Crewing & Pacing

As distance runners we are very fortunate for good friends who offer to crew & pace for us, its often a thankless task, of waiting about for your runner, only to be rewarded by the eventual arrival of a rather disheveled Diva who is incapable of stringing a sentence together - you pace, feed, motivate, nag tell jokes, talk to yourself for hours only to be dropped like a hot potato once the finish line comes into view, without glory or a backward glance - a truly thankless task and one which Meera & Dario kindly took on at the NDW100 - here is their interesting insight!

(in their own words)

Crewing and pacing

Meera Abbott (crew) and Dario Colombo (pacer)

What an honour! Thank you Sheila for asking us to share our experiences as crew (Meera) and pacer (Dario) at the North Down Way 100 (NDW100) on the 4th and 5th August 2018! We hope this post will be useful in providing a different prospective.

We are still buzzing form the epic weekend we just had! It was an absolutely pleasure to get involved in Sheila’s epic journey towards the Grand Slam. But, first thing first, let’s proceed with order.

We arrived at Knockholt Village Hall (halfway point) at about 14.15. We were ahead of schedule, but we were worried to miss Sheila. Despite Sheila had a tracker, you can never judge how fast that moving red dot will move along the course! We were immediately captured by the supportive atmosphere that the volunteers created, and we quickly found ourselves helping out (especially Meera), serving tea, coffee, hot pasta, directing runners, offering ice-lollies to runners.

Time literally flew by! Sheila arrived at approx.. 18.45. She was tired, but overall in good shape (if you can say that after a 50 miles run!). Her feet looked good, she looked strong, and relaxed (a bit grumpy -her usual J). She sat down, while Russ, Meera and I tried to be helpful, providing her what she needed, while giving her a bit of space to breathe and relax a few moments. All good, few pics, and off she was for the second leg of the race.

We drove 20 miles, checked in at the hotel, had a light dinner, and opted for an early night. The following day was going to be Dario’s big day!

4.20 alarm clock, and first thing we checked “where the dot is and how far did it move overnight”. We prepared a flask with boiling water for Russ’s coffee, and off we went, on the road again for another 20 miles.

We arrived at Hollingbourne (mile 87.7) at 5.20, and waited for Sheila. She arrived at 7.15, with 15 min spare from cut off time. Dario paced Sheila until Ashford stadium, where she completed one lap of the track with Russ. The rest is history. Sheila is still in the Grand Slam game. The dream is still alive!

Life as a crew (Meera):

Having volunteered at races a number of times, I was not new to crewing. You have to be the eyes and ears in the environment you are in and just try to react to runners, reading their body language, approach them, talk to them, establish what you can help help them with. The extreme weather that 2018 brought has thaught me to carry some ice pops in the cooler bag as these were the most welcomed refreshment in the 30+ degree heart that the runners were facing. Likewise carting a foil blanket for the night time is equally important. Finally, keep smiling and keep eye contacts to reassure the runners and keep them in spirit.

Life as a pacer (Dario)

This was my first pacer experience. I offered to pace because I wanted to get involved first-hand what it does mean, and what it takes, to run trials ultra-marathons. Also, I wanted to support Sheila. Finally, Meera and I took the weekend as an adventure.

My pre-race brief was simple: show up at mile 87.7 (in good time!), walk 15.2 miles with Sheila, crack some jokes along the way, provide moral support, open the kissing gates (if any), and remind Sheila about the huge amount of time she has spare to the cut off. Easy peasy. Nothing was more distant from what it turned out to be.

When Sheila turned up at the crew point, I realised she had only 15 minutes spare before cut off, that was THE game changer for me. If something was going to happen, if the course turned to be slightly longer, if the GPS was not accurate….. 15 min was just not enough time to deal with any additional challenges. Something clicked in me at that point, and I become very determined and focused to drag her to the finishing line. No matter what, we would have crossed the finishing line. No ifs, no buts, no arguments. My only mission from now on would have been to increase the cut off “safety net”. I was a man on a mission!

Soon after we stared walking, Sheila mentioned twice that we might get a DNF (did not finish). In all honestly, I had my doubts as well about not making to the finishing line in time, but I refused to talk about it, or express my doubts to Sheila at all. I just ignored the topic, and said something like “increase the pace”. Last thing I wanted was Sheila starting to have more negative thoughts keep, because I knew this would only have increased the chances actually happening.

There was lots going on in my mind while I was on the trail walking with Sheila.

I was constantly “computating” the pace, the distance, trying to estimate a finishing time, estimate the time and distance to the next checkpoint. I was also relating some of these estimates back to Sheila. She was just really too exhausted to calculate, and the only reply I would get was an “OK”.

I was also constantly (I mean constantly!) asking Sheila 4 questions, almost every 4 minutes. Our conversation was like:

Dario: Are you OK? Stroppy Sheila: NO

Dario: Are you drinking? Stroppy Sheila: NO

Dario: Are you eating: Stroppy Sheila: NO

Dario: Shall we increase the pace? Stroppy Sheila: NO

Sheila was too tired to have a conversation, and it seems she could only reply “YES” or “NO”, and most of the times it was a “NO”!!! I did not mind not having a proper conversation. At least she was responsive, and I kept nagging about food/drinks and pace.

I could really see on her face, on her body, how exhausted she was, how sleep deprived she was, but there was no other option that keep marching ahead.

Dario: Shall we increase the pace? Stroppy Sheila: NO. I am doing the best I can. Dario: OK.

We reached the first aid station. Sheila did not stop. We kept marching for another 8 miles. We reached the second aid station. Again, Sheila did not stop. I stopped and grabbed some fruit for her, and run ahead, to catch up with her. There was no time to stop, or slow down. It was not an option

Sheila’s feet were really bashed at that point,, and she started to complain that there was some grit among her toes. We stopped 5 seconds (honestly, no more that). Sheila tried to reach her feet, but she could not. Her hips were so much in pain, she could not bend. We discovered it was not grit. Unfortunately, it was dried blood, as her feet were bleeding. No other choices than keep marching.

Dario: Shall we increase the pace? Stroppy Sheila: OK at least a positive reply!

Finally, we reached Ashford. And the stadium. And the finishing line, where Russ and Meera were patiently waiting for us!

For me , it was an amazing experience, and I learnt a great deal of both myself and ultra-marathons. Here some of my learning points:

1. You might came into a race with some expectations, but you must react quickly and adapt to the constantly evolving situations and events.

2. While crewing and/or pacing you need to be selfless. You need to be prepared to be there for others, not matter what, and put yourself and your needs aside (for a few hours). Retrospectively, I realised I walked for 5 hours without breakfast, eating only one banana on the go and drinking about 400 ml of water. Maybe, after all, I should have looked after my basic needs too. But the only concern at the time was getting Sheila moving.

3. Ultimately, I learnt this is was not my race. I was only helping out, and I did only a small fraction of the support. I am still not sure I got the balance right. During and after the race, I had thoughts that maybe I took much ownership and responsibility, and over managed the last 15.5 miles of somebody else’s race. However, maybe this is that is what was needed. It is worth remembering that while crewing/pacing, we are “invited” to somebody else race. This needs to be respected.

4. Finally, I found out that rewards of “just helping out” are incredible, as the sense of achievement. A normal act of bringing a cup of tea to somebody else becomes a huge deal, and it is immensely appreciated. Tired runners might be grumpy, but they are usually very very polite, and very appreciative of even a small act of kindness.

Final note: I can hear you asking: “would you recommend it?” absolutely yes. Without any doubts. It was an amazing experience, and opportunity to see what is it all about. So, if you’re not a confident runner (yet), if you’re playing with the opportunity to do a race in the short future but you’re not sure yet, go on. Pace for somebody else. You will learn a lot about yourself and the sport, without having the physical demand of running the entirety of the course. In the process, you might help somebody else in achieving his or her goal. It did for me. It is not about the challenge itself, it is about the challenge that is for you.