Mwright
I ran the Country Music 1/2 marathon its inaugural year in
2002 in 2:15 (on a cool day), and have run some other local
races, 5ks (a distance I hate) and 10Ks. Thought I'd give
the Indy Mini Marathon a try, as my sister lives there. It's
a flat course (not like Nashville/Country Music land where I
live) with an average high on that date of 71 degrees, and
I've heard good things about it. Sounded promising for
me to try to take some time off my ever so middle of
the pack pace. I thought 2:10 would be realistic,
based on 5K and 10Ks, and anything less than that,
gravy. All of you fast runners, be kind. This is the
speed I'm at, and I suspect unfortunately that I'm not
too remotely far off from my genetic potential, so I'm
just trying to do the best I can with what I have.
I've been doing 20-26 miles/week for 12 weeks, 4x per
week, with long runs usually around 10-11 miles, with
one 13 miler. Was going to do another 13 mile long
run, but had one of those really bad days and cut it
very short. I live and run in a hilly area, and am
just barely figuring out how to do an easy run on
hilly terrain, so haven't been thinking about speed
training very much (although have been running my
shorter hillier runs at a higher intensity). I had to
take time off in late 2002-2003 for plantar fasciitis
and have carefully built up my distance, and so this
is my longest race since then.
The Indy Mini (terrible name for something that involves
13.1 miles, don't you think?) is part of the weekend of
activities centered around the Indy
500. Heavy car theme (no surprise) for the half, which
wasn't any kind of draw for me, as I don't care about
race cars. They sell out routinely, and this year sold
out at 30,000 long ago (the 5K the same day draws
3,000). The course was redesigned for this year, and I
imagine they will take some grief for that. More on
that later.
The Expo was well-organized, no problem getting my race
packet. I liked that they checked my chip at the expo by
scanning the bag it was in to verify it was appropriately
assigned to me (do most races do that? Country Music did
not. I have not traveled to any other races except Bay to
Breakers, and that was before chips were in existence). Long
sleeved t-shirt (in May?) with a decent logo, a bandana,
(with an bad commercial logo which didn't match the shirt -
that went to my niece), and some literature, in the bag. I
was with my daughter, and walked around the expo trying a
variety of sports drinks and foods (most of which made her
refined 12 year old palate as well as mine gag), but managed
to remember not to get too carried away with strange foods
(stopped short of the nachos and cheese being offered by a
local restaurant!). Had the pasta dinner at my sister's
house rather than the organized feed at the Expo with "The
Penguin" Bingham.
I hoped that the temperature would be good, despite
predictions of 83-88 degrees. (The record high was 88 in
'79.) Friday gave promise of cooler temperatures, as it was
very nice that day, and much cooler than initially
predicted. Race morning started out ok, and with a little
wind before the start, I was feeling a cool. That didn't
last though (the wind stopped), and I left my throwaway t-
shirt at the start. Ran in shorts and a sports top, as I get
very warm running. My first few miles I was trying for an
easy comfortable warm-up, as I need that. Wasted some time
spending 20-30 seconds each mile fiddling with various
things - both shoelaces needed loosening up as my toes were
getting numb, which annoyed me as they felt just fine
starting out. With the temp still comfortable, my first few
miles were 10:33, 9:44, and 10:07, which were comfortable
miles. Temperature started going up, although I still felt
pretty good through the first half. There are many bands
along the way, some pretty good, some not very, which
irritated me later when I wasn't feeling so good. The course
was not hugely scenic, although apparently a good
neighborhood tour (including for some areas you wouldn't
want to visit at night), and starts and ends downtown,
spending some time along the river (nice, but exposed). Did
pass the zoo near the start. I was not being hugely
consistent with my splits, as I fiddled yet again with my
shoelaces, trying to relieve a sudden onset of foot pain
that felt like a Morton's neuroma (got better, so the damn
tight shoelace again, but got me a 10:29 split).
One of the changes for this year was the loop on the Indy
Motor Speedway. This began mile 6. As I entered the
speedway, I heard several folks comment on how cool it was
to be running on the Speedway. They weren't saying that
later! They have lengthened the time spent on the track,
doing the full 2.5 mile circuit, which was almost as bad as
being on a treadmill (although more calories were burnt ;)
There was some recorded music on the tiny speakers, one
group of high school/college cheerleaders, and no bands. We
ran on an inner lane, which was not canted, but packed us
closer than on the roads, with a lot of people slowing down
at that time. It seemed to go on forever, with nothing but
empty bleachers as scenery.
By then, it was definitely warm. I had already (pretty much
from the start) been keeping up with fluids, using the
walking time as a short cool down period, which I think was
a salvation, but ate up more time. Short time on one of the
few shaded areas on the course, passing an ambulance squad
that was working on (I later found out) a 32 year old who
died of a heart attack. Most of the course was very exposed,
and I was really feeling the heat. I still managed to keep
up my speed, but it was becoming quite difficult. I stopped
drinking by mile 8 or 9, as later drinking wouldn't be very
useful because of lag needed for absorption, but was still
using the time to walk, cool down, and pour water on my head
and neck (more time eaten up, but probably worth it) (Note -
in reading the course booklet, since there were 12 water
stations and 5 Gatorade stations, I spent a LOT of time
walking at those water stations). Note to race bands -
consider your music choices carefully- playing that
reggae/island tune of "it's hot, hot, hot" on a hot day is a
BAD choice! If I had had the energy, I would have chewed
them out. As it was, the very loud grunge type bands were
irritating me badly later on (but weren't at first), a
reflection of how I was feeling. With 3 miles to go, I
picked up the pace some (9:42, too much, but realizing how
close I was egged me on), but paid for that. Last mile was
awful. Going into it, I realized I had started getting goose
bumps and was chilling, a bad sign of heat problems). The
last mile is marked with 1/4 mile splits, which went by
terribly slowly, and I was feeling very badly, with nothing
left in me, trying to walk enough to cool down some, but
still wanting to get to the finish. I was seriously worried
about my ability to finish. I don't think I looked very good
either, based on the spectator comments. Had to coax myself
into running, so I could cross the line running. Still, I
must have finished running fast, as my last 1.1 mile was
slow but not as terribly slow as I thought it was.
The medal is nice, with a black and white checked racing
themed ribbon. Plenty of food for the runners - potato
chips (Seyfert's - local company - gulped those down for
the sodium), chocolate chips cookies, candy, bananas,
apples, and Gatorade bars. Bottled water and Gatorade in
cups (although I would have taken more than one bottle if I
had known I wouldn't be able to get more easily later).
Photos taken just before you exit into the blessedly shady
Military Park, to meet family, although I left my daughter
and sister at home. By photo time, I had recovered enough
to generate some enthusiasm for the photo. Too bad I didn't
have any red lipstick with me. Really crowded in the park,
which was irritating, as I wasn't meeting anyone and wanted
room to walk around for a while, stretching easily, before
picking up my bag from the gear check and then taking the
shuttle back.
Nice things along the way - plenty: Shuttle service to the
start ($5) from a business complex not far from my sister's
was convenient. Corralled places, and people seemed to pay
attention to their corrals reasonably well. I wasn't
tripping over people at the start or being run over. They
had changed the start to one single start line, instead of
two lines feeding into the same start line. Another runner
said the old start caused a lot of congestion where the two
lines funneled in together. The run-walkers were well-
behaved (meaning I didn't see 3-4 running abreast and then
suddenly walking.) Volunteers were plentiful and helpful.
Lots of portapotties, and no lines (!). In fact, very little
congestion along the way, apart from the expected walk to
the start, and congestion on the race track. One runner in
their local paper commented that the course had been
straightened out, so there were fewer turns to navigate and
slow down on. I was really amazed to see such a great
turnout, being nearly all Indiana locals, for that kind of
distance (probably a lot of walkers, though, since I was in
corral I, with T being the last corral). Music was nice
(mostly) except for the lack on the Speedway.
Not so nice: the Speedway. The temps. They red flagged the
course later, meaning the combination of the temp and
humidity had done enough people in. Final high was 84 later,
in the upper 70s when the clock turned off. Two more heart
attacks, and some heat stroke, although fewer reports of
heat stroke than I expected. The death probably rattled the
course directors - second one in its history, I think. Clock
was turned off when the course was red flagged, with no
official time therefore for those walkers. If they put up
the yellow caution flag before then, I didn't notice it.
Very little shade. Not a very scenic route. Wouldn't have
minded a few "characters" in the crowd - those Indiana folks
were very nice, but pretty serious. Just saw one set of
women in grass skirts. Being picky - the bib number was not
the usual Tyvex, more like water resistant stiff paper, and
safety pins too easily ripped through.
The final splits: 10:33, 9:44, 10:07, 9:46, 10:29, 10:08,
10:13, 10:28,
501:08, 10:07, 9:42, 10:25, and 11:29. Chip time - 2:13:25.
I guess all in all I should be content. My times don't
do justice to how poorly I felt at the end. Would I do
it again? If I lived locally, yes. Not worth it
otherwise. Plans for the future? Not sure yet - I like
the "real running" nature of the half marathon. Couldn't
possibly find enough time to train for a full marathon,
and not interested in that. Maybe work on speed for
local 10Ks (if I actually can get faster), keep up the
base I've built and maybe increase a little more (not
having to work would be nice). A fall half marathon
would require traveling, so might just stick to Country
Music again next spring.
2002 in 2:15 (on a cool day), and have run some other local
races, 5ks (a distance I hate) and 10Ks. Thought I'd give
the Indy Mini Marathon a try, as my sister lives there. It's
a flat course (not like Nashville/Country Music land where I
live) with an average high on that date of 71 degrees, and
I've heard good things about it. Sounded promising for
me to try to take some time off my ever so middle of
the pack pace. I thought 2:10 would be realistic,
based on 5K and 10Ks, and anything less than that,
gravy. All of you fast runners, be kind. This is the
speed I'm at, and I suspect unfortunately that I'm not
too remotely far off from my genetic potential, so I'm
just trying to do the best I can with what I have.
I've been doing 20-26 miles/week for 12 weeks, 4x per
week, with long runs usually around 10-11 miles, with
one 13 miler. Was going to do another 13 mile long
run, but had one of those really bad days and cut it
very short. I live and run in a hilly area, and am
just barely figuring out how to do an easy run on
hilly terrain, so haven't been thinking about speed
training very much (although have been running my
shorter hillier runs at a higher intensity). I had to
take time off in late 2002-2003 for plantar fasciitis
and have carefully built up my distance, and so this
is my longest race since then.
The Indy Mini (terrible name for something that involves
13.1 miles, don't you think?) is part of the weekend of
activities centered around the Indy
500. Heavy car theme (no surprise) for the half, which
wasn't any kind of draw for me, as I don't care about
race cars. They sell out routinely, and this year sold
out at 30,000 long ago (the 5K the same day draws
3,000). The course was redesigned for this year, and I
imagine they will take some grief for that. More on
that later.
The Expo was well-organized, no problem getting my race
packet. I liked that they checked my chip at the expo by
scanning the bag it was in to verify it was appropriately
assigned to me (do most races do that? Country Music did
not. I have not traveled to any other races except Bay to
Breakers, and that was before chips were in existence). Long
sleeved t-shirt (in May?) with a decent logo, a bandana,
(with an bad commercial logo which didn't match the shirt -
that went to my niece), and some literature, in the bag. I
was with my daughter, and walked around the expo trying a
variety of sports drinks and foods (most of which made her
refined 12 year old palate as well as mine gag), but managed
to remember not to get too carried away with strange foods
(stopped short of the nachos and cheese being offered by a
local restaurant!). Had the pasta dinner at my sister's
house rather than the organized feed at the Expo with "The
Penguin" Bingham.
I hoped that the temperature would be good, despite
predictions of 83-88 degrees. (The record high was 88 in
'79.) Friday gave promise of cooler temperatures, as it was
very nice that day, and much cooler than initially
predicted. Race morning started out ok, and with a little
wind before the start, I was feeling a cool. That didn't
last though (the wind stopped), and I left my throwaway t-
shirt at the start. Ran in shorts and a sports top, as I get
very warm running. My first few miles I was trying for an
easy comfortable warm-up, as I need that. Wasted some time
spending 20-30 seconds each mile fiddling with various
things - both shoelaces needed loosening up as my toes were
getting numb, which annoyed me as they felt just fine
starting out. With the temp still comfortable, my first few
miles were 10:33, 9:44, and 10:07, which were comfortable
miles. Temperature started going up, although I still felt
pretty good through the first half. There are many bands
along the way, some pretty good, some not very, which
irritated me later when I wasn't feeling so good. The course
was not hugely scenic, although apparently a good
neighborhood tour (including for some areas you wouldn't
want to visit at night), and starts and ends downtown,
spending some time along the river (nice, but exposed). Did
pass the zoo near the start. I was not being hugely
consistent with my splits, as I fiddled yet again with my
shoelaces, trying to relieve a sudden onset of foot pain
that felt like a Morton's neuroma (got better, so the damn
tight shoelace again, but got me a 10:29 split).
One of the changes for this year was the loop on the Indy
Motor Speedway. This began mile 6. As I entered the
speedway, I heard several folks comment on how cool it was
to be running on the Speedway. They weren't saying that
later! They have lengthened the time spent on the track,
doing the full 2.5 mile circuit, which was almost as bad as
being on a treadmill (although more calories were burnt ;)
There was some recorded music on the tiny speakers, one
group of high school/college cheerleaders, and no bands. We
ran on an inner lane, which was not canted, but packed us
closer than on the roads, with a lot of people slowing down
at that time. It seemed to go on forever, with nothing but
empty bleachers as scenery.
By then, it was definitely warm. I had already (pretty much
from the start) been keeping up with fluids, using the
walking time as a short cool down period, which I think was
a salvation, but ate up more time. Short time on one of the
few shaded areas on the course, passing an ambulance squad
that was working on (I later found out) a 32 year old who
died of a heart attack. Most of the course was very exposed,
and I was really feeling the heat. I still managed to keep
up my speed, but it was becoming quite difficult. I stopped
drinking by mile 8 or 9, as later drinking wouldn't be very
useful because of lag needed for absorption, but was still
using the time to walk, cool down, and pour water on my head
and neck (more time eaten up, but probably worth it) (Note -
in reading the course booklet, since there were 12 water
stations and 5 Gatorade stations, I spent a LOT of time
walking at those water stations). Note to race bands -
consider your music choices carefully- playing that
reggae/island tune of "it's hot, hot, hot" on a hot day is a
BAD choice! If I had had the energy, I would have chewed
them out. As it was, the very loud grunge type bands were
irritating me badly later on (but weren't at first), a
reflection of how I was feeling. With 3 miles to go, I
picked up the pace some (9:42, too much, but realizing how
close I was egged me on), but paid for that. Last mile was
awful. Going into it, I realized I had started getting goose
bumps and was chilling, a bad sign of heat problems). The
last mile is marked with 1/4 mile splits, which went by
terribly slowly, and I was feeling very badly, with nothing
left in me, trying to walk enough to cool down some, but
still wanting to get to the finish. I was seriously worried
about my ability to finish. I don't think I looked very good
either, based on the spectator comments. Had to coax myself
into running, so I could cross the line running. Still, I
must have finished running fast, as my last 1.1 mile was
slow but not as terribly slow as I thought it was.
The medal is nice, with a black and white checked racing
themed ribbon. Plenty of food for the runners - potato
chips (Seyfert's - local company - gulped those down for
the sodium), chocolate chips cookies, candy, bananas,
apples, and Gatorade bars. Bottled water and Gatorade in
cups (although I would have taken more than one bottle if I
had known I wouldn't be able to get more easily later).
Photos taken just before you exit into the blessedly shady
Military Park, to meet family, although I left my daughter
and sister at home. By photo time, I had recovered enough
to generate some enthusiasm for the photo. Too bad I didn't
have any red lipstick with me. Really crowded in the park,
which was irritating, as I wasn't meeting anyone and wanted
room to walk around for a while, stretching easily, before
picking up my bag from the gear check and then taking the
shuttle back.
Nice things along the way - plenty: Shuttle service to the
start ($5) from a business complex not far from my sister's
was convenient. Corralled places, and people seemed to pay
attention to their corrals reasonably well. I wasn't
tripping over people at the start or being run over. They
had changed the start to one single start line, instead of
two lines feeding into the same start line. Another runner
said the old start caused a lot of congestion where the two
lines funneled in together. The run-walkers were well-
behaved (meaning I didn't see 3-4 running abreast and then
suddenly walking.) Volunteers were plentiful and helpful.
Lots of portapotties, and no lines (!). In fact, very little
congestion along the way, apart from the expected walk to
the start, and congestion on the race track. One runner in
their local paper commented that the course had been
straightened out, so there were fewer turns to navigate and
slow down on. I was really amazed to see such a great
turnout, being nearly all Indiana locals, for that kind of
distance (probably a lot of walkers, though, since I was in
corral I, with T being the last corral). Music was nice
(mostly) except for the lack on the Speedway.
Not so nice: the Speedway. The temps. They red flagged the
course later, meaning the combination of the temp and
humidity had done enough people in. Final high was 84 later,
in the upper 70s when the clock turned off. Two more heart
attacks, and some heat stroke, although fewer reports of
heat stroke than I expected. The death probably rattled the
course directors - second one in its history, I think. Clock
was turned off when the course was red flagged, with no
official time therefore for those walkers. If they put up
the yellow caution flag before then, I didn't notice it.
Very little shade. Not a very scenic route. Wouldn't have
minded a few "characters" in the crowd - those Indiana folks
were very nice, but pretty serious. Just saw one set of
women in grass skirts. Being picky - the bib number was not
the usual Tyvex, more like water resistant stiff paper, and
safety pins too easily ripped through.
The final splits: 10:33, 9:44, 10:07, 9:46, 10:29, 10:08,
10:13, 10:28,
501:08, 10:07, 9:42, 10:25, and 11:29. Chip time - 2:13:25.
I guess all in all I should be content. My times don't
do justice to how poorly I felt at the end. Would I do
it again? If I lived locally, yes. Not worth it
otherwise. Plans for the future? Not sure yet - I like
the "real running" nature of the half marathon. Couldn't
possibly find enough time to train for a full marathon,
and not interested in that. Maybe work on speed for
local 10Ks (if I actually can get faster), keep up the
base I've built and maybe increase a little more (not
having to work would be nice). A fall half marathon
would require traveling, so might just stick to Country
Music again next spring.
