The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. 2009 was only the second year of this race's existence, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had a general idea of the area and really thought it would be a great race. Originally, this was my goal race of the fall marathon season and even after Columbus, I still thought I had a good race in me. In the 20 days leading up to the race, I tried to stay sharp with some speed workouts, but not overdo it on the distance so that my legs might recover faster from Columbus. I'm a novice when it comes to marathoning, so with two of them in three weeks, I was wandering into a realm I wasn't at all familiar with. After racing the Mini and subsequently flubbing Sunburst, I took a good month off of any long distances before my legs felt fresh again. I figured I'd put in some good miles and while I "raced" Columbus, I still left some in the tank hoping for an even better time in Indy.
So Friday afternoon we took to the road for a three hour trip west. I would've liked to have gotten there in time for the expo but that just wasn't going to happen. So we rolled in around 8pm, got unpacked and immediately hit the streets looking for food. Downtown Indy, in case you've never been, is hopping. No joke. All the time. Hopping. We tried to get into P.F. Chang's only to be told that we could have a reservation for 10pm. Whaa!?! So we finally landed at Rock Bottom Brewery. Ugh. It wasn't too bad, but not great and we didn't really eat until 9:30pm which was later that was I had planned. Saturday races are great because you have the rest of the weekend to enjoy, but they suck if you're traveling to said race. So I got to bed and slept reasonably well. I had to wake up early to pick up the packet I wasn't able to nab the night before, so the alarm went off at 5:00 and I was ready to go in no time. I've got a pretty good system for race mornings and ended up having a lot of time just to relax. We stayed at the Sheraton downtown which was very close to the start line. The weather was mild for the first of November, but I hung around the lobby for as long as I could and finally made my way for the start around 7:15am. There wasn't a ton of runners so I was able to move around the corral pretty easily and ended up chilling on the curb for about 15 minutes. But 8am had arrived and it was time to go.
The gun went off and so did we. From the start I found it difficult to get comfortable. The first miles were easy, but again, not very comfortable. The plan was to take 7:05's through the half and see what I felt like. The first half of the course took a mostly northern route up to Broad Ripple before turning south for the finish. The temps were mild, yes, but the wind was anything but. My guess is that they were 15-20 mph from the SSW at the start and only got worse as the day wore on. The wind was at our back for the majority of the first half. In retrospect, I would've rather had it the other way around.
I can't say I paid much attention to the course. I was just focusing from the 10K mark on. I knew it was going to be a long day. I waited for my legs to show up but they never did. But for the most part, it was a great course. Great neighborhoods to run through... tree-lined streets, parks, rolling hills. The time of year may cause problems with registration, but the course will definitely be a draw for return runners, myself included. The traffic was an issue but the cops kept the angry motorists at bay. I got cheers and jeers from some in their cars. From the looks of it, they could've done a better job of letting the city know what was going on that morning... but from the way I understand it, people rarely listen.
I hit the 10K mark at 43:48 (7:02/mi). Unlike Columbus, I didn't have a pacing group on the horizon to keep me in check. As a matter of fact, some little guy came zooming past me in the first couple miles with a 3:10:00 pacing bib on his back and no one else around him... probably because he was more on pace for a sub-3 rather than a 3:10:00. I made the turn up into Broad Ripple and started to look for my friend Nick. It wasn't too long before I saw him and I gave him a high five, he wished me well and it was onto another group of friends that said they'd be by the halfway mark. I soon saw the Elliotts on the left hand side of College Avenue and dropped a head band and arm warmers with them. I'm beginning to be spoiled by my on-course bag drops. It was before this that I made the decision to take the rest of this race and gauge it by effort. I knew there would be no PR and nothing remotely close to a BQ. I was content with that and just rode it out. Seriously, my legs were trashed at the halfway mark which was scary. I hit 13.1mi at 1:33:05 (7:06/mi). By that time, I was probably running 7:30's and now it was time to turn into the wind.
The rest was pretty grueling but fun it it's own weird way. Unlike the three previous, I wasn't as focused on the task at hand. I knew I'd finish without walking so it became just a regular long, slow run. I shuffled along talking to fellow runners, spectators, cops, whoever. The wind sucked bad, but every step got me closer to home, so I just kept at it. Somehow I passed a lot of folks. People were cramping up badly even before Mile 20. My legs were going, but they never seized up completely. The final tally was a 3:22:18. So after running a 1:35:00/1:35:02, I ran a 1:33:05/1:49:13 three weeks later. I was more than a little naive to think I'd bounce back that quickly or think that I hadn't beat myself up pretty good in Columbus. My times would say otherwise. But it was fun. No doubt about it. And a great course. One that I hope to do well in next year or maybe even the year after. I gave myself a quarter of a point because I never stopped running and after feeling the way I felt from Miles 11 on I'll at least take it as a moral victory.
So I'm taking a week off and enjoying the rest. Probably going to take part in the Turkey Trot here in Columbus... not sure to what capacity, but at least for a jog. It's been a good year and I'm ready for 2010.
