4 months of training cumulated this past weekend with another half marathon in the books. I ran the “OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon”, which is the largest half marathon in the world. This race was also my first half marathon that I ever completed in 2008.
It was fun to run the same race again and get a course PR! I finished in 2:01:54, which was almost 8 minutes faster than my time in 2008, which was 2:09:44. I missed my half marathon PR by about 2.5 minutes, but overall I was happy with the race.
I think I may have over-hydrated for this race, because I had to pee 4 times the morning of the race. I ended up feeling like I had to go at the start of the race too, but decided to just hold it, thinking maybe it was just nerves / excitement. Well that stuck with me the entire race, and I finally stopped for a “pit-stop” at mile 12, because I felt like I was going to lose my bladder if I went any further. Over 90% of the race done, and I had to stop to use the bathroom. Oh well. I still had a lot of fun!
My dad also had to make a pit stop at mile 12, which I found out after he finished his race. I guess great minds think alike??? Errr something like that. He was happy with his time and finished with under 13 minute pace. Way to go Dad!
One of the coolest parts of the race was that I got to start at the very, front of my wave. They had waves that started every 15 minutes to help space out the runners. I was in wave 3, and the corral that I was in was at the very front of the wave. I was like 5 feet from the actual “start line”, so I felt like one of the elite runners – at least elite in my wave.
We had the Pacers cheerleaders and an Indy race car walk us up to the start line. Before the wave was released, the Indy car sped off from the start area. It was pretty cool!
I also started next to 3 firemen, who ran the race in their full firefighting gear. That must have been tough…and hot. It was very impressive.
Overall, it was a really fun event. Now, what race should I do next?