After I ran the Big Lake Half Marathon my coach said this:

"Always race with confidence and believe in your training. The times will come don't chase times chase other runners."

Since then I've let go of focusing on pace. I already train a lot by feel, but many times I go into a race with a specific "goal time" in mind and then pace myself according to achieving that goal. Seldom would I go into a race and be there to race other runners, I was there to "run my own race." But running big lake made me realize that I run to my potential when I run with others instead of running on my own.

Letting go of those paces mean I go into a race wearing my Timex stopwatch and not my Garmin. In fact I really haven't worn my Garmin for any runs in the last two months. I go into a race not thinking about a time but thinking about how the race should feel.

I knew going into the Hollis Fast 5K that there's a serious advantage with the downhill course--so much so that you can't really claim it as a PR. While the race is USATF certified it is excluded from records because of it's downhill nature. But the race still attracts some of the fastest and most competitive runners in the state and a few from out-of-state.

I knew it would be a fast time, probably far faster than my current 5K PR (19:42 on the road, 19:37 on the track). And I knew it would be hard, just because the course is downhill doesn't mean that running a 5K as fast as you can is going to be any easier. I was prepared to hurt. And I did.

After a ten minute warm up, a few strides and standing around for a bit I toed the line near the front. My goal was comfortably hard for the first 9 minutes and then at 9 minutes start to quicken my stride, increase my cadence and get the ankle flick that can give you a few seconds and then kick it in with 800m to go.

When the horn went off I went out fast trying to get off the line and clear so I could hit my stride.

Mile 1 (5:51)-After the quick start, things thinned out and I found what I thought was a good, comfortably hard effort. OK maybe it was a little faster than comfortably hard, but I tried to ride the downhill and relax my breathing. The mile marker came up fast.

Mile 2 (6:00)- The advantage to this course is not just the down hill, but the fact that there are no turns. I cruised along the country road, keeping my breathing in check and noting who was around me. I didn't want to run alone and there were a few times I surged ahead simply to stay with a pack of runners. This mile seemed to take forever. I passed a few girls and a few girls passed me. When I hit that 9 min mark I tried to quicken the pace, but I was already going as fast as I could. There wasn't much of a chance. When I took the split on my watch and saw 6:00 I knew I would probably positive split the course. But I could try and make that last mile faster.

Mile 3 (6:09)-There were portions of this mile where things flattened out and there wasn't a downhill advantage. I tried to focus on quick steps, staying up on my toes and breathing. During the third mile was where all the self-talk came out: C'mon you can do this. Just one more mile. You've got this. The course was marked with signs that said ".75 miles to go" and ".5 miles" to go and finally ."25 miles to go." Right around the ".5 miles to go" sign my hold body felt spent, total glycogen depletion I didn't want to fade, I wanted to have a kick into the finish but I felt like I was hanging on to the hard effort for dear life. I kept pushing as much as I could and right around the ".25 miles to go" sign a guy came up along side me and said, "Stay with me! You push me I'll push you!" And that's just what I needed. I went with him as best I could, faded a bit and with .1 left redouble my efforts and gave the last bit into the finish chute everything I had. I could see as I turned the corner 18:30's and I so wanted to get in under 18:40. I just made it with a final time of 18:38.

I ended up third in my age group and 9th female overall, which considering the speedsters that were out on the course I'm incredibly pleased.

While this 5K is a big PR it is one that also has a big asterisk next to it. They say that your 5K time on this course is 30 seconds to a minute faster than what you'd run on a "normal" course. It definitely gives me a time to work towards.

Have you ever run a downhill course?

--Sarah

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