 |
| Here's my Hardware!!!!! |
To begin with, I did a LOT of prepping on Friday. As many of you know, I took Friday off and headed down to the Expo with my brothers. That was great and we got to spend a couple hours just hanging out and looking around at different runs and items from running shops. I decided on Friday that I was going to purchase the little 13.1 sticker for the back window of the Jeep as well as purchase a "Finisher" shirt. That's right, I was putting the cart before the horse a little, but there was only one way I wasn't going to finish the race on Saturday and that was if I got injured during it. We met my mom and she helped us carb load by taking us out to The Old Spaghetti Factory. I had some garlic shrimp fettuccini and it was FANTASTIC! It was my first time eating there, I know blasphemy since I am from Indy, but we'll move on from that. Then I headed home, made sure all of my race clothes were ready, post race clothes were ready, and everything was charged. 9:30 call time for bed and then I was out.
Saturday began with a 5am wake up call. Yeah, that part sucked, but honestly I was ready to be up and getting everything in order. Bathroom duties taken care of (including applications of one of God's greatest creations, Body Glide, and some nipple band-Aids) and I was ready for breakfast and double checking my bags. Breakfast consisted of an English muffin covered in Nutella and banana slices with water instead of milk. We packed up the car hit the gas station and were on our way to Indy at 6:11. Not too bad honestly. I also got the following card from the wife as a bit of support.
The ride down was pleasant. We listened to some tunes, watched the sun come up and didn't really discuss any race stuff. I could tell the Mrs. was still waking up a bit. When we got to Indy, I had pre-planned to park in a lot we often use when we go to Colts games. I pulled into the lot with the pay gate already raised (BONUS) and started to look for a spot. Let me just tell you, people who don't know how to park or don't care really piss me off. I passed at least 15 spots in this lot that I would have parked in but I wouldn't have been able to exit the vehicle because jack-bags decide to park crooked, in two spots, or so close to each other I would have to crawl out of the back. We finally found a spot as I was getting ready to pull out of the lot and find somewhere else. We hitched up our gear, and started heading towards corral U. Everything is working out so far.
On the way to the corral I made a quick stop at the porta-potties. Here I ran into both of my brothers headed to do the same thing. They told me where my mom was and we headed over to talk to her for a few minutes. The music was playing along the corrals and and people were stretching and hydrating. I kept sipping on my water and looking around at all the people. People watching at this point is pretty cool. My brothers caught up to us and we talked for a few minutes and grabbed a quick picture, but they were beginning their day about 30 minutes ahead of me so they headed to their corral and got ready to start. Turns out they actually had to jump the barriers because they were a little late to their area. Haha....oops.
I decided to make one more trip to the port-o-let. Good decision. Turns out my stomach was a little nervous and this gave me an opportunity to relieve the nerves. I got back to the corral area literally as they were trying to lock me out. I didn't have to jump the rails, but I did have to slide in as they were closing it. As soon as I got in we began the SLOW march to the start line. We still have about 2-3 blocks to walk before we could get there. At this point, I plugged my phone into the external battery in my SpiBelt, started it charging, and turned on my LiveTrack. At this point I put in my headphones, watched the people around me and started to get focused.
As I got close to the start I could feel my nerves ramping up. Was I gonna finish? Am I gonna run my race? Am I gonna get hurt? How many steps am I gonna get today?! Is my phone battery gonna die? Here it comes...and begin. I gave a smile at the start line and made sure to look up so the cameras could catch me and then started my Garmin (God, I hope my LiveTrack is working) and I started across the line. I made sure to pretty much immediately look down at my watch to make sure I could fall into the appropriate pace. No way did I want to go out too fast today. When I saw a 14:00 pace I knew I was good. Time to enjoy the ride. I ran under the giant American flag draped between fire trucks and saw the first musical performers from a high school band. As we crossed over the river on the way to the zoo a train pulled by us doing a little quicker pace than us. I saw people on rented Pacer's bikes cheering on their families. Take a right on White River Parkway and we are immediately cheering on the elite runners getting ready to head to the finish. That's right. I saw the leaders heading to the finish, just after I finished my first mile.
One water stop in and I am feeling great. I took a cup, downed most of it, and kept right on moving. A left on Michigan street and we were on our way to miles 2 and 3. Nothing exciting here except the fact that some guys were cheering us on with Big Head and when I saw Ron Burgundy I made sure to yell "Milk was a bad choice!" He gave me a thumbs up even though I am sure he had heard it a thousand times already. At this point I was looking at pretty consistent times. Just after mile 2 I had my first GU gel and grabbed some water with it at the next water station. Meb passed me right after mile 2 with his crew in their bright green tanks. It was pretty cool to see them blowing past people. I am still curious how many people he passed. Miles 1, 2, and 3 were 14:21, 14:39, and 14:35 respectively. I'll take that as consistent. At this point I knew if I had any chance of staying under 3 hours for a total time I had to keep EVERY split under 15 minutes and they needed to be close to 14. At the 5K mark I saw Sheltered Reality playing off to my left and I made sure to yell at a student and his parent playing with them. They were pretty surprised to actually see me. Here's hoping they got a good picture.
Right to head north on Holt and then a left on 10th street. We again got to see runners ahead of us. The runners having already exited the track and getting ready to hit mile 10 were turning the direction opposite us. Mile 5 brought us into downtown Speedway. We ran right past Sarah Fishers' new Speedway Indoor Karting. It looks pretty cool. Here is where I saw a couple of the best signs I saw all day. The first was a young kid holding a sign saying "I trained all week to hold this sign." The second one I saw didn't really relate to me, but was definitely getting some good reactions. It said "Smile if you peed a little!" I can see the track now and am starting to get nervous.
It was at this point that I finally realized that my Live track feature was working. I finally looked at a few messages on my watch to distract me from the monotony of the track. I thought I was in a side conversation but it turns out a group of guy friends were keeping track of me via the live track. I was actually getting kudos from them. I got one Facebook notification even though I had them turned off and I got a few messages from my wife, family, and friends. I picked a good time to bring up my spirits. Prior to Saturday, the longest distance I had run without a walk break was 7.3 miles and I had just passed it on my way to the yard of bricks.
Although the rain had stopped at this point, I have kissed the bricks before on a field trip and decided that stopping to do it today would ruin my pace and possibly my legs. I hopped between two people and just kept motoring. Here comes turn 1, mile 8 and then turn 2 and now the rain has really started to come down. Big cold drops. It's a little refreshing and I totally don't mind it at all. However, I am pretty thankful that it quit after I left the track. Followed by a quick exit off the back straight towards the Brickyard crossing golf course I head back out onto 16th street. Just before I turned left on 16th a colleague patted me on the shoulder. She gave me some kinds words, told me I had this, and I kept moving. I saw her one other time just past mile 9.
After taking a left on 16th street, I knew mile 10 was coming where they would be hanging out CLIF Gels. I had decided I wasn't going to eat one of these because I hadn't yet tried them and water to stick with the GU gels I brought. I did however, grab a couple and put them in my pockets. That's at least $2.50 back in my pocket ;) I had my last GU once I passed this area and grabbed a water. Just a 5K left and I know I am gonna finish. Pass mile 11 and I am heading back towards the White River. I'll be honest I was looking forward to this part because I knew this landmark meant I was closing in on the finish. Plus running next to it is pretty peaceful. The only hard part is that you can see the bridge heading back to military park well over a mile away and it doesn't seem to be getting any closer.
The final turn. Left on New York and we are on the home STRETCH! The last strip of pavement is over a mile, but the black and white checkered flags start showing up about 3/4 of a mile out. I kick up the pace a little to see what I have left in the tank and manage to get my last mile in at 14:08. My second fastest split of the day. With just a tenth remaining I see my wife and mom off to the right. I head their direction, give them a thumbs up and attempt a smile, but I am BEAT. I do everything I can to finish strong and then it's there. The finish line. I head under the finish line and stop for my medal. My legs feel like jelly. I DIDN'T WALK A SINGLE STEP OF THE ENTIRE 13.1 MILES!!!!!!!!!!! I grab a banana, some snacks and a water and gatorade. I get my picture taken with the finisher background and head to the after party to find my family.
 |
| I promise that is running and not walking!!!!!!! |
We took some pictures, headed for the chocolate milk area, and then I proceeded to go find my second medal. Since I finished the mini as well as the training series, I got an extra medal with a 32.1 on it describing the number of miles included in my long run trainings as well as the mini mileage. I was pretty pumped to get this one. We then headed over to the PR bell. I knew I was going to be close to the right time for a certain special guest, but MEB literally showed up when I was about 10 people back in line. I got to meet him, get my picture taken, and ring the Personal Record bell all on my first outing. They definitely find ways to get you hooked on these things. After this I was truly done so we hit the merch tent and I grabbed a Ran with Meb shirt and we headed out. The walk back to the car seemed to go pretty quick considering my quads were, well, a bit tight. Mrs. Re-Dan-imation drove back home and then it was time to relax.
I want to thank every single person for the kind words they sent me through Facebook and text messages. I have tried to reply back to all messages or at the least like them on Facebook. If you have made it this far through this post, thank you again for sticking with me the whole time. This could have been much longer believe me. If you are interested in joining the IndyMini next year...see below.
No comments:
Post a Comment