Besides running races I also love to help out at races. Whether it is the aid station at the North Fork 50 or cheering on runners like Jeremiah in races. At the end of June I was fortunate enough to crew for Jeremiah in his first 100 mile race in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We had a great group of pacers and all around crewers for the race so first off THANK YOU to Tower, Donnie, Cassidy, and Hannah for not only keeping Jeremiah going but also helping me be the best support I could be.
If you've never crewed before it's a neat experience that takes some prep work that you have to be willing to throw out as soon as something changes with your runner. Here's my guide to being a good pacer,crew member with some "what to do better next time" advice.
1. Let your runner dictate what he/she needs before, during, and after the race
Anyone training for a race whether it is a half marathon or a 100 miler has a lot of their own preparation to do. There's the training part, but there's also the figuring out fueling and clothing, researching the course and the weather. Jeremiah had a unique problem in the previous two years of the race had pretty much every possible weather you can think of. It's best to trust that your runner has planned out what he/she needs and it's your job to remind them that it's there (extra shoes, long sleeve shirt, various snacks).
2. Except when you have to make the runner do what he/she needs to do
In retrospect I should have pushed the sit down/rest/recover piece more. Since this was Jeremiah's first 100miler we were all learning what to do and he was learning what to do and not do. The last 17 or so miles of the race were pretty tough according to the bearded wonder. He struggled with fatigue (he said he was "sleep running" for awhile) and really nasty blisters. As I noticed some of the other runners come through aide stations and there were two women who made an impact. First of all, they spent almost the entire race slowly catching up to Jeremiah (one was running the other was a pacer). They eventually passed him at the second to last crewed aide station. Her crew made her sit down at every aide station, brought her food, and provided changes in clothing.
Jeremiah's a little stubborn and when he's feeling good he likes to keep going and pushing. He's been pretty remarkable in running through most of anything so it was pretty easy to believe him that he didn't need to stop and he could just keep pushing through. It's hard to think that didn't catch up to him at the end. I also feel like I should have pushed for a shoe change much earlier. He finally changed at mile 94, probably a good 30 miles past when we could have addressed and stopped some of the major blisters that definitely impacted his ability to run.
3. Try and sleep
Try, but you're probably not going to sleep much. I had a chart of expected times at each aide station so the most I could get was 30min here/1hr there. It's was rough, but not as rough as Jeremiah had it. I say try and sleep because unless you have Beth making up a comfy bed in the back of her Prius you might just fall asleep in your chair at the aide station (which I did despite there being a bed in the Prius).
4. Bring Friends
Having friends around at each aide station made it so much better! Kudos to Hannah for keeping me company for most of the evening. We even managed to catch a blue grass concert in Nemo with the four-wheel festival and acquired a new favorite party song called Parking Lot Party. I didn't think I needed it, but it was really nice to just have people there with you as you try to prepare for your runner and then have your runner blow through the aide station so quickly you didn't even finish throwing away the old gu packets. A big kudos to Beth who drove me around all night and made me eat food. Otherwise I would have missed pacing the last 5 miles.
5. Have fun
I know, pretty generic, but you're going to be out in the woods for 27+ hours so you might as well have fun. You especially need to find fun if you're the last pacer because your runner is probably just going to want to stick his/her head down and finish. Don't get me wrong, Jeremiah was great the last 5 miles, I couldn't believe he was still running after I saw what his toes looked like. But he was having a hard time finding the fun in the last stretch so I figured as long as I kept moving he'd keep moving too and to keep moving I had to find joy in things. I got to see an amazing view of Sterling, we got to pass through some cow herds, I got to wisely convince Jeremiah not to eat a jolly rancher he found on the trail...etc.
All in all it was a great race and I was so proud to watch Jeremiah run through the last stretch to finish and get his belt buckle. It strengthened my reserve to sign up for a 100 miler in the next couple of years and I can't wait to crew/pace again.
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