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Recap of the 39th annual One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, IN

One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon 
May 3, 2014
www.500festival.com/marathon/

My Run:  Overall, the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (“the Mini”) in Indianapolis was my 15th half marathon. This was the fifth year to run the Mini, which is the largest half marathon and fifth largest road race in the U.S. with 35,000 runners.  The Mini is part of the month-long 500 Festival that leads up to the Indianapolis 500. I missed last year’s Mini due to injury, but was able to defer my registration to this year.

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Not sure about the quality or quantity of the hay, but whatever I have is in the barn for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon tomorrow in Indianapolis.

I was able to get in 2 tune up runs this week. The first was an easy 4-miler on Wednesday through the streets of Bellevue at approximately 9-minute pace. After taking 3 days off I was surprised at how bad my legs felt. I guess this was a lingering result from my miserable 13-miler on Saturday.

The second was a 4.75-mile run yesterday on the Harpeth River Greenway. After a 1-mile warmup, my plan was to do 3-miles at goal race pace. I ended up running waaaay too fast with an average pace of 7:34 per mile. This was a mistake for several reasons:

1.) I was pretty tired at the end, which is not smart. Didn’t want to trash my legs for the race.

2.) My goal pace is closer to 7:40, but I have no idea if this is attainable. I know I can complete 3-miles at 7:34, but this doesn’t tell me much about how I would have felt at 7:40 pace.

3.) This offered no practice at maintaining 7:40 pace.

So, tomorrow I’m just going to run by feel and hope to keep every mile under 8:00. This will guarantee a finish of 1:45 or less. If I push much harder than this, especially early on, I’m afraid I may end up walking.

Cross Training

Haven’t done much this week, but did get in a half set of P90X Chest and Back on Monday and X-Stretch last night.

Beast Mode…On

Since this is race week, I’m only going to run 3 days at the most before the race on Saturday. Here is my plan:

Tuesday – 3 to 5 miles easy
Thursday – 5 miles with 3 at race pace
Friday – 2 mile shakeout run

After my dreadful 13-miler on Saturday I have no idea what to expect in Indy. I was hoping to better my 1:41 from the Tom King Half in early March, but I’m honestly just going to run according to feel on race day.

Cross Training

Even though I didn’t run today, I did get in another half set of P90X Chest and Back. It is humbling how much upper-body strength I’ve lost, but I’m determined to get it back.

Beast Mode…On!

While thousands in Nashville were running the Country Music Half Marathon, I was doing my own 13.1-mile run this morning. There was not a group run today, so did a solo-run starting off at the Chickering Rd entrance of Percy Warner Park and then running to Radnor Lake and back. While I did have one stretch from miles 7 to 10 where I felt good, the majority of this run was brutal. I made the mistake of not carrying fluid with me, and the temperatures got up into the mid-70s before I finished. I was also dealing with a lot of soreness and fatigue from my hard track workout on Thursday.

I really struggled with the fatigue and soreness on the way out, and several times I thought about just cutting it short. However, the payoff in the middle was awesome getting to run for a little bit by the beautiful Radnor Lake. I was also finally able to get some fluids (and take a GU) at the Nature Center.

Once I started back, my legs came alive for a few miles, and I got into a nice little groove. This lasted until I was about halfway through mile-11, and the heat started getting to me. I still kept a decent pace, but couldn’t wait for the run to be over.

Even though this was clearly not one of my better runs, I still did all but 3-miles under 9:00 pace (I was not trying to push it). Hopefully there will be cooler conditions for the Indy Mini Marathon next weekend.

Beast Mode….ON!

I believe that 2012 was the first time I had ever written down my running goals, and I ended up with a pretty successful year in spite of my stress fracture. For 2013 I’m doing away with all goals related to total mileage or running a certain number of races, and instead focusing on racing achievements.

• Stay Healthy – This first one is a direct result of missing 6-weeks of training with a femoral stress fracture in 2012. While this could mean a lot of different things, I’m going to try and put a quantifiable measurement on it. My goal is to avoid any running injury that would cause me to miss more than a week of training. To work toward this goal I’m going to try and be smarter than I was in 2012, however I still plan on pushing the envelope as it relates to my capabilities.

• Qualify for the 2014 Boston Marathon – After completing my “Quest for 3:15” last year, my attention immediately shifted to qualifying for Boston. In order to qualify for 2014, I will have to run a sub-3:10 marathon (7:14 average pace) between now and early October (most likely). My current PR is 3:12:28, but I’m still trying to regain my speed and endurance after coming back from the stress fracture. My first chance at this will be on February 24 at the 2013 Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon, which is also the site of my current PR. It’s probably unrealistic that I’ll be ready for a BQ by then, but I do think it is achievable in 2013.

• Run a Sub-1:29 Half Marathon – My current PR of 1:29:52 was set on one of the hardest courses that I’ve ever run at the 2012 Oak Barrel Half Marathon. I’ve had a lot of bad luck In other races with much faster courses, and I do not feel that my PR is indicative of my capabilities, especially at their peak in 2012. To that end, I want to break 1:29 (or better) in 2013. That will require maintaining an average pace of 6:47, which is a bit daunting.
• Finish in the Top 500 at the 2013 500 Festival Mini Marathon – This is one of my absolute favorite races, and I’m registered to participate for my 5th consecutive year in 2013. The Mini is the largest half marathon in the US with 35,000 runners. To go along with the “Indy 500” theme, the first 500 finishers get a special medal in addition to the normal medal that all finishers receive. I got one of these for the first time in 2012 with a finish time of 1:31, but this was aided by the oppressive humidity for last year’s race. In previous years, it required a finish time of 1:28 or better to achieve this mark.

Well, there it is for what it’s worth. What are your running goals for 2013?

runningmyownrace replied to your post: One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon (Indianapolis)

This is on my bucket list! Do you live in Indiana? I went to school at IU so I would love to do this race. Maybe next year.

I actually live in Tennessee, but love Indianapolis and love this race. It is a good race to put on a bucket list. A lot of race directors could learn a lot from the organization of the Mini Marathon.

Just registered for the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (the Mini) for the fifth year in a row. The Mini is the nation’s largest half-marathon, having sold out with 35,000 participants for the past 11 years. The course for the Min begins in downtown Indianapolis, and then heads west toward the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and does a complete lap around the 2.5 mile track before heading back downtown to the finish line.

This is a fantastic race on a flat and fast course. Lord willing Nathan and I will be lined up in seeded corral A on May 4th, ready to go really low, and get the coveted “500” medal for being one of the first 500 finishers! Who else is running the Mini?

Also looking forward to some awesome steak and shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse!

Updated Race Results and Personal Records (PR)

Recap of the 37th annual One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, IN

One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon 
May 5, 2012
www.500festival.com/marathon/

My Run:  Overall, the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (“the Mini”) in Indianapolis was my 12th half marathon. This was the fourth year in a row that I have run the Mini, which is the largest half marathon and fifth largest road race in the U.S. with 35,000 runners.  The Mini is part of the month-long 500 Festival that leads up to the Indianapolis 500.

I was finally able to look up my official stats from the 500 Festival Mini Marathon this morning in Indianapolis.

My time was 1:31:28 which was 418th overall out 31,129 finishers (top 1.3%). As I said earlier my goal had been to break 1:28, but that was before the forecast of higher than normal heat and humidity. The humidity ended up being 95% at the start and 81% at the finish, and was a huge factor in the race. Considering these conditions I’m ecstatic with my time and especially with getting the special “500 Club” medal for the first time.

In addition to this it was a fun trip with my wife Olivia and good friend Paxton. I love running road trips!

Well, tonight I went a little bit off the reservation. After starting to feel better on Tuesday, John had advised me to do all easy runs for the remainder of the week leading up to the 500 Festival Mini Marathon on Saturday. Tonight was supposed to be 4 to 6 miles easy and 4 x 100m stride outs. However I had planned on asking John at track tonight if I could get in 2 to 3 miles at goal race pace with an easy warmup and cool down. When I arrived at Vanderbilt I learned that John would not be there so I just made the executive decision to proceed with my alternate plan.

I have not done a race pace run since last Tuesday morning and have run a lot of easy miles since then. I know it would have been better to do any race pace work earlier in the week, but I really wanted to feel that faster pace again before Saturday. So, I ended up doing a 1.3-mile warmup followed by 3 continuous miles on the track at goal race pace and then a 1-mile cool down.

The 3-miles at race pace were at a 6:41 average and felt good and fairly relaxed. I mentioned yesterday that I could tell my energy level was down after being sick, but the run did not feel like that tonight. However after downloading my Garmin, my heart rate was a bit higher than I was expecting and even higher that what it reached during my 4-mile race pace run last Tuesday. I think a lot of this has to do with the warmer temperatures and humidity, though the conditions are probably going to be even worse on Saturday for the race. I’m thinking that I may start off with a pace around 6:50 on Saturday and then just take it by feel from there based on the conditions.

Beast Mode…ON!

It looks like it is definitely going to be a HOT one for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis on Saturday with Olivia and my friend Paxton. The forecast just is not relenting. I’m trying to figure out how much I need to adjust my goal to accomodate these conditions. With good weather I was hoping to break 1:28, now I have no idea what to expect.

After missing Monday and Tuesday with a bad head-cold, it was good to get back on the road this morning. My legs felt good after the marathon on Saturday, but my cold just exploded on Sunday and I ended up spending most of the day in the bed after morning worship at Bellevue Church of Christ. On Monday I stayed in bed until after 10am and didn’t go into work until after lunch. I started feeling better on Tuesday, but John advised me to take that day off as well since there wasn’t much to be gained before the 500 Festival Mini Marathon on Saturday.

For the rest of the week, John has me doing easy runs of various distances with 4 x 100m stride outs. Today’s schedule called for 4-miles and I was joined by my friend Paxton running through the streets of Bellevue. I ran in my Saucony Hattoris and we kept the pace very easy which was good because the humidity was crazy even at 6:30am. I was drenched after the run. Overall my legs felt fantastic, but I could tell that my energy level was down a bit from being sick. Hopefully this will come around before the race on Saturday.

We finished with stride outs in the church parking lot, and it felt pretty good to run fast. I’m a bit worried about the forecast for the race on Saturday which is calling for highs in the mid 80s and humidity over 70%. If this turns out to be the case, I’m definitely going to have to dial back my expectations.

Well…the weather forecast for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon this weekend in Indianapolis is not looking much better than the Country Music Marathon last weekend in Nashville. It’s gonna be HOT for racing. Might not be able to go as fast as I’d hoped.

Even though this is a lighter week leading up to the Country Music Marathon, today’s schedule called for a 6-mile tempo run which included a 1-mile warmup, 4-miles at half marathon pace, and 1-mile cool down. Coming into this morning my legs were fairly tired because of a 2.5-mile run with Kate late yesterday afternoon for the ING Kids Rock Marathon followed by P90X Legs & Back with Olivia last night.

The temps this morning remained cool and quite comfortable with a little bit of cloud cover. Nathan and I met at the Edwin Warner Nature Center and ran our 1-mile warmup on the Harpeth River Greenway. We continued down the greenway for the tempo portion and on into Bellevue. As I’ve said before, my target pace for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon (a week from Saturday) is 6:42. With this in mind I wanted to average around this pace and since my legs were already tired I tried to think about this like the last 4-miles of the race. Nathan took a little bit of a head start since he wanted to run at a slightly slower pace, however he ran really strong and there was no way I could catch him.

Most of the first two miles were relatively flat and the splits were 6:37 and 6:38. Even though my pace was good I didn’t feel that great. Not bad, just not as comfortable as I would like. Miles three and four were mostly in Bellevue and contained a few hills. This caused me to slow a bit for mile three with a 6:40, but I was able to finish out with a 6:35. Still felt ok, but not fantastic.

On the bright side I was able to hold pace even though I had tired legs and was never fully comfortable during the tempo portion. Nathan and I joined back up for the 1-mile cool down which felt great after the hard effort.

Today was also the first time in a while I’ve run with a heart rate monitor. My coach John had asked me to train with one for a while so he could monitor my heart rate during different types of runs. Not sure what he will think about this one, but my heart rate was actually lower than I was expecting during the tempo sections.

Tomorrow is a day off, which is gonna feel strange, but I know my body needs it to get ready for Saturday.

Beast Mode….ON!

500 Festival Mini Marathon Long-Sleeve Shirt – As great a race as this is (and it is fantastic), they’ve had really, really pathetic t-shirts over the last three years:

• Three years ago the shirt was cotton, but almost the entire thing was screen printed, and was about as soft as a cardboard box. 

• Two years ago they switched to a technical material, but again it was covered in screen print, and it had the texture of a burlap sack. Might be good as an exfoliator, but not for running. 

• Last year they had a softer technical material, but again it had a solid screen-print on the front that was bigger than my head, which ended up making the shirt stiff and uncomfortable.

From the picture above, it looks like they’ve finally come up with a more minimal design that is striking. Have no idea about the material, but this looks like a big improvement for 2012.

The mini is my favorite race!

I LOVE the Mini….This will be my fourth year in a row to run it. It is by far the most well organized big race I’ve ever participated in, and the only race that I’ve run each of the past four years.