New in 2007!  Marathon Pace Teams

We are pleased to announce the addition of pace teams for the Waddell and Reed Kansas City Marathon.  Our pacers have been carefully chosen and promise to do something that most marathons don’t – set an intelligent pace given our course terrain to increase the likelihood of you achieving your goal. 

Presented by:

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What does a pace team do?

Most marathons let their pacers do whatever they want with the results being hit-or-miss at best.  Sure, they may come in at their designated time, but there’s not too many participants that finish with them.  Why?  Besides the obvious reason of people choosing a goal that is too ambitious there are also 3 tactical mistakes within the control of the pacer.

Even pace doesn’t work - An even pace doesn’t allow people to warm up properly.  When not warmed up, the body is inefficient at converting fuel to energy – it takes about 2 miles.  As a result, people use up too much of their glycogen (sugar stored in the muscles) and virtually assure themselves of hitting the dreaded wall sooner into the race. 

Even pace on a rolling course definitely doesn’t work - Maintaining the same pace uphills will waste many folks while failing to go faster on downhills is a wasted opportunity to use gravity to one’s advantage.  Instead, our pacers will rely more on even ‘effort’ which means you’ll naturally and appropriately slow down and speed up according to the terrain.

Rushing through the aid stations – This doesn't allow people to replenish adequately, especially in the first third of the race when people are most apt to deal with crowded aid stations.  The reality is that the early aid stations are the most critical for optimal performance.

Our marathon pacers are instructed to avoid these common errors so more of you can finish with them.

Click here to get more specifics on how our pacers intend to run the marathon.

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Why join a pace team? 

It’s so much easier to let someone else set the pace (especially someone who will do so intelligently) and simply follow along.  The synergy of the group helps you conserve your energy and you can also take turns blocking any potential headwind further sparing energy.  Besides, it’s a lot of fun to ‘tour’ the city with others and our pacers promise to keep you entertained as well as on track.

Pace Teams

We have pacers for 3:30, 3:40, 3:50, 4:00, 4:10, 4:20, 4:30, 4:40, 4:50, 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, and 6:00.

The Kansas City marathon pacers are an all star team of sorts with their running backgrounds and positive personalities.  Combine that with an intelligent gameplan and you have a winner!  We’ll share a little about each of them and post their photo on our website so you’ll know who to look for when meeting up with your specific pacer.  There will be an opportunity to meet them at the expo/packet pickup as well as a gathering place before the start of the marathon.  We encourage you to take advantage of this major perk!

Meet your 2007 Marathon Pacers!

How to select the appropriate pace team

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