Someone asked me this week at the BRC Wednesday night group run if I wanted to run the Garden of the Gods 10 miler for a certain time. Since I have been running the course, I do have a general time in mind that I will aim for during the race.

However, it got me to thinking about this question:

When racing, should you run by pace or effort?

For me, it all depends. Previous to this past year, I ran mostly road 5k's. During my 5k races, I almost always ran by pace. I would know set a realistic goal for myself based upon my training and then try to keep that goal pace all throughout the race. This worked very well for me until I ran the Winter Series this year.

I had never run any of the Winter Series courses before so I had no idea what to expect. And 3 or the 4 races were fairly hilly. The one "flat" course ended up having several inches of snow on it which slowed everyone down.

My husband CJ has been coaching me and I asked him what pace I should aim for in the Winter Series races. He kept telling me to go by effort.

And it bothered me.

I wanted to run by pace instead. That way I would know if I needed to push myself more or even slow down so I wouldn't go out too fast.

But, I learned something while running the Winter Series races.

If you are racing a new course, especially one that has quite a bit of hills, it can be best to go simply by effort. Therefore, I let my breathing dictate how fast I should go. If I run the Winter Series again, I'll have a baseline to go from and can therefore use both pace and effort during the race.

Since I haven't run the Garden of the Gods 10 miler, I will most likely be running according to my effort level.

Thankfully, I live under 2 miles from the course and therefore I have been training on the course which has helped me prepare for this tough course. Last week, I finished 8 miles of the course and today I completed the entire 10 mile course. It was like having a "dress rehearsal" one week before the live event. :)

Because I have some idea of what pace I can run for my training runs on the course, I do have a goal pace in mind for race day. However, I won't let that dictate my race as those were training runs and not at race pace. I will primarily let my effort dictate how fast I run.

Recently, I surveyed my Colorado running friends on Facebook and asked them this question...

I'm curious...for those of you who have run the Garden of the Gods 10 miler before, how hard would you rate it for a 10 miler on a scale of 1 to 10?

1 = Easiest
10 = Most Difficult

Here were their replies:

• 10....it's a GORGEOUS course but challenging to say the least. I've run the US Army 10-miler in DC (flat and almost sea level) and the GoG was harder BUT you can do it! Training in the GoG makes a big difference as you'll learn the hills and love them I know you'll be great Shelley!!!!
• 10
• 10
• 9
• 10
• 9.5
• 8
• If you train correctly for it the difficulty won't matter because you will be ready for it.
• 6-7

The average response? 9.125 out of 10.  Wow!

I have heard that this race jokingly has the reputation of being the hardest half marathon in the country. But, it has also won awards for being the most scenic race and best 10 mile race.

I guess I will find out and experience it for myself this next week. Wish me luck (and say a prayer for me) as I challenge my body to a new level! :)

What about you?  Do you race by pace, effort, or a combination of both?