And then the wheels came off. Wednesday morning, my throat was a little scratchy and by the end of the day my sinuses were donezo. A cold had settled in. Thursday night, Jess and I went to the expo and got my packet and I couldn't breathe through my nose. We stopped for dinner at Scotty's Brewhouse on the way home and I ate super spicy foods which helped temporarily, but by Friday morning it was back to congestion-ville. I ran by Walgreen's and got about as much over the counter medicine as I could without being suspicious of being a meth-head and I took everything I could for the rest of the day.
Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 and realized I had actually slept decently (or however decent a person can sleep on just under 6 hours of sleep). It was in the mid 50s out and a little breezy at race start. I purposely held back - instead of shooting for top 500 I decided to take aim on running consistent 7:15-20 pace.
Through the first 5k, I was right on track with an average pace of 7:22. Things felt pretty well - my body felt rested, I could breathe, and life was good. I decided to take my gel around mile 6 which is a little early for me, but I found a water station and figured time-wise I needed it. I cut some time off between the 5k and the Brickyard by averaging 7:18 pace. However, that's when the wheels came off.
As I was going around the track, the clouds picked up and the winds came back and shortly after, my nose closed off. My head felt stopped up and again I couldn't breathe well. Between Brickyard and 11M marker I average 7:34 per mile. It took all I could to push to the finish but my lungs were on fire. I finished in 1:38:12 - good enough for 778th place overall.
I was left wondering what could have happened had I not been hit with the cold bug. I feel that top 500 would have been pretty easy. Oh well - next year.
However, Meb was the main attraction this year. He started the waves and then after the last walkers started, he and his crew took off running to see how many he could pass. While technically he did stop and take selfies with other runners, his finishing time was 1:41:18. Yep - I beat Meb. It's official. It's on the internet so it must be true. We did catch up post race to meet him and he is as genuine of a guy as there is - you can't not like him!
Another big name ran the race - Tony Kanaan. Tony is an Indycar driver and won the Indy 500 back in 2013. He ran the mini in 1:43:29 and after the race we spent some time talking to him, his wife, and their son. All of them are world-class individuals as well!
On to the next round of training and racing...
Left, right, repeat!
