You dont need to run marathons to have a pacer.

You have pacers in most "official" races. Plenty of pacers in 5K's, 10K's, 15Ks, and Halfs. People want to focus on running their time at a constant pace and not having to speed up and slow down every mile.

I assume a patternmaker is someone who focuses on making patterns, probably novel, with sewing and crocheting. I'll google it and edit this post once I confirm it.

Edit: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patternmaker

Yep, seems close enough. Amazing what one can do with basic logic.