Indy Mini

Last Saturday was the 2016 Indy Mini Marathon.  While this was the 40th running of the event, it was the 11th time that I have participated (I had to miss the 2010 race due to injury).  This is usually my goal race each year - the jewel that I aim for.  This year's goal was to finish in the top 500 overall and get that second medal.  Going into my taper week, the Sunday prior I got an easy 10 mile run in and I felt really confident that my training was in a pretty good spot.

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!

So.... It's been awhile

I admit it - I have become lazy on this whole blogging thing. My wife reminds me (constantly) that I have not blogged in 6 weeks. This blog was intended to simply hush her up (since she will read it) but now as I type this, I feel like I have a lot to talk about. So what all is new running-wise over the last 6 weeks? Well...

1) How about those Olympic Trials this past Saturday? Jess and I watched the entire three hours of it, and were completely inspired by what we saw. Rupp, Meb, and Ward leading the way for the men and Cragg, Desi Linden, and Shalane (a favorite of Jess and mine) for the women. People think we are crazy because we enjoy watching people run 26.2 miles on TV - but how could you not think Saturday was great for the sport? Given the weather conditions, those six as well as everyone else who finished were awesome.  Check out this section of the USA Track & Field website and you can see all their mile and split times.  I would love to run just one segment similar to what these guys do for an entire race.

2) Speaking of Meb, he's coming to the Indy Mini! OK, so Shalane is a favorite of ours - but Meb is Meb! It was like Christmas for me when I found out last month that Meb was coming to town to be part of a race that I am an ambassador. For more, check this out!

3) Keeping with the running theme and the Indy Mini, two weeks ago Jess and I ran the 3 miler - the first leg of the three race training series. I came in 28th overall (out of 1,441) and Jess set yet another PR! Sooooo proud of her, since she did this completely on her own and she owned that race! Her training is paying off and she will be under 30 minutes easily this year.

4) Speaking of races, as I laced up my gear this past Sunday to go outside and run in 19 degree weather that felt like 7 degrees, Ella told me she wants to do another family race. I have another runner in the making there. Guess Jess and I will have to do some research and find a 5k that the four of us can do sometime.

5) And to round out all this running conversation, I checked out my Strava account this evening.  My goal January 1st was to run 1000 miles this year.  I had something like 770 miles last year.  As of right now, after doing 5 miles today, I am right on pace for 1000.  I feel like that is an accomplishment as after 6 weeks I have kept it up, however I also understand that I need to get some major miles banked up between now and the fall.  Historically speaking, my November and December miles simply suck.  Like, big time.  So I must get as many miles as possible between now and October to be safe.

I probably left some stuff out, but that's all I can think of right now, plus my Indiana Hoosiers are getting ready to tip off.

Left, right, repeat!