The Pacer

Today was the fabled annual Flyers Palisades Run. It's 20 mile run over the George Washington Bridge, north along the Hudson at the base of the Palisades, and back.Fabulous volunteers set up aid stations at mile 4.5 and 9. Since the run was out and back, this provided us 4 stops along the route.

I had heard that there was a big hill from mile 9 - 10 that a lot of folks would skip, resulting in an 18 mile run. What I hadn't heard, was that this was a hilly course from start to finish. It was also shaping up to be a steamy hot day....

I met my good friend PL there. He's not a Flyer, but I'm trying to recruit him. The plan was to go at an easy pace and play it by ear. If we didn't feel like going the distance, we would just turn around before the 10 mile point to shorten our run.

We started off by crossing the GW Bridge, and it was very inspiring. It was a gorgeous day, and the view was spectacular. We ran in single file as the pedestrian/bike path was narrow, and we had to make room for bikes to pass.

PL started to make a move toward passing the Flyer in front of him, but I called him off. I knew this runner. He is fast at the races, but is smart enough to control his speed on the long runs. In a recent long run, I left him behind early, and regretted it later when I had to I when I ran out of gas a couple of miles out from where the cars were parked (ouch). I suggested to PL that we follow him and learn. I'll call him.... The Pacer.

It was tough to follow The Pacer at first. At the start of the run, the temptation to go out fast is nearly irresistible. After a few miles, however, it was clear that it was a good idea. After the crowd spread out, I introduced PL to The Pacer, and the three of us ran together and chatted happily. The Pacer didn't seem to mind us tagging along, and he shared a few bits of wisdom to us rookies along the way.

The focus of the route turned out to be, not the bridge, but the beautiful Henry Hudson Drive. This is a small road with "rolling hills" that runs north along the Hudson. It is shady, scenic and peaceful. The road is open to cars, but we hardly saw any.

At mile nine, we were feeling strong, so we decided to attack the big hill and go for the full 20 miles. The hill lived up to its reputation, pretty steep for almost the whole mile, but because we hadn't gone out too fast, I felt strong climbing it.

Then it was time to head back. After a while, the hills started to get me -- they just kept coming. It was a big boost when the bridge came into view. Mile 19 was tough. We had to climb from the river up to the bridge entrance at the top of the Palisades . The sun was getting high the sky, and I was starting to overheat. The bridge took up the entire last mile. It was again awe inspiring, but I was ready to get in the shade and start chugging water and gatorade. I had enough left to push like a horse headed for the barn, and that's what I did.

It was PL's first 20 miler, and my second. It wasn't very fast, but it's safe to say that we wouldn't have made it without the generosity of the Flyer organizers, volunteers and, of course... The Pacer. Thank you all.