May 10, 2004
500 FESTIVAL MINI-MARATHON RESULTS / EXPERIENCE
By far, this year's 500 Festival Mini-Marathon was the best of the three road races I've participated in over the last 12 months. To say that I enjoyed this year's race would be a gross understatement. I had an absolute blast. Despite temperatures which rose well into the high 80's, by the time I finished the race I was so pumped and so happy that I thought to myself, "Let's do it again, right now!" In stark contrast to last year's Mini-Marathon, this time around I passed more people than passed me, and I literally enjoyed every step along the way. I even ran for part of the race, which is no small accomplishment.
As I wrote last Thursday, I was aiming to finish the race between 11:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., which would have put me in the 3 hr. to 3 hr. and 15 minute timeframe for the 13.1 mile course. What I hadn't figure on ahead of time though was the 23 minutes it would take my group (located in "Corral Q") to cross the start line. So while the race officially started at 8:03 a.m., Corral Q participants didn't hit the starting line until 8:25 a.m. (that sort of thing is bound to happen when you're running alongside but mostly behind 30,000 of your closest friends and neighbors).
My time--3 hours and 15 minutes on the nose--eclipsed last year's 500 Festival Mini-Marathon time of 4 hrs. and 1 minute by a full 46 minutes, and bettered my time of 3 hrs. and 36 minutes from the October 2003 running of the Indianapolis Half Marathon by 16 minutes. Unfortunately, while I was still out on the road, the race itself was 'Red-Flagged'--which means race officials felt that the temperature on the course was too hot, so they urged those who remained on the course to slow down, and they suspended the timing of the race for those left on the route, and they stopped keeping track of the order in which the remaining runners finished--so I have no official validity of my time or order of finish. Since I purchased someone else's entry into the race (which friend and race coordinator Beth was quick to point out after the race is a very naughty thing to do), if the results of those who finished under the red flag are eventually posted, they'd be found by searching here for bib number "19191", city "Carmel", state "IN", and division either "F" or "F3034" (and you'll have to contact me off-blog for the first name and last name, which the person I purchased my entry from would prefer not have listed here on my website).
Anyway, despite the heated conditions, I had a great time, and before this posts goes on for too much longer, here are some additional highlights from the race:
Best / Worst T-shirt: A guy in front of me at mile number three had a T-shirt which read See you at the finish... Crown Hill Cemetery. Not too encouraging, but at time it did made me laugh. When I got home though and my roommate told me that he'd heard on the news that a 33-year-old male runner had collapsed and died on the course, the T-shirt flashed thru my mind, and this time it wasn't so funny.
Best Overheard Line: Tell me again, why are we doing this? I heard that one at least a half-dozen times this year, as opposed to saying it myself at least a half-dozen times last year!
Best Walking Buddies: Those of you who know me know all too well that I'll talk to just about anyone. So it stands to reason that during a 13.1 mile race, of course I'd met a lot of nice and interesting people along the way. This year's race was no different. The four or so miles I spent walking along with Barb and Angie from Evansville was a real highlight. Both were participating in the race as a part of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, and were walking in honor of Barb's young daughter, Lauren, who is now leukemia-free. I'm going to look into participating in future races as part of Team In Training! Looks like a very worthwhile and fun cause to support. Runner-up in the Best Walking Buddy category... this nice woman named Katie, who it turns out knows my roommate's sister really well because they work together in the same department over at Lilly. Oh, and while we didn't walk/run together during the race itself, I did bump into my other friend named Katie (pictured here), as well as fellow Indianapolis Ambassadors member Stan (pictured here).
Best Lesson Learned: This year I brought along the key to the front door of my apartment AND the key to my apartment building. Last year I forgot the building key, which meant that I was locked out of my building after the race for an excruciating painful amount of time. (Note to self for next year... in addition to wearing a hat--which I did this year but didn't do last year--apply sunscreen to your ears and neck. Right now I'm a little red around my ears and under my collar.)
Biggest Accomplishment: Ran the last mile, non-stop, and even managed to smile afterwards! (Lori, who comments on many of the postings seen here on the Beli-Blog, was there at the finish line and was kind enough to capture some of those smiling moments for all to see... Click here for smile number one, here for smile number two, and here for smile number three. Thanks, Lori, for coming out to support me and your co-worker. The fact that he couldn't be found after the race was my good fortune. There's nothing better than a smiling face to greet you after 13 or so grueling miles!)
Best Fans Along the Race Route: A whole bunch of crazy dudes, a couple of whom are pictured here, out in front of the Hi Neighbor Tavern at around mile number nine or so along the race course were passing out cold beer to anyone who'd had their fill of water and Gatorade. Totally Swedish!
Well, that's all for now on this year's 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. A special thanks goes out to everyone who helped me get to this point... from those of you in Vermont and Connecticut to those right here in Indiana and back in Colorado, you know who you are, as do I... your friendships, encouraging words, and simple acts of kindness have meant a lot to me. You're amazing people. Happy Monday to all!
Posted by Mikal at May 10, 2004 5:05 AM
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Mikal,
Congratulations on a successful completion of your third half-marathon! You were indeed the polar opposite of last year's blistered, wiped-out wreck.
But please, next year, do it under your own name! I worry while you're out there under an assumed identity.
-Beth, The Fairy Godmother of Military Park
Congrats Mikal! You did a great job.... you set your goal, and worked hard to meet it. I hope you'll give some of the triathlons a try this summer. They too are tons of fun, except, none of the triathlons go near the "Hi Neighbor Tavern".
Anyone want to hire me as a photographer? Guess I could do birthday parties, weddings, etc...LOL ;-)
