Despite rainy and windy conditions at Monday's Boston Marathon, American Desiree Linden churned out almost even splits from Hopkinton to Copley Square. Her consistent pace is all the more impressive when you factor in the course's steep initial descent followed by rolling hills in the second half of the course.

On her way to a 2:25:39 overall finish, Linden ran 1:12:45 for her first half and 1:12:54 for the second. In comparison, Shalane Flanagan, who stuck with the lead pack through 13.1 miles, faded on the Newton hills and ran more than two minutes slower for her second half marathon. She finished in 2:27:47.

Here's a breakdown of Linden's 5K splits.

Illustration by Dan Fuehrer

Although negative splitting a race is a popular strategy, other top performances have shown running every mile at nearly the same pace toward a slight negative split is even better. For instance, Dennis Kimetto ran just 33 seconds faster for the second half of last year's Berlin Marathon on his way to a new world marathon record of 2:02:57.

If you want to ensure your splits aren't all over the place, the key is to learn how to tune in to your pace and control it. This is important no matter the race distance. For strategies and workouts to help you master your pacing, check out this advice.

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