OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon

I’m laying on the couch, binge-watching this season of Grey’s Anatomy. I haven’t binge-watched anything in so long that I don’t remember the last thing I would have spent so much time watching. The only reason why I’m spending my Sunday on the couch is because I am so sore from yesterday’s half marathon.

I didn’t train for it. I had every intention to because when I signed up I just assumed my triathlon training would keep me motivated enough to also train for a 13.1 run. Hindsight is 20/20. I knew I wasn’t going to do great, but I always try my best so I had that going for me. I think I was lucky that my triathlon training made the race bearable and also enjoyable. At no point did I tell myself during the run that I couldn’t do it.

My biggest challenge during all of my training and also during my races is ‘Mind over Matter’ — any little twinge or pain and my brain thinks I need to stop, but I don’t. So I push through it and it always turns out OK.

At mile 4 I did get a little too hot and knew I was plenty hydrated but I got some chills and it made me slightly anxious. It was just the rain coming in though so the change in wind direction when turning onto different streets cooled me down.

Running around the track at IMS was really cool …. and really long. I spent the entire time down the back stretch and into turn 3 and 4 thinking about how many times an IndyCar would lap me before I made it down the front stretch. Then the rain came. It felt really good, I wasn’t even mad about it. It came down really hard as I made it out to 16th street and onto Holt Rd.

The final 4 miles was long. 10th street was just obnoxiously long. The different groups of volunteers and the bands and people sitting outside of their homes and churches and businesses made it 10x more awesome. A friend told me before the run that it didn’t matter how fast I ran or walked because the people who were watching and cheering would make me feel like I was winning the race. She was right. And the fact that I ran a freakin half marathon and enjoyed it was even better.

My goal for this year was to complete a triathlon in August. 2 weeks ago I completed my first triathlon, 4 months ahead of schedule and yesterday I ran a half marathon. Never in a million years did I ever think I could do either one of those before this year. I am so proud of myself for setting a goal and exceeding it and wanting to do more.

Next on the schedule is a 5k, Tour de Cure 30k bike ride @ IMS, Spartan Race, TRI Indy triathlon, Go Girl Triathlon, and whatever insanely good fun I can do in between!

Thanks for all of the support, it really means a lot to me.