SuperJulia's Adventures in Running: Indy Mini

[Rocky Movie Theme Music]

Indy Mini-Marathon! Why it's sometimes called a "Half Marathon" and sometimes a "Mini-Marathon", I'm not sure. Because 13.1 miles does not feel "Mini" to me.

Anywho...
Looking forward to the 2014 running season, if you are deciding on Half Marathons to run, choose this one. It's a big one, with 35,000 people registered, but I felt it was well organized and well run. Fortunately, this year wasn't too hot which helped a lot. The course runs through the neighborhoods of Indianapolis and includes one loop around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On a hot day, one would bake on that 2.5 mile asphalt oval. But the weather was in the 60s and overcast this year. The course is also well supported, with Gatorade and water stops nearly every mile, as well as bands / DJs playing with the same frequency. The bands were good too. I heard they have to audition participate. Plus, the goody bag is pretty sweet, with a long-sleeved technical running shirt and a running cap.

Sweet long-sleeved shirt

New running cap

What made this race particularly fun, was that I met my sister there. She ran the race last year and enjoyed it enough to register again, as well as suggest it to me. So in Indy we met, for a whirlwind 24 hours of sister-awesomeness. She had a few friends also running. The group of us met to pick up our race packets, enjoy a carbtastic dinner the night before, and engage in general jocularity and fun.

Sisters! Before the race...ready to run! Note Carl photobombing in the background... :)

The morning of the race went smoothly. Not only had Rachel and her friends run the race before, but Allen has worked in Indianapolis so he was able to navigate us to parking quickly. We arrived with enough time for a visit to the porta-potties before walking to our starting corrals. Rachel & Co. are faster than me and were therefore seeded in earlier corrals. We joked that I was making the long walk to my corral, Corral Q, way back in Ohio. I had some old feelings of envy creep in about my sister being faster than me. I guess I'll never quite get over wanting to emulate my older sis.

The View from Q

This race was not long after the Boston Marathon and the bombing that occurred there. Prior to the start of the Mini, the announcer called for a moment of silence in remembrance of those killed and injured in Boston, as well as all recent events at home and abroad. Silence is a powerful statement. Especially when a crowd of people that big is collectively silent. Another thing that was different from races I've run before was the strong presence of the National Guard. According to Rachel & Co., the Guard was not present at last year's race. A reminder that seen or not, my nation's military is present so that I can participate in events like a road race.

The run itself was fun. I didn't cross the start line until 45 minutes after the gun went off, something I expected given the number of people participating. But once we started it was easy to find my pace right away. The streets were closed giving us running a wide path to find our legs and enjoy the run. As I said before, the music and frequent water stops kept the run interesting. Since we were running through neighborhoods, the residents lined the streets and cheered us on as we went. The miles ticked away easily.

And then we approached the track.

Entering The Brickyard

The oval gave me the opportunity to see more of the line of people stretched out before me.

That's a lot of people!

Car racing doesn't come close to the thrill of a running road race! Okay...maybe it's exhilarating in it's own right... ;)

Grandstands

A little tidbit about The Brickyard that I didn't know until I shared the picture of the starting line with a friend...the whole track used to be bricks. That would be loud to drive on. Anyway, the start line still has some bricks. And, apparently, the tradition is to kiss the bricks. I did wonder when I saw some people dropping to give them a smooch. I'm glad I didn't know the tradition before running the race. Although I probably would have opted out of doing that. I kissed the Blarney Stone once, rumored to give one the Gift of Gab, and I lost my voice for a week. Something tells me I should stop making out with structural building materials.

Starting line in the Motor Speedway

And yes, I took all of those pictures while I was running. I didn't want to mess with my pace!

I had been tracking my time and my pace. I was running close to my last half marathon, the Get Lucky. I even had a chance to beat that time. And I really wanted to do just that. A new PR would be awesome. In the last mile, it was time to dig deep. The last stretch was hard. The time was close and I couldn't quite gauge where the finish line was. I had to push without the end in sight. It was worth it though. I crossed the at 2:08:55, 54 seconds faster than my time for the Get Lucky. Rachel also PRed with am amazing 1:43 and change. The best part about it, she was no less excited about my PR than she was about hers.