I ran the Inaugural Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon in ’08, my first marathon at the Monumental in ’09, and then today’s half to keep up the streak. The injury that kept me side-lined for the past few months really threw a wrench in my hopes to PR this year, but I wasn’t going to miss the race in spite of that. My longest run since the Flying Pig in May was a 7 mile run last Sunday, so I knew that I wouldn’t be running the whole race. And I knew that I shouldn’t run it even if my mood changed on race day: I’ve spent this much time recovering so my biggest goal for the day was not to trigger a relapse.
Fortunately, my friend Vinnie was going to be race-walking the half also, so we made plans to start together. Over the past week or two, my plans changed from walking the first 6-7 miles, to walking 5-6, to play it by ear but definitely walking the first few and running the rest. I hoped that by having the goal of walking the beginning portion, it would keep my ego from taking over and me doing something stupid (like “if I’ve run 9 miles, surely I can run the rest…”).
Race morning brought cold weather and I really had no idea how to dress for a race walk. I decided to err on the side of caution and risk overdressing, since I could always shed more layers as I warmed up. I probably looked ridiculous in my fleece and long skirt, but I was nice and warm in the starting corral! We met up with most of the other IRC folks in the Marriott lobby, got a pic, then we all took off for our respective places. Vinnie and I settled in around the 12:00 min/mile group and waited for the start. I peeled of my long, warm skirt (revealing my oh-so-sexy capri tights over my hot new argyle running skirt) and we shuffled toward the starting line. Yeah! It’s time to GO! Here is a picture of me in my starting outfit at home the day before, just so you can all appreciate my finely honed sense of fasion.
Vinnie and I kept our walking pace between 12:06 to 12:33 min/mile for the first 4 miles (I still wonder if she was holding back for me, that woman is speedy!). I was nicely warm now and had shed the fleece layer, feeling good and strong and we’re passing some of the slower runners with our race-walk pace. As we passed the 4-mile point, I told Vinnie that I was going to make a stop at the next port-o-let station and for her to go on ahead at that point, I was going to go ahead and run from that point. So much for walking the first half, huh? ;) That mile (including the rest stop) clocked in at 14:13, I lost almost 2 whole minutes there. Grrr…maybe less coffee next time.
I picked it up a little bit from there, nothing aggressive with my pace, just enough to bring it to a slow run. I tried to keep things around the 11:00 mark but by the time I finished the 10th mile, it was getting harder to do so I started some walk breaks and revised my goal to just keeping my pace below 12:00. While I wasn’t having any pain, fatigue was definitely a factor. I suppose that’s to be expected with as little running as I’ve been able to do since May, but still disappointing in its own way. Miles 6-10 were pretty strong but 11 through 13 were in the 11:45-11:55 range (looking back, I guess that’s still pretty consistent). As we came through the downtown, I walked probably half of mile 11: I was tired, losing focus, and it was hard to keep running when I knew that this wasn’t a “race” for me. I wanted to do well, but without the motivation of “racing” I kind of had the “what’s the point” attitude nagging at me. Oh, well, got my mojo back in time to put on a better show of it as we went through Monument Circle and into the home stretch. Somewhere in there, I heard someone yell out “Christy, nice skirt” or something to that effect…I still don’t know who that was! Fess up if it was you!
It was AMAZING to see the elite marathoners as they finished mile 23, merging with us at mile 10. Those guys were FLYING! I missed the winner, but saw several of the other leaders as they zipped by me. Unbelievable and very impressive to see. This was also where I saw the lovely Melissa, thanks for coming out to cheer us on! It was great to see a familiar face among the spectators. I will say that (other than the cheering from Melissa) the crowd today was a bit of a letdown after the enthusiasm of the Chicago Marathon. I suppose that I’ve been spoiled. It would be nice if Indy could generate that kind of a spectator crowd, but I know it’s unlikely to happen.
I’m glad that I remember how the course finishes, even with that it feels like the finish just doesn’t come as quickly as you expect it to. Another turn? Really? I think we should be done by now! It also didn’t help that my Garmin had a finishing distance of 13.3 miles, but you have to run until you cross the finish. As I prepared to enter that very last turn, I spotted Aaron and I waved madly to get his attention—yay! He jogged along beside me until the crowds got in his way, then I was left to finish that last stretch on my own. I heard Mary yelling for me at the turn and then I took it up a couple of gears and sprinted (if you can call it that…) the last 0.1 miles. I again heard someone yelling my name (I think it was Mary Jane and Darrell), but I was intent on kicking through to the finish so I didn’t track down the source. Thanks, MJ and Darrell! Finished with a time of 2:38:24 for an overall pace of 12:06.
Now it’s time for me to move on to some serious rebuilding. Over the winter, I’ll probably aim to run 2 to 3 mid-week runs of about 4 miles and keep the long run around 5-7 miles. I’m hoping that by February, I’ll be ready to get into some speedwork and in better shape to start training for a spring half. I am thinking that I’ll stick to half marathons for a long while: I prefer to race that distance, the training isn’t nearly as time intensive, and I’d like to work on developing something closer to speed. Happy with my outing today, although it was my slowest half ever, it was also good for me right now. Congrats to the other runners, we had some very impressive PR’s out there today!
