Patron Saint of Slow Runners

I feel like the patron saint of slow runners.

I ran the St. George Half Marathon this morning. In previous races, I had always started way back in the pack; there's always a long wait to get to the starting line and then I spend the first 10 minutes dodging and weaving my way past clumps of walkers/slow runners before I settle into my pace. This time I decided to start nearer to the front of the pack, on the theory that I would not have the hassle of having to avoid all the slow runners. So I started about 20 feet from the leaders, you know - those guys that are super skinny and have bulging leg muscles and probably run 10 miles before breakfast everyday, including today. Yeah, that was as close as I got to them the whole day; oh, except for when they had completed the loop in the course and were on their last (12th) mile and passing me when I was only 7 miles into the run. So the good news is that I did not have to waste any time dodging and weaving slower runners. Turns out that everyone else had to go around me; I was the slower runner. The entire race. Ugh.

But that's okay. I found my nice slow pace and I stuck to it. Didn't walk once, even though I was sorely tempted over the last couple of miles. I felt like one of my main purposes in the race today was to make other people feel good. I could almost hear people thinking "Hey, as long as I passed that guy I must be doing okay; he looks like he's in shape; he's even wearing a St George Marathon shirt." Of course by the end of the race I heard on more than one occasion a pair or a group of runners carrying on a conversation as the passed me about going so slow. "I'm sorry" one woman would say to the other; "but I really haven't trained enough and you're so good to run slow with me."

That's okay. I'm the patron saint of slow runners.

But, I did slightly better than I was hoping for. I finished the course in about 2 hours 8 and 1/2 minutes. Just under a 10:00 minute per mile pace. Not bad.

And I made a whole lot of people feel pretty good about themselves.