2010 Mini Marathon

Yesterday in Indianapolis the temperature was 80, the sun was out most of the day, and it was a bit windy. This morning the temperature was barely 50, the sun was no where to be seen, and the wind was howling. Naturally it was Mini Marathon morning.

I woke up at 5:45 (race start was 7:30) and ate a bagel + peanut butter, my typical pre-race/pre-long run breakfast. I had no stomach problems during the day so I’d say this breakfast worked perfectly for me again.

When I picked up my packet yesterday at the expo I discovered (to my surprise) that I was in corral E (they go all the way to Z!). The nice part about this was that it was the same corral that my friend Nicole was starting in (she’s a speed demon though – her time was 1:53!!! Next year she’s busting through 1:40, I just know it!). It was also nice because I wouldn’t be dodging walkers the whole time. The huge downside, however, which I discovered very quickly was that I would be being dodged nearly the whole race. I’m not sure why I was seeded so high (I used my last half time which was a 2:09), but next year I’ll start much further back so that I can do some passing. It’s depressing to be passed the whole time.

My game plan had been to run the whole race with Nicole, in hopes of break the elusive 2 hours. I started out fine with her for the first mile. During the second, I realized she was going to be going faster than I was comfortable with and I told her to go. I’m glad I did because I think I would have held her back.

The race was a struggle for me the whole time. My quads felt heavy and I just didn’t feel fast. I should say, since I haven’t been blogging so you all aren’t aware, that I hurt my foot on April 15th. I’m not sure what I did to it but I was worried it was a stress fracture since I’ve had one of those before, so I only ran twice between April 15th and today. My last long run was April 10th, which was a 15k. I didn’t even get the same 15k time today that I had on April 8th. I definitely lost some endurance and speed by taking all that time off. Just goes to show how important training really is.

I ended up finishing in 2:20:33 which was a pace of 10:38/mile (recall that at my last half marathon in October I finished in 2:09 and my last Mini Marathon was in 2:12). This was the first half marathon where I didn’t PR. To be honest I’m disappointed. I really wanted to do big things this year. I hate always saying “There’s always next year.” The bottomline is that I weigh at least 5 pounds, if not 10 more than I did last year at this time, and I have been eating anything but health for the past year. I don’t know how I can expect to improve my time without getting more in shape which I just can’t do without losing some weight.

In the end though, I’m proud that I finished today. It was my fifth half marathon and my fourth Mini (my fourth of many – I plan to run it every year until I can’t run anymore). I’m glad that I didn’t use my foot as an excuse not to run (btw, I went to an orthopedist on Monday who said I could run – always check with a doctor if you are hurt before a race  so that you don’t cause more harm!). In fact, my foot is fine today. My quads are screaming though!

Next stop: several triathlons this summer and the Chicago Marathon in October. I’m planning on running a half marathon in Indy in November since I should theoretically be in tip top shape!

Congrats to everyone else who ran today! Did you have the race you planned/hoped for?