One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Indianapolis, Indiana
United States
50F / 10C
Overcast
Total Time = 7h 30m
Overall Rank = 21432/35000
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Day before race, one I was not actually planning on doing, as I was NOT trained for it, I was injured with a broken coccyx and the glass in the foot thing is still not 100%. Plus, it had been sold out for months. One of my swimmers said her brother had a bib he was not going to be able to use, and offered it to me. Well, you know, I, being smart about this, knowing I have not trained for it, and knowing it's a long race, the fact I am injured, I know that there is no way I am going to run it, so I decide not to. Well, there was a disconnect between my ego and my brain, I accepted the bib, had a bowl of spagetti, and washed my shoes (they were still muddy and wet from the cross country run the other day). Being smart, I know that you never try anything new on race day, so my AM routine should remain the same. So I head off for Kroger to get my typical eggo waffle, and ended up coming home with a bunch of Almond Milk, and some Cliff Bar (banana bread). I had never even had Almond Milk before. My thought, I did not want much protien in my stomach, and the Almond Milk only had 1g of protien. Cliff Bar only had 10g. I figured this would help get it through my stomach quicker. I had the early dinner of spagetti around 4PM, and nothing but liquids after that (tried a couple of different flavors of the Almond Milk). This actually worked well for me - I had no cramping nor stomach distress for the race. I believe I'm probably going to have to make the switch from Skim Milk to Almond Milk (no, I do not want to try soy) on a perm basis.
Event warmup:

I parked about a mile and a half away, ran/walked a bit to stretch out on the way to the starting line. I was in wave "L"
Run
  • 2h 46m 12s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 12m 41s  min/mile
Comments:

This run just felt right. The triathlon a couple of weeks ago - the 5k was just brutal. I was really questioning my sanity in the 1/2 hour before this race, but I just chugged through it - and I ran the whole time. I was very happy, and the finisher hardware is really nice.

Question: I just ran 13.1 - does that allow me to wear the finisher medal for the next week or three? ;-)
What would you do differently?:

I don't know, everything was very last minute and there were no plans to run it, so there were no prep. errors. I did wish that I had put some Body Glide on my arms, they tend to chafe with my tri-top when running when I don't do it. I probably should have taken a couple of Advil early that morning.
Post race
Warm down:

I was trucking the last 5k, something like 8:30-9:00 per mile, and my last 1/4 was as flat out as I could, given everything I had left. When I got into the chute, my legs just couldn't hold me up more, nor propel me forward. I am sure I looked just drunk, staggering from side to side for about 20 minutes. Water/Gatorade/Banana/Cookies. Met up with my sister who ran 2:20 - she's been working hard training for this for months now.

Once my legs got more stable, I left for the 1 1/2 mile back to the car.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Aside from the lack of training due to not planning for this race? Nothing. My base fitness really helped. I was able to run the entire distance. I told myself I'd be OK with a 3:00 finish, but I was trying for 2:30. It was a good experience for me, as I am doing Steelhead in August, and I had not run a half marathon before.

Event comments:

This was truly a national or international quality race, 40k+ runners, a TON of volunteers. Never ran out of anything at the aid stations, and had live entertainment (local rock bands) about every 1/2 - 3/4 miles. Truely first rate, and fun to run on the Speedway track.




Last updated: 2009-05-02 12:00 AM
Running
02:46:12 | 13.1 miles | 12m 41s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 21432/35000
Performance: Good
FiveMile TenMile RunnerTIME GunTime 1:01:07 2:06:12 2:46:50 3:09:41
Course: Fairly flat course with a couple of slight grades to go over the river bridges, or under the tunnel at the track. It's a out and back that takes you from Downtown Indy, through Hallville, and into Speedway. On the way back, you get a nice tour of the IUPUI campus. Hallville has never been my favorite place, as it is full of gangs, crack houses, etc. I have even had my car shot at while driving through it one night. Fortunatly, there were lots of cops, Indiana National Guard, ROTC and private security. The majority of people watching the race in Hallville were hanging around the few liquor stores and bars.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %-3lb
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5