I am new to running and I am going to be running a 10K next week. I've only run a handful of times in the last few months, but today I ran 5 miles to be sure I can actually run the 10k. Anyway, I am so confused about my pace. I felt like I was running as fast as I could the entire time but my splits were:
mile 1 9:32
mile 2 9:26
mile 3 8:12
mile 4: 6:07
mile 5 5:31
I have no idea how I got so fast at the end because I never ran a mile faster than 8 minutes, but I've also never really run more than a 5k. So my question is what should my pace for the race be or should I just do the same thing? I'm afraid to start faster because what if I get tired? I know I am doing something wrong here, but what? Is my beginning slowness a mental block? Please help.