Quite honestly, the week ended up being a bit anti-climatic. Once I decided I wasn't going for a sub-1:50 race, I was pretty confident. I would run sub-2:00 and even thought 1:55 would be easily obtainable so I was able to relax.
I ended up resting and eating. I've been exhausted lately and really tired on my runs. I started tracking my food again and realized I wasn't eating enough carbs to fuel my runs. So, this being race week, I ate EVERYTHING and it felt pretty darn good!
Sunday 4/30 - Zero miles. Worked all day and was pretty much a starving sleepy train wreck by the time I got home. I was so hungry my stomach hurt too much to eat. I finally just passed out.
Monday 5/1 - Zero miles. Today was suppose to be my day off, rest day. Hubs had other plans and I ended up driving almost to Cincinnati with him so he could pick up a car. Again, starving tired train wreck by the time we got back home. Got back just in time to drive G to Carmel. I was planning to run while she was in class but couldn't. Absolutely too tired and it was pouring rain. Ended up watching "The Barkley Marathons" on Netflix instead.
Tuesday 5/2 - 6 miles. Ran on the county road and the miles flew by. Really enjoyed my run. Then it started pouring rain again and I went to work in the evening.
Wednesday 5/3 - 4 miles. Easy run on the hamster track. It was pouring rain again.
Thursday 5/4 - Rest. Like rest rest rest all day! I had to work the night shift tonight and I knew that two nights before your race, so THIS night, was the important sleep night. Since I was going to be up all night I laid around all day as much as possible. Of course it was pouring rain again so it was pretty easy to do.
Friday 5/5 - Zero miles. Got home from work and slept until noon. Continued to lay around all day the went to the Expo to pick up my race packet. Found out from friends before leaving to drive downtown that some of the roads around my house were flooded and closed so I formulated a drive plan for Saturday morning too. Ran thru Goodwill after the Expo to pick up a throw away jacket for the morning.
Saturday 5/6 - 13.1 miles. Race day! I'm glad I blog so I have something to look back on from year to year about what I did and what time I left the house, etc. as I can never decide what time is a good time to leave the house on race morning. I looked back and saw that I usually get to my favorite parking garage downtown by 6 am. Working backwards I decided to get up at 4:30 am so I could eat and leave in plenty of time to get downtown by then.
Oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, then a banana and bottle of water for the car. My wave didn't start til 7:33 am but I left the house at 5:30 am so I wanted something to eat closer to race time. It was cold. My car said it was 39 degrees.
Got parked, ate, and waited for Margo to get there so we could meet up. Then it started raining. Ugh. This could be awful. We huddled under the entrance of the Eiteljorg museum waiting until it was time to get in the corral.
Me and Margo at the start
Thanks Margo for remembering to take a picture!
Race finally started. It was still spitting rain.
Mile 1 - 8:35. My original plan was to run easy and go out at about 8:45 pace. Well, I felt like I was running very easy but faster than I planned but I just went with it. After the first mile I had warmed up enough to throw my jacket.
Mile 2 - 8:37. Still spitting rain but it was a fine mist. Not enough to really even get you wet. Skies were overcast and the temperature was perfect (40's). This was PR weather. I was a bit annoyed that I wasn't in PR shape to take advantage of it but decided to enjoy what the day brought.
Mile 3 - 8:32
Mile 4 - 8:29
Mile 5 - 8:43
Still running very easy. I hadn't stopped at all for any water or Gatorade but wanted to sip some Gatorade as I knew I'd need the fuel. Problem was, I couldn't find it. Everyone seemed to be offering water but I couldn't find the Gatorade. I looked at the aid stations at both mile 4 and 5. I had a GU with me so I finally took that before I entered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took some water there.
Mile 6 - 8:33. Turned the corner to get onto the track itself and Meb Keflezighi was standing there high fiving everyone. Of course I had to give him a high five too.
Mile 7 - 8:45
Mile 8 - 8:41
Mile 9 - 8:39
Mile 10 - 8:27
Ran around the track without a problem. I cannot tell you how many years I've started suffering on the track! 2012 I had to start walking on the track because it was so hot and I was seeing more black in my vision than anything else. This year the track miles went by without incident and the sun started peeking out. Many runners around me welcomed the sun but I didn't want sun yet; it was perfect the way it was!
Plan was to run conservatively for 10 miles then see what I had left.
Mile 11 - 8:26. This mile felt great. I looked down at my watch at one point, saw that I was on 8:17 pace, and thought I might end up with a decent time after all. I ran the whole race with my watch on lap time mode so I only saw the pace for the mile that I was in. I knew though that I hadn't run anything close to the 8:23 pace I needed for sub-1:50 but I also knew I was under 8:45 pace and 8:45 pace gets you 1:55 so I'd fall somewhere in between 1:50 and 1:55. I saw the overall gun time at mile 11 and realized I could run 10 minute miles from here on in and still make 1:55. For all the years 1:55 had been my goal it was a weirdly satisfying feeling.
Mile 12 - 8:35. Ewww... this mile felt a little harder. First time all race I felt like I was working...
Mile 13 - 9:05. Turned the corner onto New York Street. This is the street we finish on and it's less than a mile to the finish. You turn the corner and run across a bridge over the White River then it's through the IUPUI campus to the finish. I turned the corner and my legs turned to concrete. There was absolutely no finishing speed left. Had to put one foot in front of the other to get myself to the finish line. Well, if my legs were going to bonk (cause my cardio was still in great shape), I guess I'm thankful I made it over 12 miles before it happened. I knew this was a possibility since I hadn't run over 13 miles all year.
Official finish time - 1:53:31
Female 45-49 age group - 45th out of 1026
All females 689 of 10,186
Overall 2908 of 19,067
My goal used to be to finish in the top 25% overall. This year I made the top 16% so I guess I'm moving up in the world!
Mile 1 - 8:35. My original plan was to run easy and go out at about 8:45 pace. Well, I felt like I was running very easy but faster than I planned but I just went with it. After the first mile I had warmed up enough to throw my jacket.
Mile 2 - 8:37. Still spitting rain but it was a fine mist. Not enough to really even get you wet. Skies were overcast and the temperature was perfect (40's). This was PR weather. I was a bit annoyed that I wasn't in PR shape to take advantage of it but decided to enjoy what the day brought.
Mile 3 - 8:32
Mile 4 - 8:29
Mile 5 - 8:43
Still running very easy. I hadn't stopped at all for any water or Gatorade but wanted to sip some Gatorade as I knew I'd need the fuel. Problem was, I couldn't find it. Everyone seemed to be offering water but I couldn't find the Gatorade. I looked at the aid stations at both mile 4 and 5. I had a GU with me so I finally took that before I entered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took some water there.
Mile 6 - 8:33. Turned the corner to get onto the track itself and Meb Keflezighi was standing there high fiving everyone. Of course I had to give him a high five too.
Mile 7 - 8:45
Mile 8 - 8:41
Mile 9 - 8:39
Mile 10 - 8:27
Ran around the track without a problem. I cannot tell you how many years I've started suffering on the track! 2012 I had to start walking on the track because it was so hot and I was seeing more black in my vision than anything else. This year the track miles went by without incident and the sun started peeking out. Many runners around me welcomed the sun but I didn't want sun yet; it was perfect the way it was!
Plan was to run conservatively for 10 miles then see what I had left.
Mile 11 - 8:26. This mile felt great. I looked down at my watch at one point, saw that I was on 8:17 pace, and thought I might end up with a decent time after all. I ran the whole race with my watch on lap time mode so I only saw the pace for the mile that I was in. I knew though that I hadn't run anything close to the 8:23 pace I needed for sub-1:50 but I also knew I was under 8:45 pace and 8:45 pace gets you 1:55 so I'd fall somewhere in between 1:50 and 1:55. I saw the overall gun time at mile 11 and realized I could run 10 minute miles from here on in and still make 1:55. For all the years 1:55 had been my goal it was a weirdly satisfying feeling.
Mile 12 - 8:35. Ewww... this mile felt a little harder. First time all race I felt like I was working...
Mile 13 - 9:05. Turned the corner onto New York Street. This is the street we finish on and it's less than a mile to the finish. You turn the corner and run across a bridge over the White River then it's through the IUPUI campus to the finish. I turned the corner and my legs turned to concrete. There was absolutely no finishing speed left. Had to put one foot in front of the other to get myself to the finish line. Well, if my legs were going to bonk (cause my cardio was still in great shape), I guess I'm thankful I made it over 12 miles before it happened. I knew this was a possibility since I hadn't run over 13 miles all year.
Official finish time - 1:53:31
Female 45-49 age group - 45th out of 1026
All females 689 of 10,186
Overall 2908 of 19,067
My goal used to be to finish in the top 25% overall. This year I made the top 16% so I guess I'm moving up in the world!
Looking at my 5K splits I'd have to say this is one of the most consistent times I've ever ran.
To top off my day, as I was walking out of Military Park a man flagged me down. At first I was confused and thought maybe I had dropped something, but then he started thanking me. He said he started to really struggle in the race but then decided to lock in on me and not let me out of his sight for the rest of the race so I was the one that got him to the finish line. I'm not sure when this happened as I wasn't aware of anyone running with me, but I guess if he was behind me I never would've seen him, but hey, it made my day! All I saw was that his name was "Chuck" on his bib. So Chuck, whoever you are, you made my day!
I was home by 11 am. After that it was grocery shopping and picking G up from dance. J had her senior prom that night and informed me when I got home from the race that she wanted friends over post-prom to spend the night so I spent the rest of the day picking up the house, then lots of prom pictures with the kids before they left. As soon as the kids left, the rest of us went out for dinner too. Back home that evening I marveled at the fact that I could do all this. Years ago, like in my 20's and 30's, I'd run this race and be laid up for the rest of the day. Some years it was days before I could move normally. It's amazing what happens with some consistent training. Not to say my training has at all been really consistent lately, but it's been WAY consistent since I started blogging compared to what I used to do.
After 9 days of rain, the sun came out and stayed out. These are the kids before they left for prom.
It was the perfect Saturday.
23 miles run this week.
LOVE this! So glad you had a really solid run at the Mini. WOOOOHOOO!
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