So, I haven't had any races recently, and my training has been boring to say the least. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to give you a race report from my first half marathon in nearly 15 years, and the first since my brain surgery. The race was on November 6th, 2010 in Indianapolis Indiana, it was exactly two years since my first brain surgery. Needless to say I was a little nervous, anxious, emotional etc...
It was a cold morning at 26 degrees, I was meeting Roy, a friend of my wife and myself near the start. He and I were going to run together for the race. Most of my long runs up to that point I was running between a 9:30 and 10minute pace so my dream goal was to run the half marathon in a two hour pace. My realistic goal was to run the race at a 2hr 10 minute pace.
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| Lucas Oil Stadium |
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The first mile travels from Washington Street near the Capital building over to Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. At the stadium the Colts cheerleaders were out cheering on the runners, so me being the goofball that I sometimes am had to run out of the pack and go over to give them high-fives. We completed the first mile in 9min 14sec. We were only 4 seconds behind the 2 hour pace.
Mile two runs back up toward Monument Circle and we clicked that one off at 9:09. It was starting to thin out a little by this point so Roy and I were able to run more freely without having to dodge too many people so we picked up the pace a little.
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| The Soldiers and Sailors Monument |
Miles three through five run through the art district, up to the old Herron Art school buildings. I had a smile as I passed the school remembering some great times I had there when I was a painting major. Our splits were 8:37, 8:33, and 8:56 respectively. I remember feeling good through this point
Miles six through nine were good and I knew that at about 9.5 miles there was a nasty little hill as I approached the "Worlds Largest Childrens Museum" The splits, 8:50, 8:55, 8:47, 9:12 respectively. Somewhere during mile nine I got blocked in at a water station and lost Roy. We had made a deal that if the other felt good we wouldn't want to hold them back, so they should go ahead. I saw his head bobbing about here and there for a little while but didn't want to risk trying to catch up in a quick burst. So I decided to run my own race.
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| Methodist Hospital |
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For miles 10 and 11, I felt like I was struggling. There were some longer uphill sections, although the inclines weren't that large, my legs felt like they were getting heavy. Mile eleven was emotional for me as I could see over a couple of streets to the hospital where I had my surgery and fought for my life only two years earlier. I remember thinking to myself that my aneurysm didn't get me and that I was going to finish this thing. It's amazing how emotional you can get during the middle of a run or race by some small things. Splits for 10 and 11 were 8:53 and 9:10.
Mile 12 to the finish: As I was approaching Monument Circle for the second time of the race, a very patriotic song began playing on my IPod and again I was fighting back the emotions. I also now knew I had at least a 2 minute cushion on my two hour goal. Once I made the final left hand turn I turned on my afterburners to finish strong. Then after I finished, my wife met me at the end of the finishing chute and all I could do was give her a hug and finally cry as I had beaten my aneurysm and been able to be active once again. Splits and finishing time: 9:01, 8:55, with an overall finishing time of 1hr 57min 31.2seconds. Roy finished in 1hr 54min 01.7min. Next time, I hope the gap is a little closer.
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| Me at the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon |
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