Didn't get the goal, but did get a PR - Indy Mini-Marathon Race Report

First, a bit of background. This race was supposed to be with my buddy L. Due to injury and a couple other hiccups, she wasn't able to attend. I understood, but I was sad - and I totally could have used her peppiness to get me through the last three miles. I ran the race solo - and while I got a PR, I am kind of upset with my mental performance through the last part of the race.

I took Friday off work and drove out to Indy. I love IRL racing, so I hit up the Speedway's race museum before checking into the hotel. Fantastic.

After that, dropped the car at valet and wandered out to the expo for packet pickup. WOW. I have never done a race this huge, and I have definitely never been to an expo this big. While it was cool to see so much running stuff in one place, it was a bit too jam packed for my tastes. I wandered around for about a half hour. I got three bondi bands and a race t-shirt.

SO - my hotel was literally on the same streets as the starting corrals. Which was amazing. I opened the windows that morning to look out and see the street blocked off and thousands of

people flooding into the streets. Very cool. I woke up shortly after 6 for a 7:30am start - when I only had to walk one block to my corral, why get up earlier?? I laid my outfit out the night before - I decided to go for all black. Slimming, right? PunkRockTriGuy will appreciate my apparel, I'm sure. (BTW, folks loved the shirt!! You can get your own HERE)

Shortly before 7, I wandered down to find my corral. For such a huge event, there seemed to be ZERO confusion. Each corral was obviously marked, volunteers where everywhere and super helpful. People were just super friendly and ready to go. I am amazed at how smooth the whole thing seemed to be going.

I got to corral O and wandered on in. Because it had taken me approximately 3 minutes to get there, I was one of the first people in my corral. I wandered up to the front of the corral and settled in. Within 15 minutes the corral was full - 20 minutes later and the dividers were down and we were all scrunching up. At 7:33am, the starting gun went off. It only took 14 minutes to get to the start. Awesome.

Off we go - and in comes the side cramp. Within the first half mile, the damn side cramp showed up. You have to be kidding me. I spent the first three miles just trying to knock that out. Somehow I managed to get ride of it, and I was keeping a pace of less than 10 minutes a mile. The weather was pretty great for a run - the humidity made the air a bit heavy, but there were gray skies so the sun didn't blare down. That was a plus - especially as we got to the speedway. This was a huge deal for me - a large part of why I signed up for the race in the first place. I loved the speedway part of the run - over 2 miles around one oval. Amazing.

I was so excited to cross the brickyard - I planned to stop and kiss the bricks. So, it was a bit surprising when we got to the point where they started to guide us off the track....I had run over the brickyard and had completely missed it. I was so "in the zone" or so "out of it" that I completely and totally missed it. Dammit.

By Mile 10, I was hurting. I kept saying "It's only a 5K" but it wasn't helping. By Mile 11, I was trying to give myself every pep talk I could. Mile 12 started my demise. I was walking longer through water stations. The thought of eating one of my last 2 chomp blocks nearly made me want to puke. I was barely holding it together. I would run for 5 minutes, walk for a minute. When I hit the last mile, I looked at my Garmin and knew that a 2:15 was out of the question. I was feeling defeated.

I even walked some when I only had a half mile to go. Then a lady in her 50s/60s wanders up to me and says "Hey Punk Rock Girl! I've been following you the whole way - you have to keep going!!!" Thank goodness for that woman. I was feeling so down and out at that moment in time. So I picked up my feet and ran that last quarter mile in, feeling like crap. I finished in 2:18:35. D and I finished the Lawrence Half in about 2:28. That's a PR of 10+ minutes. Which I AM thrilled about, I really just wanted a sub 2:15. Guess that means I just have to keep running these damn thing until I get it, right?

Overall though, fantastic race - I will totally do this one again. Loved every single thing about it!! And thanks so much to all the folks who texted, posted on facebook or just sent good vibes. It helped so much! Thank you thank you!!!!

This now means that "running season" is officially over for me. It's all about tri from here til September!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!