One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I felt REALLY REALLY good on this run. I could have pushed myself more early on but fear of burnout prevented it. I was comfortable being comfortable-not sure if that is good or bad? Good I think, the only goals I had were to finish within the reg time and have FUN-Mission accomplished. Could of stopped less at aid stations early on for water, but I followed the 'if you feel thirsty drink' rule. I had 5 moments of utter endorphin bliss thoroughout the race.... yep I was the one yelling out WOOOOOOOOO--YEAH when others were bitching about blisters and fatigue. I also sang along to the chorus of "let's get it started"-- wayyyyy loud -- on the 500 race track... so yep i was the silly happy bitch singing "wooo hoooo in here...ah ha". Probably shouldn't have wasted energy singing and dance-running to all the bands early on in the race. I wanted that energy back in mile 12--> badly. I got a little loopy in mile 10. I thought I'd already completed it... and then I saw the 10 mile marker sign "again". damn. Funny thing was I happened to be running arnd folks who though the same thing.. maybe there was something in our water? lol. I carried a list of 13 people to inspire me for each mile. That was a great motivation to have on hand.. next time I'll laminate the list...as it became mushy paper by mile 10...and tough to read.lol.

I would have run the first 10k harder.
Would have gotten more speed drills in training at an earlier date
Laminate the list of mile-motivation names/friends
Taken a gel right before I hit the 500 track.. or broken the rules and had one on the track. (they didn't tell participants until race day that gels were NOT allowed on the 500 track...I reallllly needed one about 1/2 way arnd. I came out of there a little faded...)

walked crying through the finish corrals. wandered the post-race area looking for the massage tent for what seemed like an hr... when I found it they weren't accepting any more folks in the line URGH. Later I sat and stretched for about 10 min. Had a free beer! (note to michelob... um not the time to market your lowcarb beer):)


-mind over matter; inexperience in this distance
-maybe a little stress
-excess body fat!
-Lack of a gel (per the rules) on the Indy 500 race track.
-Should have had more bottles on the fluid belt to avoid stops at water stations.
-walking all of mile 12, sucked, but was necessary
-Got a lower left calf cramp right before mm 13! stopped to stretch it for a minute - GOOD THING as it would have shut me down if I hadnt




My rank for the female division was: 13,053 out of 15,736 ! (I think this is cool).
I slowly walked 98% of mile 12... which had a pretty negative affect on my overall time... but my body made that happen... i recovered and bounced back to run in mi 13.1
This was fun and emotional. I balled after I crossed the finish line and pre-race just for making it there. Had a great moment in telling some little boy that he should never let anyone tell him he can't do anything. :)