500 Festival Mini Marathon HM

Goal: 1:25:00. Dream goal: 1:23:00.

I decided to run this race, because after I signed up for the Derby Mini, it turned out that I'll be traveling that weekend. So I needed another half marathon in the spring, and this seemed nice. In retrospect, the fact you have to pick up the packet the day before, so I had to drive to Indianapolis twice in two days, is a bit of a pain.

Since it is a two hour drive, and the race is huge, I got up at 3:15 AM in the morning to be able to leave home at 4:00, and to get to Indy at 6:00. The race started at 7:33, but we were supposed be in our corrals at 7:00, and with 30 thousand participants in this race, I didn't want to risk parking issues. I parked the car at 6:00, and I was in the start area at 6:30. It was a bit boring to wait for the start, but with these many people, I think I made the right choice. At least I could a do a good warmup. I got into Corral A at about 7:10 and lined up at about third-fourth line. I was only a few yards from the start line. I admired a few African elites in front with their child size bodies that is capable of maintaining sub-5 minute pace for the distance of a marathon.

We had a bit of a silence for Boston. With the adrenaline pumping in me, or because I was so focused on running, I got quite emotional, especial thinking about the child victim of the bombing. Then we listened to the anthem of my adopted home country. At 7:30, we saw the wheelchairs off, and 3 minutes later we were off running.

It is always a bit surreal running a race. Somehow I just don't feel the effort the same way. Noticing my fast breathing I knew I was running hard, but subjectively it felt easy. So I did a bit of a jackrabbit start (I do this all the time), and the first mile was over in no time.

Mile 1: 6:07 (All splits are Garmin splits, and it showed 13.15 at the end)

OK, that's unquestionably too fast. I have to slow down gradually, because this is guaranteed blowup. We ran through some streets here; I don't have a lot of memory of these, except that I didn't find Indy particularly nice. Supposedly we ran by the White River, but I don't remember water. I was just too focused on running.

Mile 2: 6:13

Still too fast. I let people pass me, because I knew I had to get back to the crowd who are running at 6:20 pace. I have to say it is a bit demoralizing to let people pass you. My breathing became a bit more relaxed.

Mile 3: 6:18

Yeah, yeah, still a bit too fast. But I felt pretty good and the bands here were playing old Rock'n'Roll. It's hard to control yourself. Maybe this was the part of the race when I blew my sub-1:23 chances. The 5K mark had a clock that I passed at 19:23, and that's only 12 seconds off of my PR from 2011, the last time I ran a 5K. (It would probably be easy to run a sub-19 5K if I tried.) But it also meant that the Indiana Runners thread would know I crossed the 5K point with this time. "If I blow this, they will be so disappointed", I thought. Slow down...

Mile 4: 6:15

Too fast. Got to slow down. I let a few more people pass. I also started to feel the heat (it was 60 degrees). I took water at an aid station and poured half of it over my head.

Mile 5: 6:24

That's more like it. Now I was among people who I thought may have the same speed as me.  We entered the vicinity of the famous racetrack. I ran quite relaxed, telling myself that we still have most of the race ahead.

Mile 6: 6:31

We entered the racetrack, and I guess it was supposed to be really special,  but to me it meant essentially nothing. Except that it had a nice straight (or slightly curved) very smooth asphalt road. I saw a guy throwing up by the the track. I though: what a shame that he maintained this hard pace so far, and now his race is over.

Mile 7: 6:25

Now I was down to my 1:23 goal pace average (6:20/mile), so it was time to maintain it. I tried to pace off of people around me, but I soon realized that I wasn't the only one who went out too fast. I started to pass people back who just passed me. The track was long, windy, and boring.

Mile 8: 6:20

At this point I saw that I ran the exactly correct pace in the last mile, but it felt I was working hard, so it was a bad sign... Still, I would have blamed myself forever if I didn't try to finish the race at this pace. We left the track and I was till passing people, but I knew I wasn't fast, but instead they were slowing.

Mile 9: 6:25

I noticed that I was a few seconds off of my 1:23 pace. Still 4+ miles left, so I can't kill myself. I just tried to pace off of a guy in a red T-shirt, who seemed to maintain the right pace, but I was quite tired and he started to slip away.

Mile 10: 6:17

We ran along a long straight road, and I already imagined this to be the finish line, but of course it wasn't. I passed the 10-mile marker at 1:03:20, which is the right pace for 6:20/mile, 1:23 finish. Only 5K was left, so I decided I would give everything. Pushed hard, passed a few people. I was hurting, but my pace was still controlled.

Mile 11: 6:17


We turned onto the road by the river. The field thinned out quite a bit here, and I ran alone in the turn. I felt I was very slow. I changed to a somewhat irregular breathing, because I just needed more oxygen. I tried to do the same strategy: pushing hard, controlled pace, but I was hurting badly. I started to look at my watch just to see how long I was along within the mile. Again, I saw a guy stopped (almost collapsed) by the road.

Mile 12: 6:26

We turned onto a bridge and so we had to climb the slight incline to the bridge. It was nothing, but it killed me. Finally I understood how it feels to blow up at the end of a race. It was not in my head. I was able tell my brain to go fast, but my body just switched off the circuits. I was going as fast as I could. People now passed me.

Mile 13: 6:32

Not terrible, but I saw the finish clock turning 1:23, which was a mild disappointment. I sprinted down to the line.

Remaining: ~52 seconds, sub 6-min pace.
Final time: 1:23:28 (chip time) 143rd overall (out of 30064), 29th in age group (out of 1982).

I was very tired in the finish; a volunteer asked me multiple times if I was OK. We got our worthless medals (everybody gets one), but as a nice touch they gave a "500 club" medal to the first 500 finishers.

This is my first race in a while when I didn't achieve my dream goal, but I still did achieve my regular goal, and more. I think with proper training and ideal race conditions (60 degrees was about 10 degrees too high) I should be able to run sub-1:23, but maybe I really should focus on the queen of all races: the marathon. McMillan is now quite positive that I could break 3 hours.

Post race party was OK, but they didn't give me my free "beer" (I'm putting quotation marks here, because it was Michelob Ultra) without my ID, which I left in my car. I mean come on, I'm 37. I walked back to my car and got back to the finish area a good 1/2 hour later. The area was extremely crowded by then. The two-hour folks have just arrived.

I have to say that even though the organization was extremely efficient, and I'm sure the silly ID rule must be followed if they don't want to get in trouble, I didn't really like this race. Car racing means nothing to me, and frankly, Indianapolis is not very pretty. Besides, the race is just too big. Sure, I can start from the front, but I have to arrive 90 minutes early, I have to park a mile from the start line, and there are just too many people everywhere. The KY Derby Half instead runs through beautiful Old Louisville with its Victorian homes, Churchill Downs, and it's about half the size. Plus, I live in Louisville.

Next immediate goal is to piggyback something off of this training. Might not be anything before Bernheim HM, but that would also be nice.