How tired are you after a race????????

I would say it matters tremendously what distance you are running. If you were running a marathon and that were the case then I'd say sure, you didn't give it your all, although I haven't heard too many people complaining about that at such a distance, but perhaps true even for something 10k or longer. For a 5k, I'm not sure thats negative. If you are not peaking for one given race i dont think you want to take so much out of yourself that you destroy your ability to resume solid tranning soon. If you are training for one very specific race then maybe you didnt' push it hard enough.

My final though on pacing is one way I know if I pushed it hard enough is how I felt at different points during the race. Sometimes I think I pushed hard, because I hurt during the last mile. The other day I did a really hard workout as a practice for my race this weekend, and every mile of the practice was very strenuous. That told me that I had given it my all, not just a hard last mile.

para

It definitely makes a difference if it’s an even paced P.B. run, or a tactical run. If it’s a tactical run, you’ll be out of breath when you cross the line due to a fast finish. However, you won’t get the overall feeling of depletion gained from running evenly and using every last bit of strength your body could give. The furthest I’ve raced is 10 miles, but I’d say in general though, you should have enough energy to do a warm down jog after 15 min’s. Its important to drink and eat some fast release carbs (banana is ideal) within a few minutes of the finish. I find that whether I do this or not makes a big difference to how I feel later that day. I do think a lot of people don’t race hard enough though. I usually have to lie on the ground for a couple of minutes after a race to regain my breath. You see too many people just walking straight out of the finishing shoot and wondering off.