Friday afternoon I made my way down to the Expo early afternoon with hopes of meeting up with other ambassadors, but I arrived earlier than I had planned and got through all the exhibits in pretty short order. Picked up my shirts - in doing the mega mini challenge, I get 3 shirts and 3 medals; One for each race and a third for the challenge. Thought I might line up to meet Meb, but the line was already over 2 hours long, so I settled for snapping a photo of him signing autographs. Had an identical experience with him in Vegas last year.
Back home, carbed up with pizza king breadsticks and in bed around 9, sound asleep by 10.
Alarm goes off at 4:45, and I'm into my race day routine. Shower, body glide, and all the gear that's been laying out since the night before (yes, I stuck with the same set up as the Carmel race). Toast with peanut butter, banana and Gatorade for the car ride down. I'm out of the garage by 5:20.
No traffic at all and I'm parked by 6:25 in the same lot I've parked in many times before. Short walk to the port a pot, no gear check needed, and I'm in the corral by 6:40 for the 7:00 start of the 5k.
Lined up to the front but stayed to the side. Lots of kids around me, most are part of a group or club. Back Home Again in Indiana, count it down, and we're off! Those kids around me sprint out like they're in a 100 yard dash and I'm jogging easy just trying not to trample or get trampled. Catch a few elbows from the early jockeying, yes it is very crowded, but I hold my line and make up my pace as I go.
I ran tall and with alot of confidence from the gun, and had no reason to stress anything This was my first time running the 5k here and I knew the course mirrored the mini course for the first mile, but once it turns across the bridge it takes a weird turn through an apartment complex that gets even more strange when you run through the IUPUI dental clinic parking lot - seems odd, but I guess you gotta do whatever it takes to make 3.1 work when you're sharing a start and finish line for two races. The best part is kicking back out on to New York Avenue and heading to the finish line. Worked my way around all those little kids that ran out of gas and finish with a smile!
I absolutely nailed this race - I thought I'd run a 33:33, but had a hard time holding back. I literally nailed every mile with an identical pace for a 32:45 finish! And the best part - I STILL FELT GREAT!
A designated lane for the Mega Mini participants puts me in line for a sticker on my bib instead of receiving my medal. I'll pick up the 5k medal later - I grab a water and take the first exit back on to the street to head back to the starting corrals. Went ahead and hit the portapotty one more time (never miss an opportunity), and I'm now in search of corral M. Wave 2 starts at 7:45 and they're on their way. That means I've still got 15 minutes to find my way through the gates for the start of my Wave 3. Plenty of time for another selfie and facebook post.
Once we started moving forward to the start line, I was really getting excited. I felt so good...and yet for some reason, I decided to take a powerbar gel. I had 3 in my pocket anticipating a hot day that I might want something extra later - I have used powerbar gels for years, but had yet to train with them this year. Spoiler alert: I think this was my only mistake of the day - and it was a big one.
3, 2, 1...and we're off, I literally skipped my way to the start line and fell right into the rhythm of my stride. Again, lots of crazies weaving in and out, but I wasn't phased. Enjoyed looking around and even yelled out to a college fraternity brother, Jeff Klinck, whose band, Midnight Fire, always plays for the race in the first half mile!
Miles 1, 2, and 3 were picture perfect for me! 10:59, 10:48, 10:46 - This is the exact pace that I planned to run all day - and I'm feeling in perfect control to do so.
Miles 4 and 5 were also right in line at 10:50 and 10:54, but VERY shortly into the 6th mile, I felt a little rumbly in my tummy! It was sudden and painful. Also early in that mile the winds picked up and I actually felt cold; very cold. It didn't take long for me to assess that I was dehydrated. I had skipped a water station at mile 2 and I likely did not have enough water between races as I was likely continuing to perspire while I was waiting to start the second race.
At this point, I had no choice but to walk. It was WAY to early to be doing this. I assumed my worst case scenario for walking was mile 10, and I had not even gotten to the track yet. Maybe if I could just walk for a minute it would pass?
We're about to enter the track and I spot my friend, Scott Smalstig standing with his son along the road (Scott's wife Tara was running today but I never saw her) - Seeing Scott gave me a burst of energy, so I jumped into a run and headed straight toward him! Double high 5s up top and some words of encouragement was just what I needed! I jogged into the tunnel that goes under the track and into the speedway, but as I hit the base of the hill and began to climb out of the tunnel to the infield, my body felt like it literally ran out of gas. I had NOTHING! I was moving at a snails pace to get to mile 6 and watched my watch click off a 12:51 pace.
Normally this would motivate me to get moving, but that was not the case today. The winds continued to pick up, my body began to shiver, and then....raindrops! C'mon Man! Seriously? I can walk pretty fast, and did all I could to keep moving forward at a quick pace. I started making up games - silly games - like...I'll let 50 runners pass me before I start jogging until I pass 10 walkers and repeat. Or...I'll walk 2 minutes before I run 1 minute and repeat. And even, I'll walk 5 fence posts before I run 15 fence posts and repeat. At the end of the day, the only thing I held on to was keeping every mile UNDER 14 min/mile pace.
Mile 7, 8 and 9 can be deemed a "success" based on this mission - 13:42, 13:47, 13:55. I really didn't feel much better and to make matters worse, I could feel the calf muscles cramping each time I tried to push off into a running stride. To add insult to injury, I could also feel some burning/chaffing under my arms rubbing on my tank - likely because of the rain and the change in my stride and arm swing while walking.
Miles 10, 11 and 12 were an absolute gut check. Survival mode. I literally would watch my pace drift into the 14s before I would run it down to the high 13s and as I neared the mile markers would pick it up to "save" the mile - check out these paces - 13:57, 13:58, 13:59! You can't make this stuff up! It is sad to say, but it was ALL I HAD to do this. My body HURT! And why not, I'm well over 15 miles total for the day at this point!
So you would think the final mile would be heroic right...nope...I'm telling you I was spent - mile 13 was a smoking fast 13:53! Of course the course is measuring long based on my inability to run the tangents, so I actually have 0.3 to go at this point. I was running with my phone so that Molly could track me and it was also nice to read her texts of encouragement to me on my watch throughout the day! I had considered pulling the phone out many times while walking, but knew I was "giving up" if I did that. At this point, though, what the heck.
I opened it up and tried to do my first LIVE video on facebook while I finished, but it told me my connection was too weak. Turns out a short video actually did go out, but it was cut short. I fumbled with it a little more as I approached the finish line and finally just decided to shoot this video instead....
It's terrible quality, but what do you expect! Hopefully what you feel is the pure exhaustion with just a hint of pride! It was totally spontaneous and my mind was mush - (when I turn the camera toward the announcer, you can hear him say "Right on Christopher, You got this thing Christopher") It was not how I thought my 20th half marathon would be end, but it's always a proud moment to reach any finish line!
Official Finish Time 2:47:52 - nearly 18 minutes slower than what I had in mind for the day. Of course now with some time to further reflect, I really can't be too upset - It's called the Mega Mini Challenge for a reason, so give me my medal and let's move on!
Speaking of medals - how sweet is this! The Mini Medal actually fits inside the 5k wreath medal. And the 16.2 Challenge Medal is HUGE! The Borg Warner trophy is iconic for the 40th running of the Indy Mini in 2016, the same year that the Indy 500 celebrates 100 years of racing! It's going to be a great month of May in Indy!
Naturally, I took the time to thank my friends from Prairie Farms for the best recovery drink on the planet! I chugged an entire bottle before they snapped this one and blasted it all over instagram and twitter! Be sure to follow Indiana Dairy this month to win great prizes!
And even though I didn't PR the 5k or the half - it was a PR of sorts for a combined effort of 16.2... so, I got one last pic with 3 of my mini ambassador friends in front of the PR Bell! That's 12 medals between us!!
Final thoughts:
1) The Indy Mini is easily taken for granted because it's right here in my back yard! It is truly the greatest race in the state, if not the nation, and I will not take it for granted ever again!
2) Meb never did catch me?!
3) I have a lot of work to do before the NYC marathon in November
4) I must start training with gels again on long runs
5) Perspective is a good thing - in 20 half marathons I have ran as fast as 1:57:36 and as slow as 3:59:29
Here are some screencaps that marathonfoto grabbed of me...I kinda like a couple of them, so I might throw a few bucks their way...
Join me next year???
