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Comments: This was my first half-mary so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was grateful that M was there with me and that she had the same goal pace as I did. They gave the go and we shuffled our way towards the start line, hitting the start mat about 3 minutes after the gun. The first few miles were cake - we rocked an average pace of 8:45 and felt like we were cruising. After a few miles we reined ourselves in a bit and settled into a 9 min/mile pace. When we hit the tunnel to head into the track we were starting to get cocky. We were still pacing well and feeling really good. I was feeling no pain and had visions of easily crossing the finish line well under goal. After a loop around the track we exited the Speedway with about 4 miles left in the race. Somewhere around mile 10 things started to fall apart. M was having some ankle pain and we both were in desperate need of a bathroom break - we'd both needed to pee since mile zero! I mentally prepared myself to soldier thru and hit the porta-potties after the race. M pulled up for a walk as her ankle started to really hurt but told me to keep running. I finally gave in to the bladder at the 11 mile mark. I just couldn't hold it any longer. And that's when things completely fell apart. I exited the porta-potty and never got back in gear. At the next water stop I slowed to a walk, giving myself a one minute time limit to get back in gear. Just as I got ready to wind back up again, M caught up to me. We pumped each other back up and got ready for the last mile. We ended up taking another walk break before hitting the half-mile mark and just letting loose to hit the finish in under 2 hours. What would you do differently?: I was well trained for a 10 mile race. I went down hard with the flu in Feb. and it really set me back. I didn't get the chance to run long enough times. I just need to keep training consistently and build a bigger base. I also think nutrition was a bit of an issue. I was certainly undertrained more than I was underfed but I do need to iron out a better calorie plan. I can't get Gatorade or gels down during the run so I needed to make sure I was completely fueled prior to race start. I did a poor job of it.  Post race
Warm down: Food, water, finishers medal, pictures. The usual post-race hoopla times about 30,000 more people. Crazy. What limited your ability to perform faster: I was my own limiter. Just need to keep on keeping on. Event comments: There were tons of amazing volunteers handing out water and gatorade. There were bands, "spirit squads", and spectators lining the streets cheering us on. Favorite signage: 13.1 miles, 1300 calories burned, beers earned = 12 pack Favorite band: the pipers that serenaded us as we came thru the tunnel into the speedway. Last updated: 2008-12-22 12:00 AM
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The Dude and I rolled into Indy around 7:30pm on Friday and headed to the Convention Center. The scope of the madness of the Indy Mini hit me as we tried to navigate the madhouse that was the Circle Center parking garage - no open spots, cars traveling willy-nilly looking for somewhere to park, exasperated parking attendents - and this was just packet pickup! Double-bouns: it's prom time so there were tuxedos, prom dresses, and hair-dos all over the place! I kinda wanted to crash the party. ;)
We got in and out of the expo as quickly as possible then headed to Mom's house. After a big pasta dinner and some lively conversation we headed to bed. I tried my best to get some sleep but, working 2nd shift for so many years, my body is tuned for a 1am bed time. I tossed and turned until about 2 before finally drifting off for a few hours of sleep.
I got up at 5am and fumbled myself into some clothes and poked my contacts into my eyes. I ate a light breakfast of a banana and english muffin with pb - my standard race day fare. I piled into the car and Mom drove me downtown and dropped me off near my corral. I wandered the area for about 20 minutes, walking all the way down to corral Z then over to the post-race area. I took the opportunity to hit the porta-potty early then packed my extra clothes and checked them at gear check. It was cool out so I had planned on shorts with a long sleeve tech-T. After a 15 minute warmup I was, rather surprisingly, warm and a bit sticky so it was back to gear check to stow the long sleeve and put on short sleeves.
I wended my way over to my corral and tried to locate friends. I finally bumped in to M and P and we kept each other company while we waited for the race to start. The Indy Mini is the largest half-mary in the country. This year there were 35,000 participants. There were 1000s of people to the front of me and when I turned to look behind me there was a sea of 30,000. Absoluted amazing.