Indianapolis Marathon - RunMarathon

By mile 7, I was still keeping to my goal pace, but I could tell by my level of fatigue even that early that I was going to be in trouble on the back end and would likely not reach my PR or my goal. There was a MONSTER hill on mile 10 and by the Half/Full split at around 12.5, my left knee was screaming at me with IT band pain that occurs when I run hills. So, at that point I went into "survival mode" and really stopped paying attention to the clock. I was totally focused on just getting through the run. The IT band-knee pain became bearable around mile 15 and I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and continually visualized the finish line. By mile 21, I hit the wall and did a lot of walking the last 5 miles. I gave myself permission to walk about a minute at every mile mark from that point on. I think in miles 23 and 24 I walked in the middle of the miles also. It's all kind of a blur now. From 25 on, though, I run...or stumbled...or shuffled...whatever you want to call it. This brutal course had a hill on mile 25. I was not happy about that! As I turned the corner to the finish line and hear my DH and kids cheering me on, I felt the emotion rising and had trouble breathing. By the time I crossed the finish and went through the finish area, I was full on hyperventilating. DH got a bit panicky and called for medical help so they whisked me away to the med tent. They checked my oxygen level and blood pressure, which was fine. I stayed there just a few minutes and calmed myself down. Famn Damily was waiting outside for me and I was just fine. This race was a test of mental toughness for me. I knew early it wasn't going to be a great race physically and I challenged myself to keep pushing and pushing and finish what I set out to do. I felt great about that.

I need to pay more attention to the grade of the course and adjust my training for that. My training for this race was great. I did every mile of every run for the entire training program. My pace on training was consistently about 30 seconds ahead of the recommended pace. I was definitely set up to hit my PR and even my stretch goal. I really think the hills bit me in the butt!

Stretched a bit. Not nearly enough. Day after race, super sore left knee with IT band and very, very sore outside quads.


Hills!!


This has never been a favorite course of mine. In the past it's been crowded, but not so much this time. But between the hills and the inconsistent terrain, it's definitely not a favorite.