Emma Coburn sets American steeplechase record

“I put my hands over my face and was just thinking Oh My God, I did it. I DID IT!”[  by Than Acuff  ]

Emma Coburn, that same girl who ran track and field, cross-country and played basketball right here for the Crested Butte Titans, is now an American record holder.
On Saturday, July 12, Coburn set the new American record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at an IAAF Diamond League race in Glasgow, Scotland with a time of 9:11.42, breaking Jenny Barringer-Simpson’s record time of 9:12.50, set in 2009.
Coburn is still in Europe and took time to catch up with the Crested Butte News about her recent spate of steeplechase success.

It appears the past two weeks have been great, so let’s start from the beginning. How was the Paris race?
The Paris race was good. The week prior, we had the USA Championships, which had two rounds of racing in hot weather. My legs were a little tired in the days leading up to the race with USA championships, a 12-hour flight and some sightseeing. USAs gave me confidence in my fitness, but I knew that the week leading up to Paris wasn’t ideal in terms of rest, so I wasn’t sure how I would feel on race day.
Through the year, I’ve learned that my best chance of winning (or finishing top three) in the Diamond League races is to run hard. My top opponents have good finishing speed so I need to make them as tired as I can with a fast pace to try to take some of the speed out of their legs. I approached Paris with the goal to finish top three and PR. I didn’t approach the race thinking “AMERICAN RECORD!” but was thinking, “Okay, time to push the pace and put the hammer down!”
I went right behind the rabbit who came through 1k at 3:03, but then she stepped off the track so I was on my own for the last 2k. I pushed as hard as I could for the next kilometer, running a 3:07. I continued to hold the lead until 300m to go. I had broken all of my opponents except for one, Alalew. She came up on my shoulder and passed me with 250m to go. I had led for 2 kilometers, which is exhausting. I had nothing left and tried my hardest to stay with her, but faded the last 150m. I came through the finish line at 9:14, a three second PR. I was happy with my race and proud that I was the protagonist of the race and made the pace fast. I was so tired.
The first thing I told my coach when I saw him was, “That was the HARDEST I have ever run, by far!” I had never experienced that kind of pain in a race, never put in that much effort. It was a new level. My takeaway from the race was that I was excited to PR, get second place and was confident that if I was in a race with more people ahead of me or next to me to help push the pace, that I could run faster. Overall, it was a great day. My parents were there. Racing in Paris was amazing, the crowd was even chanting, “Emma! Emma! Emma!” for the final laps.

Heading into Glasgow, what was the plan?
Going into Glasgow I had an identical plan as Paris. Run hard. Run away from my opponents. Push the pace. I didn’t go to the starting line thinking, “Go get the American record!” but came to the starting line thinking “Push the pace and beat people!” I knew what 9:13 splits were, and knew that if I ran close to what I did in Paris that I could get the record, but the real focus was to just push the pace and run as hard as I could, not for the sake of breaking the record but to beat my opponents.

What happened during the Glasgow race?
The Glasgow race was identical to Paris. The similarities between the races were really interesting. How I approached the race, what my goals were and how the race unfolded were all virtually similar to Paris.
I went right behind the rabbit for 1k at 3:03, then pushed the pace alone for another kilometer at 3:07. The second kilometer, like Paris, was slower than the American record pace, so during the race I was thinking, “Just keep pushing the pace because she’s (Alalew) coming soon.” With 1 lap to go, I was at the exact same time as Paris, 8:02, and that was the first time in this race that I realized that if I can close really hard, I could get the record. Like Paris, Alalew came up on my shoulder with 300m to go. I thought to myself, “Not again! I’m not letting this happen again!” and when she passed me, I dug deep and went with her. I started kicking hard and didn’t let her gap me like in Paris. She had a step on me coming into the water jump, we went off and she gapped me. I was still fighting for the win but with 100m to go, it was obvious to everyone that she was going to win. I was still sprinting as hard as I could because I knew the time was going to be close. I saw her time when she crossed the line, 9:10, and threw my arms up, because I knew I had the record. My time came up, 9:11.42 and I was elated. I put my hands over my face and was just thinking “Oh My God, I did it. I DID IT!”

Did you know you were on pace to beat the U.S. record?
When I saw my splits were slow I wasn’t thinking about the American record really, I was just thinking “Go as hard as you can to try to get a gap” and it wasn’t until one lap to go that I saw how close I was to getting it.

How does it feel to have the American record? Was it a goal of yours this season?
It feels amazing! My goals this season were to stay healthy and run fast. I didn’t have any specific goals in mind in terms of the American Record. I just wanted a PR, to run under 9:20, and to win the USA championships. After I did well in Shanghai, the record became more of a focus, but even then, the goal was just to PR little by little and eventually in doing that, the record would come.
One year ago I was on crutches, I wasn’t even allowed to cross-train yet, and if you told me last year that I would have the American record now, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s been a big year and I’m just happy to be running fast and feeling healthy. The American record is just a HUGE cherry on top.

What’s next?
I race a 1500m at a small meet in Heusden, Belgium on Saturday the 19th. Then, back to Boulder for some training. I’ll come back to Europe in August for the last two Diamond League races, August 21 in Stockholm, and August 28 in Zurich. Then back to Crested Butte for my sister’s wedding! After that, I’ll head to Morocco for one more steeple, September 13, The Continental Cup.