Odd 10 Mile Splits

The virtual 10 mile race that I did 1.5 weeks ago was a blast. But I knew I had "odd" splits (for me) as soon as I had finished. No, there was no Garmin issue. It was maybe a bit of a difference in my training, and it was MAINLY the difference in it not being a "real" race with posted results and lots of people (runners and spectators) pulling me at the finish.

I looked back at all 11 of my 10 mile races. (This is the benefit of having this all chronicled here on a blog - it was easy!) Let's go back in time starting with this most recent 10 mile race, and working my way back to my first 10 mile race 11 years ago:

Except for my last 2 races (2020 virtual race and the 2019 Goldy's Run) and my 2nd 10 mile race (2009 Monster Dash), my fastest mile has always been my last mile.

Here's the SLOWEST mile and FASTEST mile of each of my 10 miles:

• 2020 virtual TC 10 Mile: 6:27, 6:02

• 2019 Goldy's Run 10 Mile: 6:41, 5:49 (6:01 final mile, opened with 5:49 because it was a small race)

• 2018 TC 10 Mile: 6:34, 5:36

• 2017 TC 10 Mile: 6:22, 5:39

• 2015 TC 10 Mile (part of the Loony Challenge): 6:29, 5:42

• 2014 TC 10 Mile (part of the Loony Challenge): 6:30 (2 different 6:30 miles, not back-to-back), 5:29

• 2011 TC 10 Mile: 6:32, 5:27

• 2010 TC 10 Mile: 6:17, 5:36 (my 10 mile PR race)

• 2010 Irish For a Day 10 Mile: 6:39, 5:58

• 2009 Monster Dash 10 Mile: 6:31, 6:08 (2 different 6:31 miles not back-to-back, but missed first 2 splits which averaged sub-6:10/mile, so I'm sure one of those was under 6:08 - maybe even under 6:00).

• 2009 TC 10 Mile: 6:35, 5:40

My average SLOWEST mile is 6:30, and my average FASTEST mile is 5:44. But my slowest race didn't have my slowest mile, and my fastest race didn't have my fastest mile. (But my fastest race had my fastest slow mile!)

My average SPREAD (from fastest to slowest mile) is over 46 seconds within each race.

My last race is the only where I didn't have a mile drop below 6:00! But it wasn't nearly my slowest overall. (Yes, in my 2nd 10 miler, I didn't have one CONFIRMED under 6:00, but there's a good chance one of those 2 "combined" miles were sub-6.) And my spread was only 25 seconds in my most recent race, which is nearly half what my average is, and only 1 second more than my smallest spread (which was my PR year of 2010).

So I'm interested in this, but I don't know what the take-away should be. Maybe something about being more consistant as I've gotten older (which hasn't happened by accident).