A common race-day mistake marathon rookies (and even some veterans) tend to make is going out too fast; Roberto explained that most people do this in order to get around the large pack of people clumped at the starting line, but this will only mess with your pace. Instead of starting out too fast, Roberto recommended aiming to run even splits (running the same time for each mile) for the first chunk of the race and then moving to negative splits (running faster than the prior mile) throughout your final miles. Don't go out too fast, and try to hold on to that too-quick pace. "Remember, in a marathon, you have 26.2 miles to run, so you don't need to race out of the gate. Pace yourself and let the race come to you," advised Roberto.
