I was tasked with the job of being the 3:10 pace leader,
a job and pace I had previously done at the 2009 Chicago Marathon and
loved. It’s a lot like being an
orientation leader in college except you have to carry a flag with the pace
time posted on it. You keep a steady
pace, offer advice, give heads up on the course amenities, get the spectators
riled up and crack a few jokes…people tend not to want to think about each
excruciating mile. The role makes
running 26.2 miles a bit more of a challenge, in case you needed one!
At 7am we started the race just outside of Lambeau
Field. Due to construction, this would
be the first year that the race would not finish inside the stadium, a bummer
for some. In fact, it was enough of a deterrent
that only about 2,500 people of the 4,000 capacity registered for the marathon. Within my group were about two dozen men and
women looking to qualify for the Boston Marathon, achieve a personal best or
complete their first marathon in a very respectable time. Myself and Mike (the other leader) were in
charge of keeping the pack of runners on a 7:15 minute-per-mile pace. What’s funny about this is that neither of us
wears a GPS watch; we just base it by feel with a stopwatch!
Green Bay has a great small town feel. The community really stepped up in support of
the runners. I don’t recall a block
where a resident didn’t set up a sprinkler for us in the first half of the race. The half marathoners turned off as the temperature was
rapidly approaching the 80’s. It was after this that things fell apart.
The full marathoners were left to run a course that
appeared to have been abandoned. The
crowd support was thin, the sprinklers few and the shade minimal. At mile 17, Mike (our other pace leader) dropped
out due to the heat. Our group was down
to about eight and I was determined to get us to the finish in time with
this flag still in my hand! At this
point, we were almost a minute ahead of schedule.
At mile 20 (about 2:35 into the race), an officer was
informing us that the race had been cancelled.
It was then that I lost my last runner.
In the lonely miles to come, I slowed a bit and reunited with two women
from the group as we charged forward, determined to finish close to the 3:10
goal. Medical staff continued to inform
us that the course was closed due to heat but no one had instructed us to stop
running. It wasn’t until mile 26 that we
were physically made aware of the closure – as we turned into the parking lot
of Lambeau Field and caught a glimpse of the finish line, we ran into a closed
gate that prevented us from continuing to the finish line! With no way through, I ran around the
backside through the crowds to symbolically cross the finish line in 3:13. Not too far off what I was supposed to do; it
could have been the heat or the Homewood-Flossmoor 5K I raced the day before! Not advisable.
Frustrated, I walked straight to the beer line. After a few beers and 30 minutes, I saw that
the organizers realized their mistake and reopened the gate. Through it I went so that I could officially
cross the finish mat. In all, it was a great weekend and I’m not going to let this race experience
sour my opinion of the city. I did enjoy
some great beers and meal the night before at www.hinterlandbeer.com
and a post-race lunch at www.titletownbrewing.com with the largest beer sample I've ever seen! Oh, and let's not forget the Mars Cheese Castle and the abundance of New Glarus beer.
Before (Titletown Brewing)
After (Titletown Brewing)
