Pace Setter

Upon arriving at the track meet last night, I signed up for the predicted one mile. "7:58," I noted next to my name. My lungs were hurting, but it was cooler than last week. So I chose the average of my first and second predicted one-mile runs.
To warm up, I ran four intervals, carefully pacing myself to run just under two-minute laps; and then did a couple fast sprints. By then it was time to line up.
"Ready. Set. Go."
We were off amidst calls to one another of, "How fast did you predict?"
Several gave their predictions and I announced, "7:58 for me".
"Follow her," Marlin Yoder said. "Let her set the pace."
He then said something about my predicting my pace right on and winning the predicted one mile a couple weeks before, and of being the winning female two weeks before that. He had predicted an 8-minute mile pace. Ken began by running alongside me. Since he had predicted a 7:15, I said, "Go on ahead. Don't let me hold you up." After the first lap, he did.
I ran fairly steady for the first three laps, and then, on the fourth, I heard Marlin once again say something about my ability to run my predicted times. And he and his group stayed right behind me.
I poured it on during the last stretch, and crossed the finish line just as Lynn Smith called out, "7:58". Right on the money!
The following 5K was another success: 26:01, beating my fastest 5K on that course by 14 seconds. At least five SVTC club members beat their previous records for the year on the course as well. That's when a race is the most fun, when you AND your buddies all do well. And it was also fun to be the "pace setter", a new encouraging experience.