bus till there were only five left with two kays to go.

One of the walkers that did stick with me was a lady with a temp number on my right. She made no attempt to talk and I could see she was taking strain, so just after six kays I struck up a conversation with her and found out that her goal was to finish a 10-kay under 90 minutes- and that she had tried this several times but failed each time. Talk about pressure, but I knew that if I kept a check on that pace chart and I stayed on track I would be fine and hopefully pull her in for her goal time.

Well, we came through the finish at 1:27:10 and this lady just burst into tears. She came up to me and thanked me for making her dream come true, with tears streaming down her face. Two other people in the bus shook my hand and said thanks for bringing them in. That was it, I was hooked on pacesetting.

So what happened to that lady? Well, she continued chasing her dreams and she finally climbed Mount Everest. No really, she climbed the world’’s highest mountain!

And since then I have paced many races, even a few ultra-marathons, and each time has been just as rewarding as that first race. I have adapted from my days with the waist bag to a hydro pack with a place for the pole to slide in and I have traded in my wooden pole for a detachable fibreglass pole, which does not snap as easily as the wooden one.

My biggest dream is still ahead and happens on 22 March 2008, when I get to set the pace in the Two Oceans half. I’’ll be bringing the sub-3:00 bus in, hopefully with my good friend SeanF, the RW Online Editor, who has promised to sing, dance and do everything else except moan about his sore legs if his Achilles is OK in time to join us at the start line. So if you’’re looking for a sub-3:00 finish and want to join the bus, just look for the flags near the back of the pack and hop aboard.