3:50 Kara Carlin - The Houston marathon was an exceptional event! Pacing was a great experience both working the pace booth and running the event. The runners were appreciative and excited to have us there and with such a well-run event it was a pleasure to be a part of the race! The only thing that was not ideal was that the pacers with the same pace time were split into separate corrals. This was a bit confusing and not ideal for the runners and/or the pacers. Thank you for allowing an 'out of towner' to be a part of your event!

In hopes of still running with my pacing partner I stayed as far back in the A corral as I could while still positioning myself in front of the 4 hour group. Kara positioned herself at the very front of the B corral. That plan worked, and we were able to pace together which was a huge help and so much fun. Her pacing experience helped calm me down when I was running too fast in the middle miles. Meanwhile, she is from Maryland and had never run Houston before, so I insisted we bank at least a minute for the final miles on Allen Parkway. We were never more than a minute and half ahead of schedule, but we did have to slow down the last few miles to make sure we didn't finish too early. We made a great team. In my opinion nobody should have to pace alone. If we really need a 3:40-4 pace group in both A and B corrals, then there should be four pacers for those groups.

In several of my past marathons I have been in the unfortunate situation of trailing slightly behind a pace group in the last mile, so I thought it would be clever to finish 30 seconds early. That way the people who might be struggling, but could still see our balloons would have a few seconds to make their final push. So, in my little mind, my 3:49:27 finish was just three seconds off my planned time. I felt like a rock star dancing, hooting and hollering down the final stretch. I didn't know about the pacer team royalty aspect until later when Hung told me all about it.

We had quite a big group with us the whole time, including several people who Boston Qualified with 5+ minutes since they came in under 3:50. They thanked us profusely with high fives and hugs. These days we all know you most likely need that cushion to actually get into Boston. Most memorable was the man who hugged us and cried at the finish. His English wasn't the best but he just kept saying Boston, Boston! I gave him my pacing stick. And of course there was the German guy who told us that he looked at all the pictures of the pace groups at the expo and picked what pace to run according to who he thought was the cutest. What a charmer. We might not have been the cutest, but if you look at our pictures displayed at the expo, we were definitely the craziest looking duo. I was also surprised at how many thankful and happy people came up to me afterwards, in the GRB and even at the beer tent, that I never even realized were running with us.

In the end I made a new friend, had a great time, and would definitely do it again. What a fantastic sensation it was to not be mind numb and nauseous coming down Allen Parkway. It was also weird to "have to" slow down just as the crowds were cheering the hardest, and even stranger to feel so good after finishing a marathon.

I was glad to have Suzy Seeley as a partner as she was great company and an excellent pacer. We started together with a good-sized group of runners. Our goal was to run at 9.09 minutes per mile. We started at Coral A and spent over four minutes before crossing the start line. We realized that we were running a little too fast in the beginning so we tried to slow down a bit, but all of our group was fine with the faster pace. After we passed the half-way point, we were over three minutes too fast, so Suzy and I discussed the pace and we knew that we would slow down in the second half. Also, we had a problem with the GPS. My GPS was telling me that my pace was 10 minutes a mile and Suzy's was totally different. That totally threw out our 9:09 pace. We kept running and our group was happy with the pace. After we passed Memorial park, Suzy got excited and kept going. I slowed down a little but still crossed the finish line under 4 hours. I apologized to my group, but they were happy with their time.

Thank you for the opportunity to pace the group and I will be happy to do it again.

4:45 Steve McNeil - This was my third year to co-pace with Julie McAllister. She is an excellent pacer, mentor, mother hen to our pace group. This year, we were hardly together at any time during the race. I took the front end of the group and Julie took the back end of the group. We were seconds from one another the entire race except for the last two miles.

The 4:45 average pace is 10:52. We were at 10:51 at the 10K, 10:46 at the �, 10:46 at 30K, and I came in at 4:43:20, 10:49 pace. At around mile 23 Julie and I began splitting a little. I had a group of five that had run beside me the entire way and they were ready to surge a little ahead. I took inventory of our group as I saw that Julie had her group right beside her. I went with the front group and crossed well under 4:45. Julie had some leg issues around mile 25 and told her group to go on and they did. I waited at the finish and they were able to get under 4:45. Julie came in shortly after.

This was my eighth year to be a pace leader. This group was the most talkative group ever. We shared all our running stories with one another. I had a captive audience. As always, several people came up to me in the GRB and thanked us for pacing. They all said that keeping the balloons in sight pulled them through some tough last miles. At the expo, I had several runners from past marathons thank us for pacing and making their experience a positive one. It was my 32nd consecutive Houston finish. I look forward to pacing again next year.

We started in the new corral system which worked very well and took us approximately 26 minutes to get to the start line. The actual gun time doesn't matter since the official time is regulated by the timing chip located in the number bib. My co-pacer Mary Beth Cody ran with me for the first time to learn the run /walk technique.

Again this year the pacers marked their spacing about 50 yards apart in the 4 corrals with a 1-1/2 foot x 2 foot sign designating the various pace groups. This larger sign was dropped off at the start line. The pacers retained the �" dowel with red, white, and blue balloons and carried it over the entire course. This pace group marker was passed to various individuals in the pace group. As 5:30 pace leaders, we are expected to cross the finish line within +/- 2 minutes of the 5 hour 30 minute chip time.

The group was composed of some old stand-by's like Carl Lindsey and Ed Lyon, folks doing their first marathon, and ones wanting to complete at a slower pace. The newbies are naturally nervous and not sure what to expect. We discussed how they trained, at what pace, and what our pacing strategy was. Our strategy was to do 5 and 1, i.e. run for 5 minutes, then walk for 1 minute. Sometimes we ran for 6 minutes if I saw a water station close by or because I was distracted. We planned to walk for 1 minute at the water stations and for the "Houston Hills" (over/under passes and viaducts).

In order to see how the group would do, I wrote down the name and bib numbers of those with me at the starting corral. I got this information from 22 individuals to help them get a commitment to completing this run.

This Houston marathon had 8932 folks started: however, only 7048 completed within the 6 hour limit. As a side note 7812 runners from Texas started.

I used my Garmin 205 GPS to help keep us on pace. We were running 11:30 to 12:00 minutes per mile and were walking 14:00 to 15:00 minutes per mile. With that pace we had 2 minutes "in the bank" at the half way point, that would be drawn out in the last 6 miles at Memorial Park and Allen Parkway. In the last 3 miles "the bank" was depleted and we needed to run continuously without walks. We did a 5 second count down when transitioning to running or to walking.

The volunteers and crowds were enthusiastic and very helpful to the runners. Examples of signage along the way were like "Longest Parade I Have Ever Seen" and "Where are the Floats."

There was no George Bush this year, maybe his health or the new emphasis on security was the reason.

The group started breaking up and stringing out once we got to Memorial Park. This is not uncommon. As we had talked at the beginning, the newbie's first goal is to complete the race, no matter what the clock time is. They are to make it a personal victory. We saw many runners by the road trying to work out cramping issues. There were 3 opportunities to take on beer, if you like to get your carbo's that way.

My chip time was 5:32:06 using the brand new Sketchers GoRun3 shoes.
During this huge event, one is never sure how big the pace group is. Most folks in a pace group are behind the leader, but it seems to be 2 or 3 dozen in the immediate pack.

Looking at post-marathon data there were 336 persons (167 men and 169 women) that crossed the finish line +/- 2 minutes of 5:30.

As I mentioned at the beginning, here are the group results:

• 22 Committed to do the 5:30 pace
• 5 Finished +/- 2 minutes of 5:30
• 5 Had times ranging from 5:02 to 5:24. These had pushed on ahead.
• 8 Had times ranging from 5:36 to 6:00. They may have been affected by fatigue or medical issues. I am glad they persevered.
• 4 Either DNF'd (Did Not Finish) or exceeded the cut off time limit.

Many thanks to the Pacer Team sponsor - Sketchers-for their support, including on site shoe designers.

Arlen did a tremendous job pacing. He strategically changed the run/walk ratio throughout the marathon course. His pacing was awesome. He led the way and I took the back of the pack to keep them motivated and on track. We had a volunteer who would keep the intervals and raise and waive the balloons at each exchange and then we would do an appropriate countdown to either walk or run. Along the way Arlen would mentioned our pace per mile and how minutes ahead of schedule we were. For a long while we were ahead by approximately 3 minutes. The front of the group came in around 5:56 and change, hence our 3 minute window.

One of our runners was amazed by the dynamics of the group and the pacers. She was surprised to learn that not only did we not train together but that we just get together and paced.

From my vantage point I could see the entire group as it moved forward, stopped, walked and moved forward again. It was an amazing sight. Instead of a 6 hour pace group, it is my opinion that we should have a 5:55 or 5:56 as Arlen mentioned. These few minutes will release some of the stress the runners who fell back a bit encountered. If we can get them on a 5:55 pace before we lose them they will at least have a chance to finish in time, on their own.

I came in at 5:57 and change. I slowed down a bit at the end to encourage some of those who were a bit more behind to "kick it in gear" and finish strong.

Overall I would rate it as a positive experience for the pacers and the runners.

Personally, I really enjoyed seeing Arlen in action. In the event that I will one day be called upon to do what he did I will have this experience with me.

For all future 6:00 pacers, the 5:56:00 goal is important. It is our job to pick up people and get them to the finish line before their 6:00:00 chip time to have an official time. As a result, we lined up near the end of the corral. We crossed the start line in corral D with a 27:08 delay. There were about 6,000 people in each corral. The D coral cleared at about 29:30. That means it took about 7.5 minutes for each corral to clear. Corral D opened at about 22 minutes. Since we started at 27 minutes, that means there were people in front of us about 5 minutes. My final chip time at 5:56:46 means there were about 3 minutes of runners potentially in front of us that could have slowed to join us and still break 6:00:00. That means that if people that started at 22 through about 24 minutes delay joined us at the 6:00 pace group, their chip time would potentially be over 6:00:00. Since we lost about 46 seconds, more of those runners would have failed thus being unofficial.

Logically, I should have pushed the pace a little more to reach the 5:56:00 goal.
I wore two watches, one sport watch to record the mile splits and a Garmin 305 Forerunner GPS watch. After the starting line, I noticed the watch for the splits was not running, so it got started late, thus I was not sure through the race the actual chip time.
Our race plan was 4 minutes run / 2 minutes' walk through ten miles, then switch to 3 / 2 through about 15, then switch to 2 / 2 to 20 miles, then switch to 1 / 1 the last 10 K. We actually went to the 1 / 1 at 19 miles because I personally was struggling and it felt hot. If I was struggling, then it was time to make it easier by switching earlier. We walked the hills and walked the water stops. We passed the balloons around so other people could have the honor of leading.

After analyzing the data, it is clear we struggled more to be under 14 minutes doing the 2 minute run / 2 minute walk, than doing the 1 / 1. Part of that was because it was hot, so I was not pushing the pace personally.

Our goal for the half marathon was 2:56, but we actually were at 2:54:51 (too fast). We had a big group throughout the race, even down to near the end. Several of them thanked me after the race.

I did have two friends assisting Felix and I with the pace team. One of them had a watch that beeped at the run / walk intervals. I am grateful to them for the help. Thanks also to Felix who motivated the back of the group all day.

GRB - Did you ever wonder what it looked like without the Runners?

Richard Jares - I am at 128 marathon length runs. Maybe they can call it the lunacy or OCD program.

Max Brand - I have done 33 marathons overall and 13 in Houston and will be doing marathon #34 this summer in Tromso, Norway in the Midnight Sun Marathon. My first and probably only marathon in the arctic circle.

Bob McDowell -

Bob McDowell

This was my 28th Houston Marathon and 41st overall marathon

Ray Boytim -

Ray Boytim

35 Houston Marathons, 221 total marathons completed and a recent photo attached.