Zen and the art of pacing

Every fitness enthusiast has their Zen activity; be it yoga, swimming, Pilates, running or what have you. It’s a special time when one blocks the noise of the world and reaches a dynamic meditative state. Among the 20,000 runners who will move through the roads of Hyderabad on August 20, there will be a handful of participants who will run much slower than they can, in specific predetermined times, right down to the last minute.

These runners will not aim to win the race, nor achieve a podium position in their age groups. They are what are called ‘The Pacers’. “Running is a competitive sport. Anyone who runs will tell you how overtaking another runner in a race is the biggest high. I love to race hard,” says Anubhav Karmakar, a city-based runner and cyclist, who competes in international triathlons.

“A pacer voluntary chooses to run in a preset time leading a ‘bus’ of runners who follow the pacer towards their own personal fastest,” he explains.
“They are like a beacon, running with a flag announcing their target time, whom runners follow knowing that the best chance to achieve that particular time is to follow the pacer,” he adds.

“For a runner, it is a huge sacrifice to forget their own race, and run leading others, at a much slower pace than what they normally run,” feels Ghanashyam, a city-based techie who will be running about an hour slower for the Full Marathon. Used to running at his full throttle, it will be a challenge for him to keep a close watch on his speed and ensure he doesn’t run too fast or else his ‘bus’ derails.

Ghanashyam is training to race the Boston Marathon in the coming years. Yet, he is willing to take out time from his racing calendar to help others. Runners are a tight knit community, known to support each other. What one receives in their beginning years, goes around when they graduate to be senior runners.

“Pacing at Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM) gives me an opportunity to bring in more runners to the fitness fraternity. The amazing smile and enjoyment of the runners after crossing the finish line is motivating and energising – and I look forward to doing it again and again,” says Govindrajan Krishnan, a Chennai-based runner who has paced many events prior to AHM.

Nabanita Sinha, who will be pacing for the first time feels, “Pacing in a race is a critical skill a runner should develop. To maximise my potential on race day as a first-time pacer, AHM has helped me set a goal to master this art. By learning the importance of pacing and fine-tuning my skills, I will be able to improve consistency and set new personal bests!”

Poonam Metta, an experienced pacer chips in, “It’s really your brain that dictates your pace. A good pacer can help runners avoid mistakes like going out too fast, bypassing early water stations, and pushing too hard up the hills.”

“Being a super-fast runner alone doesn’t guarantee being a good pacer. It’s a skill to decode the route map, with its terrain changes, to develop a pacing strategy, knowing when to slow down and when to pick up the pace. Pacers are known to draw up extremely detailed plans highlighting their planned pace for every single KM of the Marathon,” she says.

So, after a gruelling 42.2km of running, with no personal glory at stake, when these Pacers will cross the finish line, they will have earned the respect and goodwill of their fellow runners, along with buckets of sweat and fatigue.