Indy Mini Marathon Race Report

On Friday afternoon, Katie, Carolyn, and I started our drive to Indianapolis with the help of Lola the GPS who always seems to have issues. We missed our exit and ended up sitting in major traffic and arrived at our hotel later than expected. Of course it was raining and so after we threw our stuff in the room and made a quick pit stop, we headed over to the expo. It was super busy and I got a little frustrated walking around...the whole crowd thing. We picked up our bibs and timing chips and then started shopping. We ended up with matching t-shirts and then wandered around and started making dinner plans.

Originally, we had planned on eating at the Old Spaghetti Factor, but we found out there was a 2 hour wait which meant we wouldn't get to eat until 9pm, which doesn't really work for me. The three of us were not interested in eating that late, so we went to Alcatraz Brewing Company and we actually got seated as soon as we walked in. Apparently, runners don't eat at brewing companies the night before a race. Dinner was fun, the food was tasty, and I even got called "honey." Oh, and of course the waiter had to say something about my water habit...yes, I'm still a camel who can put away lots and lots of water. I ate half of a cheeseburger, some fries, and some onion rings.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and started setting our stuff out for the race. I was tired, but knew it would be hard to sleep, so I was looking forward to a long night. Katie and Carolyn fell asleep first and then the tossing and turning started. Someday, I'll learn how to sleep in a hotel. I don't think Carolyn and Katie slept well either because the room was definitely quiet, but not the everyone is sleeping quiet.

Anyways, the alarm wen toff at 5:45am and we got up and started getting ready to go. I ate a poptart and drank a glass of water, my breakfast of champions. I wasn't sure how cool it would be outside, but I figured it would probably be a beautiful day for running. We left the hotel and started walking to the start. While we were heading to gear check, I stopped at the portapotties to make a deposit which made me so happy that I actually did the happy dance in the portapotty. That meant there would be no issues during the race! Yay! We made it to gear check and then started walking back to our corrals. I stopped at G, made a quick portapotty stop, and then started looking for people I knew. I bumped into another one of my students and then Sherry and Kim and then Howard, Tammy, and Karen who were all in the G corral.

Finally it was time for the race to start. We crossed the start line 5 minutes after the start. Howard made a quick stop at his woods and it was so humid that I had my long sleeved shirt off before mile 1. We passed the elephants, even got to see the baby elephant, and got to mile 1 and of course, I realized I started too fast. I started to slow down but I got to mile 2 in 9:40 which was WAY too fast. At some point I bumped back into Karen and we started running together.

We cruised along and then I stopped at a portapotty for a quick stop and headed into the speedway. I was feeling okay and then started noticing some achiness in my back between miles 7 and 8 so I stopped and walked for a few minutes. I wasn't sure if I was just being a sallie or what, but I really didn't want to have any long term back issues, so I decided to kind of see how I was feeling. Karen came by and I was surprised she was behind me so I started running with her. We headed out of the track and around mile 9, Karen mentioned that she was struggling. I told her we just had to run to Tipton. We got to mile 10 and I told her we only had a 5k left.

I was feeling really good at this point and felt like I could have picked up the pace (I guess I was just being a sallie), but Karen was really struggling. I really struggled in my head with the decision to leave Karen or to help her along. At one point, I actually kept running through a water stop and then decided to stop and wait for her. I talked her through the last mile and we crossed the finish line together. She gave me a big hug and said thanks and we made our way to the Team in Training tent.

We bumped into Howard, Sherry, and Tammy and started talking about the race. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was humid, but the sun didn't come out until mile 9 so it wasn't too hot. We talked for a little while and then they all headed back to the hotel and I sat down to wait for Katie and Carolyn. Eventually they showed up and we talked to Carolyn's parents before we headed back to the hotel for showers. We met Carolyn's family at Arni's Pizza and had an eventful lunch that included me dumping marinara sauce on Carolyn's cousin's phone (welcome to my life!) and good conversation.

We finally got on the road and were cruising along until we came to a complete stop for 45 minutes. We got to turn off the car while the fire department managed a burning car. That was a new and different experience. We got home around 7:30pm, which was alot later than I expected but it was a really fun weekend. Carolyn, Katie, and I have already made plans for our race next year. We're headed to Orlando in March for the Princess 1/2 Marathon. That should definitely be a great time!

Splits
Mile 1 10:28 (156bpm)
Mile 2 9:39 (167bpm)
Mile 3 10:24 (165bpm)
Mile 4 10:06 (165bpm)
Mile 5 10:43 (165 bpm)
Mile 6 11:24 (164bpm) - This is where I stopped to pee.
Mile 7 10:48 (165 bpm)
Mile 8 10:44 (164bpm)
Mile 9 12:21 (155bpm) - This is where I walked for 3:30.
Mile 10 11:31 (162bpm)
Mile 11 11:22 (160bpm)
Mile 12 11:36 (162bpm)
Mile 13 12:08 (162bpm)
Mile 0.1 57 (172bpm)