Cottrell Continues Tradition of Being a Pacer at Grandma’s Marathon

Saturday's race will be Cottrell's 11th Grandma's Marathon.

DULUTH, Minn.- It’s safe to say that Jeff Cottrell’s life revolves around running.

He’s been on the cross country and track and field coaching staff at CSS for the past seven years.

Before that, he ran collegiately at the University of Minnesota.

Now when he laces them up, it’s all about keeping the pace for others.

For the 2nd straight year, Cottrell will be a pacer for the 1:30 group of the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon.

Cottrell started doing it after realizing that his days of shooting for a PR just weren’t an interest to him anymore.

As a pacer, he says he still feels the competitive edge but there’s a big deal of responsibility as well.

“It’s a fun pressure because it’s a goal I know physically I can do it. But, even going too fast is a problem. Even if you run 10-20 seconds too fast on a mile early on. It’s not really hard to do when you’re feeling really good. But that could totally screw up someone’s race if they’re actually staying with you. The constant dialing of your pace and watching. I’ve never checked my watch so many times than pacing last year,” said Cottrell.

Saturday’s race will be Cottrell’s 11th Grandma’s Marathon.