Indy Mini Marathon

Saturday, we ran the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon. This event is part of the 500 festival, which includes various events during May to jumpstart excitement for the Indianapolis 500. The Indy mini is a half marathon (13.1 miles) that starts in downtown Indy, heads out toward the Speedway, takes one lap around the Speedway track, and returns to downtown for the finish. This was a really cool half marathon. It was sooooooooo neat being able to run around the Speedway. There was a field of 35,000 participants! It was HUGE! There was music at every half mile and a lot more people downtown cheering the runners on. Our friend, Danielle, flew in from New Hampshire for the race. Danielle's husband, Jaime, went to MUA with Brian. She is a triathlete, which amazes me since I cannot swim.

So, here are our times. I am absolutely pleased with myself since this is nearly 5 minutes FASTER!!!! than my Chicago time from October, 2006.

Brian

Overall: 8,891/29,211 (finishers)
Division 40-45 M: 1,014/2,049
Gender: 6,278/13,967
Pace: 9:32min/mile
Overall Time: 2hrs 4 min 43 sec

Dusti

Overall: 8,188/29,211
Division 35-39 F: 378/2,197
Gender: 2,274/15,244
Pace: 9:22min/mile
Overall Time: 2hrs 2min 39sec

I tried to pull up Danielle's results, but the website was down. Needless to say, she was quick - I know her time was around 1 hour 58 minutes. The only reason I finished before Brian was because he got a stitch and told me to go on. I feel bad that I left him, but I am thankful because I wanted to beat my Chicago time in the worst way.

My parents met us in Indy so they saw the race with the kids, which was awesome! Just after we crossed the start line, I heard someone yell my name. Lo and behold, my dad had found a spot on a hill overlooking the road. So, despite being merely three people among thousands, we got a great personalized send off! I will post more pictures once I get the race photos.