Indianapolis Marathon Race Recap

The stats for those who don't want to read my novel:

5 mile split 51:36, pace 10:20, Rank 723

Half split 2:14:17, pace 10:16, Rank 676

19 mile split 3:14:26, pace 10:14, Rank 608

Last 1.25 miles 12:25, pace 9:56, Rank 297

Net time: 4:27:46, pace 10:14

Division Place: 47

Gender Place: 151

Overall Place: 506

Pre-Race: I rode up with Jeremy and Crystal who were doing their first half so that Parker and Scott did not have to come up until the day of. We had a great trip up and found, hotel, shuttle location, race course and expo fairly easily! Packet pick up was quick and the expo was so-so. Not a lot to look at but I did get to Bondi Bands. I bought the pink one below since I eat at the Twisted Sifter at least once a week and a blue one that says "Run Like a Mother" because I love the book and follow the RLAM blog.

Pre-Race Meal: O'Charleys! I do not do pasta!! I burp it up the whole next day. The sauces, garlic and butter are not my friend. During training I have done a high protein (plain burger, chicken) and a large baked potato. So I had a "pick 2" of grilled chicken breast, chicken fingers, baked potato and 2 rolls. I was easy on the butter, sour cream and only drank water. I was nervous about the chicken fingers since I have not had anything friend in a very long time but they sat well. I felt nice and full but not heavy. Based on the next day I will make that a regular pre-race meal. I also drank water like it was my job all week and the day before.

Race Day: I slept so-so; basically I was up every hour to see what time it was but I was able to go back to sleep. Woke up at 6 am, suited up and was out the door to the shuttle bus by 6:45 am. The shuttle was great (minus the fact that the drive got lost on the way there)!

The outfit: Under Armour capri leggings (LOVE), black running shorts over, long under armour tank, white wicking long sleeve tee, throw away sweater, thorlo socks, bondi band, Garmin, Go Belt with 3 Gus and 1 Cliff Blocks and my iPod.

Corrals/Port-a-Potties: The race site was great (minus being upper 30s). Lots of port-a-potties! and the corrals were nicely organized. This is where I met my pace group. I was nervous about starting by myself and being by myself the all day so I started look for a friend. I saw this couple (Jon and Kim) who were looking for the 4:30 group. I wanted to stay as close to the 4:30 group for as long as I could. This was my "A" goal. Well we finally found our pace guy; Iain. He was great! I could tell from the beginning he was going to great to have around. He had an cool accent (British? Australian?), a nice calm about him, had researched the course, gave us a plan for water stops and hills (he would walk them), told us how to go pee and catch up and told us he would never leave us. I committed along with 5-10 other people plus plenty of other but there was a "group" of us that knew each others names.

Miles 1-5: Uneventful! The weather was perfect and the scenery gorgeous! The trees were all changing and we ran around a campus and into Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park which was breath taking. We would eventually run in and out and in and out of this park! I felt like I was in an ant farm. There were parts we ran through at least 3 times but never the same way. It was nice because you could always see a "winner" coming or the back of the pack and give everyone a cheer! The one thing I was shocked about was how hateful people were! It was crowded on the narrow trails and people would get down right ugly. But my pace guy kept us at a stead 10:00-10:30 pace!

Mile 1: ditched the gloves

Mile 3: tied shirt around waste (I threw down the sweater before I started)

Mile 4.5 mint chocolate GU

Miles 6-10: Still having fun! We had a set group at this point. Jon, Kim, the 60 year old out to BQ, 52 marathons in 52 weeks guy, nameless lady and the 70 year old who was going for a 2:15 half marathon. I still felt good but did turn on music at mile 7 just to give me something else to think about. I did the one ear, low volume thing so I could still talk. Again the race just kept getting prettier and prettier! The sun was out, still cool and I loved every minute of it. This is also when I spotted Racing with Babies on the trail. I saw yellow and orange flash by and knew it was her! I ran up to say "Hello" but let her go on at her faster pace.

Mile 11-14: Yep! Still fun! Little pain in the calf, knee, arches here and there but nothing serious. I was able to see Crystal at mile 10 of her half and Sarah at the same time; these girls have done some great things this summer getting ready for their first half! Racing with Babies doesn't know it but I also saw her have to stop for another bathroom break at mile 14! I love seeing people along the course and I am sure I am borderline annoying with my cheering and yelling but it helps me and I hope I am helping them. I Gued again at mile 10.

Mile 15-18: The pain starts to show up! Anything over mile 15 is where my body starts to hurt! I guess it is lack of long runs and I have only been running for 1 1/2 years. I was hoping my parents, Scott and Parker would be at mile 17 so I put on my big girl pants and sucked it up! Instead of guing at 15 (the plan) I decided to open my Cliff Blocks at 17 and eat one every mile (until 22) to give me something to do during the feared "wall"; this turned out to be a great idea! My family was at mile 17 and I could not look at them for fear of sobbing like a baby. They kept me smiling until mile 18.

Mile 18-22: "Hi" wall, "Bye" wall, "Hi" wall, "Bye" wall. Did I hit a wall? No. Did I see the wall? Sure did! It went something like this:

The wall: "just walk, if you walk now you will still make your C goal!" "Lots of people can't even say they have done a marathon, who cares about your time!" "Who does this?"

The Anti-wall" "That is just stupid! You have stuck with it this long; you better suck it up" "You have hung with the group this long, DO IT!" "Waist up you are fine!"

We had this conversation for a long time! But anytime Jon or Iain would see me slipping behind he would come back for me.

I had told myself I would stick with my pace group until mile 20 and then drop back on my own and just run/walk/shuffle it in on my own. Well my pace group was having no part of that plan. Iain and Jon were like "You are strong". At one point they boxed me in and would not let me fall back! LOVE them! Finally I said "I feel like hell!, How do you all feel so damn good?" The 60 year old spoke up and said "I feel like hell too but I am going to die trying to qualify for Boston" Ianin spoke up and reminded me I would not be human if I didn't hurt! So at Mile 22 I sucked it up and counted down the last 4 miles!

Behind me is the pace group (I was running ahead to see my family). I have a better picture from the finish line. Will post the close up picture tomorrow.

Mile 22 - Mile 26: I had been breaking the run down into "5Ks" 17-20, 20-23 and 23-26! That helped and I had one Gu left. It is my super caffeine one. I knew it would not actually kick in but I told myself it would help. So at mile 22 I tore it open and started "sipping" on it. It was nice to have some flavor and I talked myself into thinking it was giving me a boost. Let me start off my saying I was in PAIN! But I was able to push the pain aside and but my sights on the finish. These 4 miles actually went by quick! We were ahead of pace and knew mile 25 was a possible hill so there was no walking or slowing down in case it was needed at mile 25. Mile 24 I put in both ear buds and cranked up the music! Iain was trying to tell me how great I was doing but the tears were flowing so I had to tune him out : ) I listened to "Where the Spirit of the Lord Is" and Shackles. Nothing like a reminder that God is awesome to make you think you can do anything! Keep in my right before that it was some old school rap with lots of angry curse words! I have a diverse playlist on my iPod.

Coming up on the finish I put it into high gear and went for it! My pace group came across together. By this time it was Iain (pace leader), Jon, Kim and 60 year old BQ lady! The others had dropped in that mile 17- mile 21 loop that was the "wall" for many! Seeing people hit their wall was sad. There were so many people walking and sitting down. It I had not had my pace group I could have easily joined them.

Do you see the pain in my face? My calved cramped up so bad! I could not walk! But there were a lot of other people around me who looked the same so that helped! The game plan was to hit the hotel, shower and go to Louisville for Mexican and Cheesecake Factory dessert but I just wanted home! So we decided to get on the road for my favorite restaurant Guadalajara and I grabbed some of Crystal's birthday cake!

2 tacos, 1 enchilada, 1 tostada, bean dip, chips, salsa, margarita which was followed my a piece of mint chocolate chip birthday cake that I brought home with me.

What next? Another Marathon? YES! I will do another marathon. However, the training is time consuming so it will be awhile. So I am going to try to get in 3-4 half marathons in the next year and then train for Disney World (January 2012, close the my 30th birthday). I am going to put my bucket list of future races up soon. Right now I have Midway, Ky in 2 weeks (if the pain is gone) and want to sign up for Virgina Beach Half in March and Rock-n-Roll half in Nashville in April.