August 12, 2010
The Pacer Plan
In my continuing look into my upcoming race, the Leadville Trail 100, today we focus on the pacer! The unsung hero of the ultramarathon.
A single pacer at a time is allowed to runners from mile 50 - 99. On the last mile, you can have as many pacers as you want. Leadville rules state that pacers can run with you but cannot pull, push or move you in anyway. They are also able to carry gear, water, or food for you also known as muleing. The race gets quite spread out late in the night so a pacer helps keep runners on track, on course, and alive. There are various strategies for pacing a runner but the general goal is to be there to aid them and get them to the finish in the desired time in one piece.
As previously announced, J.P. Patrick, triathlete and foodie, will be pacing me to the finish. J.P. has been a competitor himself at Leadville twice and has successfully paced a runner to a top 10 finish.
You can visit his blog to learn more about him but I sat down with him (virtually) at the Team Shart headquarters for this interview.
Q: Tell us…who is JP?
[insert beer commercial theme music here] I’m a very, very complex individual. A jack-of-all athletic trades, a master of few. A cyclist, a marathoner, a former Seattle grunge boy (avg lifetime HR while in the mosh pit; 148 bpm), an Ironman, a flower sniffer, a gym rat, a champion baby jogger pusher, a hopelessly devoted IPA fanatic, an ultrarunner with an uncanny ability for tripping on absolutely nothing and falling, a 44 year old with a 32 inch waist who eats more than most people reading this can even fathom, a closed course stunt driver.
Q: Where do you know Brandon from?
Der! Blogworld! ….and we’ve been fortunate enough to have met in the flesh and get in a few miles and mountains together!
Q: What’s your ultramarathon experience? Have you raced this race or 100 miles before?
Many organized ultras, never a 100 (DNF’d at mile 70 at Leadville because I was soaked and cold and it was dark and I needed a more surly crew to call me abusive names and kick the shit out of me!) I’ve done enough immeasurable solo cycling and trail running training efforts where I’ve gone too far, too hard or been generally ill-prepared and had to call my girlfriend to come and rescue me that I think, at times, she questions our relationship. I tell her I’m a guy and sometimes guys do stupid things. She lives with that.
Q: Why would someone do this? Pace another person through a death-march. Sounds exhausting!
Aside from the fact that Brandon is an incredibly good looking man and the thought of running shoulder-to-shoulder with him over 50 miles and 15 hours makes me kinda tingly…. hmmmmm. That’s not reason enough?!
Well…. I started reading Brandon’s blog a few years ago and have loved watching this guy progress! Don’t believe me? Go back a couple years and look at some pictures of him compared to the lean, mean racing machine that he is today! I saw him hack 20+ minutes off his marathon PR in a year and run a 2:59 at Boston! (Just so you don’t get too cocky Brandon, I PR’d a 2:50 last year and plan on going faster in October.) His excitement and laser focus drive towards this race has been addictive! I paced Ryan Cooper to a Top 10 overall in Leadville a few years back and the excitement and energy of just being out there on this day was too much to pass up. I know what it takes for him to finish. It sounds corny, but it’s such a great vibe all day! I’m glad he still had the pacer spot still available when I offered!
Q: Sound like you have a lot to offer. Do you expected to be paid for this?
I’ll be pacing on retainer with huge bonus incentives. I’d imagine a cold beer will be in my future.
Q: Are you going to be able to keep up with Brandon?
If there is some evil cosmic shift in the universe and Brandon begins to drop me at the 90 mile mark, my plan is to jump on his back like a spider monkey and beat him senseless with a heavy rock! When he comes to, I’ll tell him he fell down and blacked out because he must have been low on calories and should probably eat something before he tries to get up and carry on. This sequence may be repeated as necessary. Seriously, with the training load that Brandon’s done, if I was pacing him on the outbound, I’d be concerned! This guy could crush me head-to-head in the mountains right now. But coming back in for the last 50, I’ll be able to help get him all the way back in (and under 25 hours!) Can’t wait!
Q: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your thoughts with us. Anything else?
Could I interest you in my new Breakfast Bake creation?
