Indy Mini Marathon 2006

After a long day of travel, packet pick up and some good food it is race day. I come into this race with so-so training and no real expectations. It would be nice to PR at the half marathon distance and at least get a course PR since my half PR is at 3M on a downhill course.

My roommates (Alex and Richard) headed out around 6:30 to head over to the start. We were supposed to meet Jay at 6:15, but couldn't get it together by then so we headed to the bag check area where we ran into Jay. We did some jogging and headed over near the start. The weather was absolutely perfect. Temps in the 40s, clear and cool. We got lucky and found a place to do our drills that pretty much had its own port-a-potty. We did our drills hit the potty many times and then headed over to the start. I was in the second corral again this year with Alex in front of me and Jay and Richard in the corral behind me.

After Back Home in Indiana and The Star Spangled Banner the gun went off and the huge crowd surged forward. It seemed a lot more crowded up front this year. I don't remember a lot (I should have posted sooner) so my details are kind of sketchy. I felt good the first five miles and then started to drop off a bit. There were a lot of bands as usual and it was nice to go music to music to music along the course. I drank a half of an Enervitene at mile 4 and got Gatorade at all the available tables.

Mile 1 -5 splits - 7:22, 7:16, 7:21, 7:11, 7:14

Entering the track it seems like everyone slows down and spreads out. I had to do a lot of maneuvering for this 2.5 miles. It is always amazing to run on the Speedway with the history. I guess it would be like running around Yankee Stadium or Lambeau Field. We headed out of the track and I tried to pick it up a bit for the last 4.5 miles.

Mile 6 - 10 splits - 7:25, 7:30, 7:19, 7:32, 7:28

Heading back toward the city I felt better and started shaving some time off my slow miles in the middle of the race. I started picking off a few folks and getting into cruise mode. Each of my last few miles was faster and I ended up with a 7:04 last mile as I kicked down the long straight on New York Street. I crossed the line and was really happy to be done. I set a new course PR by 1:45 and was about a minute over my 3M PR which isn't bad since I think I was in much better shape in January.

Mile 11 - Finish splits - 7:22, 7:18, 7:04, :43

I got my food bag and headed over to the clothing trucks. This year, they gathered clothes by corral which was really dumb. The lines were outrageous. Lucky for me, Alex was at the front of the line so I slid in and got my stuff too. We headed to the Indy Runners tent to meet the rest of the posse. After that, Alex and I wandered off to the beer garden. They had an awesome band so we sat in the grass and watched them for a couple of hours. I had a few beers and was feeling no pain when we left there around noon. Alex and I hit the awesome pizza place, Bazbeaus, where we split a Colossus and another large beer. We went back to the hotel for a nap and then met the guys for dinner. I was pretty much spent after dinner so I stayed in and watched some TV and fell asleep early. I had an early flight to catch on Sunday AM. It was another good trip to Indy.