Last weekend I went on one of my usual long runs and toward the end I started to feel really tired. I slowed my pace a little, checked my gait, focused on my breathing. I told myself not to lose heart. Suddenly, from behind me, I heard the sound of feet hitting the pavement.
One by one they came on my left – four of them, dressed in all black, water bottles firmly fastened to their waists. Chiseled athletes. Perfect form. Immaculate uniforms. And something happened to me that moment that I’m not sure I can explain.
A force overtook my body. The joints that had ached before suddenly felt completely numb. The negative thoughts that had been whispered by the left side of my brain (You’re running too slow. You’re still two miles away. You’ll never make it) were immediately silenced. All I felt was the insatiable desire to keep running.
I fixed my posture. I matched my steps to theirs. I stayed behind them for as long as I could. And before long I had run two of the quickest miles of my life.
When I got home I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened; about how I had gone from so exhausted to so exhilarated in a single moment. This is called “pacing” in running – right? When you set someone in front of you who is a little stronger, a little faster than you are, who can help you run your quickest pace?
Now, to be clear, these guys weren’t ideal pacers for me. Ideal pacers set a pace that you should be able to mimic for the entirety of the race. But the intensity of the motivation I felt in their presence prompted me to think about how pacers can be a really helpful tool – in running and in life. Here’s why:
Pacers give us Inspiration
Watching someone else do the thing that we want to do – and do it well – reminds us that it can be done. Clear, concrete evidence that success is possible is energizing and exciting and challenges us to keep running our race.
Pacers give us something to focus on, aside from the finish line, and aside from our pain.
If I focus on the finish line while I’m running, I’ll either run too fast and burn out, or run too slow and lose heart. Even if I draw myself into the moment, it can be easy to get wrapped up in my pain (my hip hurts, my knee hurts, I’m out of breath…) Having a pacer helps to take my focus off of the finish line, and off my current pain, and gives me something immediate and reasonable to strive for right now.
Pacers give us someone to imitate
We tend to mimic the people around us, so having a pacer encourages us to mimic someone specific – someone who is a little better, a little faster, a little stronger than we are. They’ve probably been running (or leading, or writing, or being a mom) for longer than we have so we can learn a lot from their strategy, their rhythm, from the way that they carry themselves throughout the race.
Pacers break the wind.
A pacer is a little stronger, a little faster, a little more experienced than we are, so they can take the brunt of unexpected elements that come in front of us during a race. This is beautiful because, as they make a way for us, all we have to worry about is running and running well.
Having a pacer makes you feel like you’re a part of a team
It’s stupid, I know, but I swear part of the reason I felt so motivated by these runners was that I wanted to cross the “finish line” with them. I wanted to be on their team. Who wouldn’t? There’s something really satisfying about the thought of crossing the “finish line” with a team (especially an elite team) rather than just by myself.
What do you think? How does having a “Pacer” benefit you in running? Do you see the metaphor? How can pacers benefit you in life?
