Indianapolis Monumental Marathon - RunMarathon

I had done one 21 mile training run, one 18 mile training run, a 14 miler, and several from 10- 13 and decided that I would ignore the advice to not go out too fast :). I decided to ditch the 4 hour pace group (my goal) within the first half mile and run what felt comfortable until I couldn't hold it any longer, then just try to hold on.
My "plan" was to try and run the race in three segments. The first part of the race would be the first 14 miles which I wanted to knock out in as close to 2 hours as possible- I passed the 14 mile mark at 2:01:12. The second phase of the race would be the next hour or so until mile 21. I knew that IF I could get to mile 21 in 3:05:00 or so that I should be able to hold on for the last 5.2 and finish under 4 hours. I crossed the 21 mile mark at 3:02:35.
After the 21 mile mark things started to hurt, bad. I just kept telling myself to keep running as long as I could. Up until the 23 mile mark I hadn't walked, not even during aid stations. I had consumed about 6 cups of water, 3 cups of Gatorade, and 4 Jazz Gu's up until that point and was feeling somewhat dehydrated. So, at the aid station at mile 23, knowing that I had 4 hours in the bag, I decided to walk for one minute and make sure that I took in two full cups of water- MISTAKE!
Walking, and knowing that my 4 hour goal was in the bag, felt sooooo good! But, it made me really want to walk more. I still had the 3:50:00 pace group with me at that aid station at mile 23, but just didn't have it in me to run the last 5k with them. I ended up walking two more times for 30- 45 seconds each time for a total of about 2 1/2 minutes of walking- all in the last 3.2 miles. I regret that just a little, but not much, considering I beat my goal by almost 7 minutes.

Try to hold on for the last 5k and not walk one step!

Got my medal (much better then most tri medals that I have), grabbed some water, stretched, changed clothes, and proceeded to drive 5 1/2 hours home.


Lack of long mileage training runs.


This is a good race to run, especially for a first time road marathon like I did it as.