It was the day of the Provo City Marathon that we got word the Utah Race Pacers had been invited to cover the Vigor Half Marathon the following week. Our pace director made us a deal: full marathon pacers at the Provo City race who came within 30 seconds of their goal time could have first dibs on Vigor, and half marathon pacers at Provo City could have second dibs before the race was opened to the rest of the group. Since I came within 20 seconds on my goal time at Provo, I had no problem securing myself as the 2:10 pacer for Vigor.
The Vigor Half Marathon is an amazing all downhill run through Big Cottonwood. Except for a slight change on the last two miles, this run follows the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon course held in September.
Even though I had paced a 26.2 mile race only seven days before, I felt great during this race. My legs felt fresh, and I hit each mile marker up to mile 12 with 10 seconds to spare. I was so proud of myself that I was going to be within single digit seconds of my goal time until I came around the corner at 12.8 miles, and I was in the finishing chutes! CRAP! The course was short. I slowed my pace as much as I could--I was seriously moving my feet but not moving forward. :) I lingered as long as possible, but I eventually had to cross that finish line at 2:07:36. I have never been more than 30 seconds early as a pacer, but I couldn't buy any more time in the chutes. On the plus side, a lot of the runners around me didn't realize pacers go off chip time instead of gun time so when that clock read 2:09 plus change, they all thanked me for getting them in on time. I simply said "you're welcome" and left it at that. :)
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