Know your mile splits!

On Thanksgiving Day, I ran the Turkey Chase BCC 10K in Maryland, which is one of several races my kids and I run together each year. It was quite cold and windy; but it was great fun, as usual. I was a bit disappointed, though, with my time, which was 55 sec. slower than last year's time. It was the only short race (5K, 8K, 10K) this year that I didn't run faster than I did last year, after I'd started more "serious" training for marathons, both with my local running club and with the RYBQ online community. It was not because of training--I'd fully expected to run a course PR--but because of a "technical racing detail." I missed reading the first three mile splits on my watch, and, by the time I realized by Mile 4 that my average pace was too slow, it was too late to make up the time over the last two miles. Mile 4 didn't feel that slow, but it was 32 sec. slower than Mile 5. Here are the splits:

7:56 - Would have been a course PR pace. I started near the front of my wave so was able to run without road congestion.
8:14 - Mile 2 was hilly, winding through residential neighborhoods north of Bethesda, and I'd expected it to be my slowest mile.
8:12 - Should have picked up the pace more, after the slow Mile 2. Mile 3 is along Rockville Pike, one of several major roads that lead into Washington, DC.
8:20 - Thought I was going faster than this pace! Still on Rockville Pike, Mile 4 ends in downtown Bethesda. I finally read this mile split and realized I really needed to pick up the pace!
7:48 - I tried but the last two miles were generally uphill.
7:58 - Especially the last mile!

Lesson learned: Gain a better feel for my pace without a watch (i.e., by effort) and/or make sure I catch those mile splits. In these short races, there's not much time to make up for mistakes!