OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon (Race Recap)

Saturday, May 5
Indianapolis, IN
Half Marathon #60
State #46
Weather - Hot, HUMID

We never had a different Indiana race in mind. We always intended to run the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon (aka, Indy 500 half marathon). The day before we were supposed to fly out, I received this email from the race:

Oh good! Promises of high temperatures and humidity. My most FAVORITE conditions to race in. NOT. Anyway, we got to Indiana with no problems, hailed a taxi, and we were at our hotel in no time. Who knew that L had picked the most awesome hotel ever. The Crowne Plaza at the historic Union Station. There was a TRAIN right outside our door. Granted, it was not in use and had been renovated into rooms, but still.

Inside our hotel!

We were conveniently located just a few blocks from the convention center, so we walked over to get our packets before dinner.

MORE heat warnings

The expo was crazy crowded. We got our stuff with no problems. I had planned on getting out without purchasing anything, but then L said she didn't want to wear compression socks because she already had a super creepy tan line. I hadn't brought short socks, so I picked up a pair at the expo. No worries, I often try new things on race day...

We walked around the city trying to decide on something to have for dinner.

And made the risky move to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory. After how crappy the service was in Nashville, we pretty much swore off going back. It did not take NEARLY as long to get our food, and it was just as good as last time. Maybe I'll have to give them just ONE more chance.

We had plans to get up just before 6:00, but that didn't stop us from going to bed early. L was in bed by 8, and I didn't stay up past 9:15 or so.

RACE DAY


I had a great night's sleep but of course still felt tired when I woke up. We got ready and headed over to the capital steps to do our half fanatic picture. We stood around and talked for a few minutes, then rushed over to the bathrooms so that we didn't miss the start (again). 7 am we are in our corral wondering where everyone is. Turns out the start wasn't until 7:30. Oops.

Beach balls?

We were a good 10 minutes behind the official start of the race. No big deal, we weren't really in any rush. The sun had already been up for an hour and it was already getting warm and I could definitely feel the humidity.

HUGE American Flag

If you look you can see military and police in FULL gear

We settled into a slowish and easy pace. The course was pretty crowded, as you can imagine with a sell-out crowd of 35,000 runners. I was dripping with sweat within the first half mile. Thankfully, there were (almost literally) a billion aid stations on the course. The first one was the one we had to wait the longest for, just over a mile.

Passing Indianapolis Zoo

Pretty river

There were supposed to be 11 water stations, in ADDITION to the 5 Gatorade stations. In other words, even though it was going to be eleventy billion degrees, it was going to be pretty difficult to get dehydrated. As usual, we stopped at every single water station.

Look how sweaty everyone is. Only a few miles in!

I had to use the bathroom. As crowded as the course was, I was hoping to not have to stop, but around mile 5, I figured I should stop before getting trapped on the race track for 2.5 miles. I had to wait for a minute, but it wasn't too bad. I immediately felt better, and off we went.

I had been warned that the track was NOT exciting, and that 2.5 miles was going to last forever. I have to say, I was actually really looking forward to running on it. Any time I get to run somewhere that the general public isn't normally allowed is fun for me.

Running up to the track - only hill on the course

The track DID go on for a while, but I didn't find it boring. I *finally* understood what "kiss the bricks" meant, as I did see people stop to kiss the bricks (the finish line for the Indy 500).

After exiting the track, we still had just over 5 miles to go. It was about then that the sun decided to come out from behind the clouds. HOLY COW was it hot and humid. Every aid station I was dumping water over my head. There were "sprinkler" stations that I ran through, and it was greatly appreciated that there were spectators out there with hoses. And I had thought that Nashville was hot!

We were keeping a good steady pace, and we were headed back into town. The last mile was pretty cool, it was called "Victory Mile" and the whole street was lined on both sides with spectators and checkered flags.

L took off in a sprint like she always does, but for once, I had some left and was able to catch her, and we both crossed at the same time.

State #46 - We got lots of compliments on our skirt choice

Bib #17447
Official Time - 2:14:17

Official Pace - 10:15

Official 5K - 31:02

Yardofbricks - 1:19:24

Official 11 Mile - 1:53:27
Overall Place - 10595/31166
Gender Place - 3739/16817
Division Place - 739/2739

Garmin Time - 2:14:16

Garmin Distance - 13.26 miles

Garmin Pace - 10:08

Mile 1 - 9:32

Mile 2 - 9:51

Mile 3 - 10:11

Mile 4 - 10:07

Mile 5 - 11:26 (bathroom)

Mile 6 - 10:22

Mile 7 - 10:07

Mile 8 - 10:00

Mile 9 - 10:17

Mile 10 - 9:57

Mile 11 - 10:16

Mile 12 - 10:14

Mile 13 - 9:36

Mile 13.1ish - 7:19 (!!!)

Overall, this was a great race. It was VERY well organized, and the course and volunteers were perfectly capable of handling such a large amount of runners (take note, Rock n' Roll organizers). There were also a TON of bands on the course. So essentially, I ran a Rock n' Roll race but didn't have to pay a ridiculous amount of money. If given the chance, and if the weather were better, I think I would run this one again. One thing to keep in mind on this one, bring your own GU!

We walked back to the hotel right after finishing (without even getting lost!) We both had time to shower, then we took a taxi right to the airport. Had an awesome BBQ cheeseburger and waffle fries for lunch before getting on the plane for our next race...