How to keep my pace when im by myself

Question

when i run with faster friends my pace is much faster than it is when im alone...so i recently did a race and had no one to run with so my time was way below usual...any suggestions on how i can go fast when i have no one to go with me?

Answer 1

i've been a cross country runner for a while now and i think that the best thing to do is to just push harder or (may sound stupid) imagine that one of your friends is ahead of you.  This is a common problem i usually just time myself and try to beat my friends time.

Answer 2

Get like a stop watch.

Answer 3

yeah it's hard but u can listen to music with a fast beat or u can simply time yourself between markers such as stop lights, etc.. just pretend it's a race... that can keep your pace up