Indianapolis
Marathon
John: 4:08:15
2216/4586 Overall 1485/2599 Male 14/52 in 65-69
Jodi-Half: 1:54:39
1794/8092 Overall 589/4555 Female 39/459
45-49
On
Wednesday we enjoyed “carbo-loading” at some favorite spots with Jodi’s brother
and sister-in-law, John and Jenni and their son Zachary: Cracker Barrel, Blondie’s Cookies and J.
Edwards’ Cupcakes. We also visited the mall and saw the special Christmas trees
that are raffled off in a fund-raiser that has been a long-time Kokomo
tradition. That evening we met up with the parents again for a nice dinner at
Texas Roadhouse.
The
next day we had a unique tour of a glass factory that specializes in producing
colored glass similar to stained glass. We went with Jodi’s step-mom Judy, her
adopted daughter, Morgan and her friend, Ronnie along with John, Jenni, and
Zachary. It was fascinating to see the furnaces heated to over 2000 degrees to
turn sand into molten glass and then transported by ladles to the presses for
shaping. We also got to see glass-blowing and glass cutting. That night we got
to visit with Jodi’s cousin, Clint, and her Aunt Marcia whom she hadn’t seen in
20 years. It was a special time to eat with them all at Cracker Barrel.
On
Friday Jodi and I headed to Indy for a great expo where we actually bought a
few useful items and learned a few things and were treated to t-shirts from
Chipotle! Clint joined us for a little walk around downtown where we went on
the Riverwalk, saw the 9/11 exhibit and visited the Colts’ football stadium. We
stayed for the pasta dinner and then headed to our cute Airbnb place 2 miles
from the start/finish.
It
was a little too far and too cold and dark to walk to the start, so we got an
easy Uber ride there. The temperature was 45 with light winds so perfect for
running, but a bit cold standing around. We warmed-up and started in the 2nd
wave at 8:05AM. With the race being on Sat., a day before the time change, it
was barely getting light. I eased into my goal pace the first two miles, but
was right at 9:30 for the 3rd mile. I ran in the 9:10-9:20 range
through 15 and was feeling good, hoping to stay there for as long as I could.
My halfway time was 2:03:37 and I was hoping to get under that the second half.
But on the way back we faced a headwind that slowed my times to 9:40s for 3
miles. I did get mile 19 under 9 and 20 at 9:12. The next 5 miles stayed within
a few seconds of 9:30. Jodi met me at 25 and I was able to run my second
fastest mile of the race at 9:10 to finish up.
I
was really pleased that I felt strong the whole race and could run without the
pain of strained hamstring injury for the first time in a year and half. My
4:08 is a BQ time, but I was hoping to be closer to 4:06. The headwinds put a
damper on that plan, but I was just so happy to run the whole race and not take
extended walk intervals like I’d had to do at WDW, Napa, Boston and SF earlier
this year. The course was basically flat and fast so that helped with the pace
and the lesser amount of soreness I felt during the days following the
marathon.
Jodi
ran a 1:54 which was not as fast as she was hoping for, but was in the top 8%
of her age group which is pretty impressive. She had trouble with getting a
sense of her pace because of the tall buildings affecting the Garmin. So she
tried to “run by feel” keeping the 1:50 pacer in sight but lost him after the
first aid station. Once out of the downtown area she was able to settle into a
consistent pace. The legs weren’t quite feeling (possibly related to all the
pre-race goodies consumed) it so it wasn’t as fast as she would have liked, but
it was a strong effort. After the race she had to wait in the cold for close to
2 hours and then run out to 25 mile mark where she helped me greatly in my
finish.
Uber
then came to the rescue and whisked us home to hot showers. (No ice bath neededJ as it was getting chillier and
windier and more overcast. It poured rain on Sunday so we were glad that the
race was on Saturday.) After the race we drove with John and Jenni to see her
daughter, Kristina and her husband, John’s place and see their youngsters and
animals out in the country. (How many Johns can you count in this story? Lol)
Sunday
was a restful day beginning with a breakfast milkshake (Frosted Flakes), only
our 3rd milkshake of the week at Steak n Shake. We watched Zach bowl in a tournament and then
spent the afternoon watching the rain and eating at John and Judy’s after also
having another Blondie’s cookie, a pretzel and a White Castle cheeseburger J
Monday
we flew back and it was a totally on-time, uneventful flight, marking a good
end to a very fun trip!
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This was Marathon #156; 23 states on 2nd go round; All 10 Canadian
provinces. Next up: Houston Marathon on 1/14/18
