First Herriman Half Marathon to feature state-of-the-art pacing system

By Justin Anderson

Bill Miller of Riverton, Utah, has been running competitively for six years. On Saturday, during the first Herriman Half Marathon, he will not be racing. He will be on the sidelines — not because he doesn’t want to run, but because he organized the race.

“After running all the various races and stuff over the years, I’ve basically picked up a little bit from each race that I’ve done,” Miller said. “I’ve observed how they’ve done it, and it’s basically a conglomeration of all of them put together from all my experiences.”

 “It’s actually a pretty good tour of Herriman; you hit every corner,” said Kelli Stephenson, who will be a pacer in the race.

A pacer is someone who is trained to run a race at a very specific pace.  Stephenson is assigned to run the race in 1:50 and will follow the speed given her through a wristband provided by American Flyers.

Stephenson, who lives on the boundary between Herriman and Riverton, often trains for races around Herriman and helped map out the route runners will follow.

The race will feature a state-of-the-art timing and pacing system by American Flyers Race Pacers. The company is owned by Miller’s brother-in-law Walter Brown. It features chip timing and paces the race according to the different hills and vales along the courses.

“We pace according to terrain,” Brown said. “With Herriman Half the terrain has some uphill, so if you’re trying to hit a 1:50 time it’s hard when you’re going up the hill and then down a hill to maintain the same pace the whole time — you can’t do it. We adjust our pace to the terrain so if there is a 4 percent hill coming up in the next mile we’re going to adjust 4 percent on our clock.”

Brown’s company has done pacing for more than 35 races since opening in 2011. There has been a steady increase in organizations contacting him about utilizing his services for races  and this year he expects to do 30 races. Brown has noticed better results from runners that participate in runs his company paces that he hasn’t seen with other pacing companies.

“By doing this, we have found in the last three years that those that we pace around us finish the race with us without dropping off,” Brown said. “With other pace groups they start out with a large group, and they end up with hardly any at all at the end because of the way they are pushing.”

Most companies train pacers to run at a consistent speed over the course of the whole race regardless of hills that are along the course. According to Brown, this can be discouraging as most runners naturally take it slower uphill and faster downhill. This system is intended to help runners stay encouraged and mentally focused throughout the race and accomplish their goals more often.

So far nearly 100 runners have registered. Miller estimated that the final number will be around 150.

The half marathon will begin at 7:30 a.m. and will have pit stops with snacks, water, and restrooms at mile markers 3, 6 and 9.

Registration for the event is open online and costs $45. It will close the evening before the race. In addition to the half marathon, there will also be a 5K, which will start at 8 a.m. and a children’s 1K held at 9 a.m.