Have not tried it, but great question. No idea if it would be better or worse!

I’m betting on my central governor in this case :)

Aside from the difference in mental attitude it is also possible that your body tuned up between races, even if the basic aerobic+anaerobic aspects to your fitness are little different. Elements like muscle tension can be altered by training and racing, short races you want higher muscle tension for a short time on stance.

Another factor can be the recalibration of your central governor. If you have done a recently similar race your central governor will learn from it and will know a little better how to gauge hot much stress is safe to endure. In subsequent races it may relax the red-line limits and not present so much fatigue for a given pace.

Yes, same for both. I usually do about a mile easy with a goal to finish it about 10 minutes or so before the race starts, then some light static and dynamic stretching.

Thanks Matt!

No, but I was thinking about that the other day. My sense is that it would be a serious challenge from a mental standpoint!

It is interesting – the marathon and beyond is a different beast because the fuel factor becomes a critical consideration. Shorter and longer races each present their own challenges, which is part of what makes doing both fun.

Congrats!

And you also have to realize that mile 1 may be a bit faster due to the adrenaline rush at the beginning, some slowdown is inevitable if you ride that wave.

Being brave does not mean running a pace way faster than your fitness can handle. It means not letting yourself run at a pace slower than your fitness is capable of running. Important distinction. If I tried to run a 5K at 5:30 min/mile pace I’d crash and burn hard.