So…it has been a minute since I have posted a Marathon Monday – four and a half years to be precise. In that time I have ran 5 more marathons and 3 half-marathons (honestly, I have done a poor job of documenting what races I actually ended up running when everything started being cancelled around 2020 so could be more). I have moved twice, held 4 different positions in my job, adopted two dogs and have gotten engaged and married. I have only recently been reminded that I was providing race reviews as I began the fun process of organizing my “junk” over the holiday. You can only imagine the amount of race bibs, and medals, strung around my house that my husband would prefer had a specific home. I would like to still provide a race recap on my previous races however, they may not be as detailed as they were before.

It doesn’t matter how slowly you go; so long as you don’t stop.

Tumblr post shared by Jeff Pelletier

The Indy Mega Mini-Challenge, a 5k run followed by a half-marathon, ended up being my 5th, and ~technically~ my last, half-marathon I ran for my #12monthsof13.1 challenge back in 2018 (I did not succeed). At the time, I had no idea what the next few years would hold. Unfortunately, life brings challenges you can’t avoid.

Following the previous months 26K, I was looking forward to this one. The May weather in Indianapolis was gorgeous, we could not have asked for a better day. And after my Milky Way 26k almost had me breaking 2 hours, I knew this race I was going too. Maybe there is reason behind running 1-2miles before a Marathon as a warm up. If I can PR after running a 5k, there could be some merit in this instead of just “it will make me more tired.”

My mom and I drove down to Indiana Friday morning after I got off work (shift ended at 3:30am so because my mom drove, I was able to sleep on the way down). The first thing we did when we got to Indianapolis? Stop by the Running Expo. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had this years Pace Car for the Indy 500. Since I was working at the facility that makes the Chevy Camaro (#iworkforGM), I had to snap a picture with it. Other than that, the only thing I purchased at the Expo was a RUN IU running hat. For half-marathons, I generally don’t purchase merch, unless I forgot to pack something I may need – for example a hat to block out the sun on a hot day. After the expo, we grabbed a bite to eat at a pub near by that had Seafood Linguini, then headed straight to the hotel so I could stretch and get some more sleep before the race.

On race day, since I was doing the 5k first, I was given one of the earlier start corrals for the 5K and one of the last corrals (Corral P) for the half. Both starts lines started south of the Indiana State Museum and the finish lines ended at Military Park – very convenient for making it back to the half-marathon start corral in time. It was also convenient in that my mom was able to see the end of the 5k and make the start of the half-marathon.

Like I did with the Milky Way 26K, I planned on running the 5K at my training pace ~10:45/min. Mile 1 ended up coming in at a 11:06 which was shocking because that was the same pace as the first mile in the Milky Way 5k. The Indy Mini is one of the more popular races in Indiana, so I was glad to be in one of the earlier corrals as even in my corral there were plenty of people that required me to weave through the group before getting to a place where there was enough space to breath. The next two miles, I was feeling good as the course was very flat and kicked the pace up to 10:11 and 10:05 respectively.

Let me tell you, this 5k was THE warm up I needed. Approaching the start line for the half-marathon, I had a lot of confidence that today was going to be the day I would break 2 hours. The energy around me was palpable as everyone was excited for an amazing race day. After take off, I honestly don’t remember much from the race (because again, it was almost 5 years ago) but WOW was this course flat and fast. Just look at these times I have clocked. I was basically running negative splits until mile 10!!!! Even more impressive was that these negative splits included the time spent running on the Indy Speedway (which was horrible on my hips from the elevation).

Reminiscing on this race makes me want to do it again. I was so devastated when I found out that the photographer did not get a picture of me kissing the bricks. That’s right, my 8:36.4 mile time for mile 8 included getting down on my knees and kissing the bricks! Almost 29 year old me is very proud of 24 year old me for this!!

Though I did start to slow down after the 10th mile, I tried my hardest to maintain an under 9min a mile pace. The 12 mile mark was when we circled back around to the 5k course, so I knew ~exactly~ how much distance was left so I kicked it into overdrive. I was determined that I would cross that finish line before the two hour mark hits. So when I see that I ran mile 13 at a 8:09.4, I still don’t believe it. As I sprinted that last .1miles to the roars of adoring fans (jk jk) I raise my arm up for my mom to find me to snap photos cause at that point I just KNEW I was going to break my PR…and I did. I was so excited to finish with a course time of 1:58:11!!

Once I crossed the finishing, I met back up with my mom and found out that two of my old friends from BHS (my high school) that also ran the half marathon. Having been 5 years since I last saw both of them, it was great getting to catch up and share my accomplishment with them. (One even has a pretty popular Running Podcast now take a look below). But the best part was getting to ring the PR Bell to celebrate this momentous occasion.