CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. -- I'm doing my best imitation of a downhill ski racer: crouched low, braced on a pair of spindly ski poles, sneering at the racer in the starting gate just to my right.

That would be April Prout, former communications director of Crested Butte Mountain Resort.

The guy in the hut at the top of the race course where we are standing counts down -- three, two, one. I push off and fire myself ever so slowly onto the course. Somehow I just know I'm not going to be mistaken for Picabo Street, that famous Olympian from Sun Valley, Idaho.

Still, I swoosh along, glancing now and then to see how Prout's doing. She's ahead, of course. But I knew that going in. I'm a Texan, after all. She lives in the mountains. But it's fun to dream.

Every winter, skiers just like me line up at starting gates of NASTAR (National Standard Race) courses at 120 ski resorts across the country. The pay-per-race program started in 1968, and since then more than 6 million skiers and snowboarders have forked over a few dollars and hurtled (or slowly slid, as the case may be) down flag-marked slopes, weaving their way to the finish line.

All ages and skill levels can compete, and the good ones earn bronze, silver, gold and platinum medals.

A national standard is set for all the races. It's like par on a golf course -- it's the time you shoot for as you zoom down the hill.

Here's how it works: A traveling pacesetter establishes his handicap at the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships. Then he travels across the country before the season opens, racing against pacesetters from each resort. Based on those results, the resorts set their own NASTAR handicaps. The system allows racers to compare their race results with those of skiers at other resorts.

When you race on a Nature Valley NASTAR course, you earn a handicap (the difference between your race time and the par time). If you are 15 percent slower than the par time (the fastest time on that course), for example, you earn a 15 handicap.

Race results are posted within 24 hours at www.nastar.com. Archives from previous years let you see if you've improved.

Me? I've gotten slower lately. But I'm living proof that even non-experts can score a medal now and then. I have a gold medal from Lake Louise pinned to the wall of my work cubicle. (The pacesetter must have had a really bad day.) In 2001, I earned a bronze medal at Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Race often enough and you can earn national, state and resort rankings in your age and gender category. The top three racers in each division at each of the participating resorts are invited to compete for a national title at the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships at the end of the winter.

I don't think I'll be winning any medals this year.

As I swoop down the course marked with yellow flags, I see Prout swooping much more quickly down the neighboring course.

I hesitate a wee bit, worried I might gather too much speed and miss a gate, or fly off the course entirely.

You can't hesitate in this sport or you'll be lost. I lose my momentum. I pause to grin at my husband, who is on the sideline taking photos.

In the end, I cross the finish line in just over 30 seconds. I narrowly (OK, majorly) miss a bronze medal. Prout beats me, and the pacesetter smokes both of us, zipping through the course in an impressive 19.87 seconds.

I guess the Olympics are out of the question.

• Info: NASTAR, http://www.nastar.com/.