This weekend I ran the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon as my final training run for the Sedona Marathon on 2/7. The conditions during the race couldn't have been better: cloudy skies that slowly cleared to dry the soft dirt trails around a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains... my favorite!
Before the race
The theme of the day for me was consistency. I wanted to average an 8-minute mile pace to finish in 3 hours and 30 minutes. I knew this was a doable training pace that wouldn't jeopardize my chances to run well in Sedona so I cruised with the following splits:
1. 7:37
2. 7:55
3. 8:01
4. 8:10
5. 8:00
6. 7:53
7. 7:52
8. 7:53
9. 7:38
10. 8:01
11. 8:00
12. 8:02
13. 7:50
14. 8:02
15. 8:09
16. 8:22
17. 8:20
18. 8:18
19. 7:36
20. 8:00
21. 8:00
22. 8:14
23. 8:12
24. 8:05
25. 8:05
26. 8:01
Finish Time: 3:29:40
Overall Place: 20 of 136
Age Group: 2 of 14
!http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3229070348_ee801d3046_m.jpg|height=180|alt=Diamond Valley Lake Marathon|width=240|src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3229070348_ee801d3046_m.jpg! !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3229070362_c596c52987_m.jpg|height=240|alt=Diamond Valley Lake Marathon|width=180|src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3229070362_c596c52987_m.jpg!
I'm right where I need to be to bounce back and throw down a faster effort in Sedona in 10 days. As I mentioned in my last post Pulse Check I'll be running alongside my brother who is in peak marathon shape and will push me to dig deeper and hold a mid-to-low 7-minute mile pace. In the 2008 Sedona Marathon, a sub-3:30 was a top 10 overall finish. I've got the motivation to make it happen so stay tuned to see if I pull it off 
On the drive home from the race
My favorite part of this post was "a doable training pace that wouldn't jeopardize my chances to run well in Sedona".... as if this race wasn't run well itself! You did great, Toby! Thanks for sharing awesome pictures