Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Race Recap

Redemption. 

I planned on running this race since I'd had a horrible race at the Air Force Marathon in September.  You can read about that here:  Air Force Marathon Recap  I'd been sick for that race and wasn't 100% and it showed.  So when my running partner wanted to do another marathon since she knew she could do better, we had the training, and we haven't injured ourselves yet that we should go for it.  She found the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov 3rd.  7 weeks out from the Air Force race.  It was worth it.

We drove over on Friday, a 2 hour drive from Dayton, got ourselves settled in at the Hyatt (yards from the start line/finish line).  I'd made reservations at Buca di beppo which was close the hotel for dinner, since I wanted pasta night before the race.  I'd heard about the restaurant from former colleagues that it was fine.  It had the feel of a local Italian restaurant but I knew it was a chain, which was fine by me.  Spaghetti and meatballs were perfect. I have to say, I love Yelp and the feature of being able to make reservations from an app.

After dinner we headed off to the the Expo to grab our bibs and shirts.  We looked around the expo.  I was so good and didn't get anything.  Maybe it was because I was stuffed from all the pasta or I didn't really need anything but my wallet thanked me.  :-)  We did browse the different booths for the big races in the area for next year.  I have 13 half marathons to plan for.  See here if you're interested in the 13 13.1s in 2013 challenge.  Unfortunately, many conflicted with the Flying Pig marathon on May 4-5th.  Time for a little shopping after that at the mall nearby (can we say H&M? Yay!) then off for a nightcap a nearby bar, then off to bed. 

Race time:

Typical breakfast for me on race day, bagel and peanut butter with a half a cliff bar a bit later.  Then we packed up.  Dropped off our bags at the front desk then hung out in the lobby for another 20 minutes. Since Hyatt told me we would have a late checkout at 2 pm but when we checked in they said we couldn't.  But, we could store our bags and use the fitness room showers later.  Joy. Really, Hyatt?   No point in standing in the cold, about 35 degrees in the am, so we hung out with a bunch of runners waiting and getting more nervous.

Garmin paused when we stopped and lost satellite under a bridge 

so I'm not sure if I can use this time. 

Ok, fast forward.  Start time, great first mile or so with nice sized crowd. As my running partner said, this feels like a "real" race.  Sorry Air Force Marathon, but it was nice to have so many be people cheering you as you start off the race.  The first few miles were really crowded,  spent  time zipping around people, and got pretty warm.  I was regretting my choice clothes, since my long sleeved shirt had my number on it and so I didn't want to mess with it, ditched my gloves at least.  Once we got out of the downtown, I regretted not having them anymore.  We were going at a pretty good pace a little under 9 min per mile.  Went through the 10k in 1hr.

Around mile 10 I started to notice my knee a bit.  I tried to ignore it.  I didn't mention it to Carrie, since if it was spoken I'd notice it even more.  Passed the half marathon mark in 2:02, other than the knee feeling weird, felt great.  Then we passed through Butler University at mile 17 and that is when my knee was really not being happy.  It felt like it was going to give out every few steps.  Carrie moved ahead, which was our plan- well- to go at our own pace this time.  By mile 19,  we were out in a pretty lonely area.  I was thinking, will I be able to finish?  I've never dropped out of a race before? I can't call anyone!   Then it started sleeting hard little ice balls and it was cold.  My Garmin by now, was either off by a lot or the mile markers seemed to be off, since my watch out say it was a mile then 1/2 mile later the mile marker would be there.  Frustrating, since I wanted this to be done.

pain around 4b

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful.  I slogged through it, rain, ice and all.  I will say that my marathon mix on iphone made a difference.  It always seemed to have the right song at the right time (I'd put it on shuffle).  The last mile I ran to the Chariots of Fire theme.  It was the perfect way to end the race. 

I finished in 4:16.12.  21 minutes better than I had run at the Air Force Marathon 7 weeks earlier.  I'm totally happy with that time.  Carrie finished in amazing time of 4:04.

 Positives:

• well organized race
• (kinda)great running weather
• spi-belt worked awesome
• E-Gels by cranksports.com are amazing (no muscle cramps, lots of energy)
• PR by 21 minutes! 

Negatives:

• Hotel making us checkout early
• long drive after the race
• mile markers seemed off with my garmin
• knee pain

Overall, I'm very happy with this race.  Will I do it again?  Maybe.  That's if I do another one next year.  It was a ton of time to train for.  I could have never done it without my awesome husband who put up with all the weekends that I did my long runs, running for 3-4 hours then coming home exhausted and not wanting to do anything the rest of the day.    Now, it's time to rest up and hang out with the family!  Oh, and gear up for next year's challenge of 13 13.1s.

Injury update:  Took a week off, then attempted to run a 3 miler.  Knee acted up in the first 1/2 mile, hurting like it did in the marathon, then the IT band seized up.  Ouch!!!! I've never had IT band pain like that before- normally I just get a twinge.  I'm just so glad that it didn't happen in the race. That would have been horrible.  I'm not sure if my knee problem in the marathon was the IT band or not, since I never had pain on the side or above the knee.

Anyone dropped out of a big race before?
IT band pain?  What do you suggest?
Update:  Here's the course elevation if you are interested!

There was an area that you run under an overpass for a while and my garmin went a bit crazy- same at the end, I don't remember a hill there.