#DreamBig : 13.1 in all 50 states : DreamBig 2015

STATE #39 - Indianapolis, Indiana
Indy 500 Mini Marathon
Finishers: 22,479

May 1, 2015
I had just flown in from Saint Louis the night before from a work trip and was super exhausted but had to pack. After throwing a few things in a bag, I walked to Midtown Marta to head for the airport for my flight at 10:30am. One thing that was different with this race than other races, is that I had recently sustained a random injury that I was not in the highest spirits about. Back during the week of April 20th, I decided to take a trail run up on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN. That night after the run I was walking down a flight of stairs and my right knee tightened up. I thought it was a fluke but the pain stayed with me the rest of that week and I got an urgent appointment with an orthopedist in Atlanta who confirmed I was fine but I had "Runner's Knee" and needed to rehab it. If you have been following my life, you are well aware "rest" doesn't fit too well on to my "To Do" list but I took the doctor's advice and stayed off of it a few days (until my triathlon that Sunday). I got a brace from running store and seriously did try and not put too much stress on it because I wanted to make sure I wouldn't mess up my upcoming race schedule. That being said, after my triathlon on the 26th, I stayed off of my knee all week so I would be ready for Indy.

When I arrived in Indiana, I picked up my car and started driving around looking for potential race day attire that had some sort of car racing theme. After not much luck, my friend Paul called to let me know he was getting close to town so we decided to meet near the Motor Speedway. Paul is a entirely different story of its own.

Back in January of 2014, Gregg and I went out to California to see Auburn play in the National Championship at the Rose Bowl. Sadly after the lose, I had to take a train from LA back down to San Diego where I had work for the week. While I was at the Los Angeles Union Station waiting on my train, a guy came up (Paul) and apologized for the Auburn loss and told me he went to Mississippi State and was pulling for Auburn to win. We ended up sitting near each other on the train and talking college football and he told me about living in Carlsbad, CA and we exchanged numbers since I was out in San Diego every now and then for work. Fast forward almost a year and a half later, we had stayed in touch on and off and he had moved to Evansville, Indiana and told me he wanted to run one of my half marathons with me. So low and behold, after not seeing each other for about a year and a half, I meet Paul at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We found a little shop across from the entrance hoping they had T-Shirts and postcards but what we ended up with was a real treat. The owner of this little shop, Jim Bob Luebbert, told us all about the shops history and his career in racing and traveling the world and even brought us to the back of the store to show us his signed album from when Journey and Meatloaf came to the store. This shop was full of an incredible amount of memorabilia and I doubt he knows or even cares how much he could sell it all for. We had a great time listening to his stories.

Right across the street from Jim Bob's shop

We head downtown to the expo to pick up our race numbers and shirts and then wandered over to look at Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play. As we were driving back to Paul's truck, I asked him how his training for the race had been going and he admitted the most he had run was 2 miles. TWO MILES!!!!! I almost flipped. This kid had no clue what he was getting himself into. I thought I was going to struggle with a sore knee but I knew that Paul would most likely be driving the struggle bus.

Lucas Oil Stadium - Hey Andrew Luck!

I dropped him off at his truck and we agreed to meet up later for dinner. I checked in to my hotel and then met Paul and his friends, Jackie and Scott, who he was staying with while in town, at Maggiano's for dinner. They were as sweet as could be and I was happy to get to hang out with a nice group prerace to keep my mind off things. After dinner we went back to their house as Jackie had a surprise cookie cake for Scott's upcoming birthday and we all hung out on their cute little patio until it was time for me to head to my hotel and catch some Zzzzzz's. Oh, and pray Paul didn't die the next day.

Race Shirt - More appropriate of a T-Shirt than I expected

May 2, 2015
Up and nervous as always, I made some oatmeal and then head over to Jackie and Scott's to pick up Paul around 6:55am who was ready and waiting in the driveway. Reminding him (and myself) that this was all just for fun, I tried to take the attention of the fact this may be an interesting morning for the two of us. We were able to get downtown and parked seamlessly and then walked to the start of the race. The Indy 500 Mini is the nations largest half with a total of 22,435 finishing the half this year. We wandered around so I could give Paul and idea of how huge this race was and then we settled back in his corral where I promised I would stay with him once the race started as long as possible.

PreRace Starting Line

Made sure to get a pre picture...in case one of us didn't make it

A crowd of 22,000+

The Colts cheerleaders joined us at the Start Line to get the festivities going along with the pump up music. Our corral took off, and Paul was able to run with me for the first 2 miles and then admitted that was the first time he had run 2 miles straight and he needed to walk. We agreed we would meet at the finish (no, that's a lie - I sort of just took off) and I headed off to try and pick up some lost time. I was in my knee brace which isn't the most mobile contraption in the world but I was happy I had decided to wear it even though I was feeling better after a week of rest.

After 39 years of the race, this was the 500th mile at mile 2.2 of the course (39 * 13.1 = 497.8)

So I took some time to look into what this blow up thing was (thanks Megan for questioning me). This was the 39th year the Indy Mini had been going on in Indianapolis. 39 years of a 13.1 mile race is a total of 497.8 miles. This blow up thing was at mile 2.2 of the course, so starting here was the 500th mile of the Indy Mini series over the years. Pretty cool to participate at this point of history for the event!

The amount of water stops on the course was incredible and a lot of fan support as well many of which who had dressed up in themes. I ran a fairly quick 4th mile and then decided to cool it or else I would lose steam way before the finish. The obvious most exciting part of the race was turning into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the two and a half mile lap around the track. No matter how much pain that may come from running, these are the moments I realize how crazy my goal is and the amazing things it has enabled me to do. I was in awe of the size of the track and I made the long lap around. I know nothing about car racing, but Cindy Parres had told me the night before via text that I had to make sure to "kiss the bricks". I had no clue what she was talking about, but sure enough near Mile 8, I saw people dropping down to their knees and kissing the strip of bricks that crossed the track. As gross as it was to kiss the ground 22,000+ runners were crossing, I kept my promise and joined in the tradition.

Inside on the track!

Running down what I assume is the end of the races

Kissing the Bricks

As we left the track, I knew I only had about 4.5 miles to go and I was getting a bit tired. The weather, might I add, was cool enough to wear a tank top but not too hot that I was melting (a lesson I had learned the hard way in Michigan). I sort of just chugged along through Mile 8 and 9 and got a bit of a second wind and hit a nice steady pace and I started into Mile 10 and 11. Since I had studied the map, I knew once I got to Mile 12, it would be a turn back into downtown Indianapolis and a slight uphill mile to the finish. That last mile feels like a million miles, but I did my best to pick up the pace and really took off once the finish line was in sight with about 400m left to go. Giving it my signature "you shouldn't have this much gas left in the tank" kick, I made my way across the finish line to complete my 39th half marathon. All factors coming into play, it by far was not one of my better times, but the goal is completion and a good time is always just a bonus!

The walk to get the medal felt like ages away, but with my check flag medal in hand, I went and got my race picture taken and waited for Paul to finish. Luckily, we had both signed up for the race notifications so I knew how far behind me he was every couple miles of the race. When I finished he was near Mile 11 and finished about 35 minutes after I was done - but still under 3 hours which was his goal with his run/walk approach.

Post Race Snapchat CheckIn

Indy with our new hardware

Paul....unable to walk

We got our photos taken and our fair share of post race snacks and then headed to take some more post race photos before heading to brunch at Patachou where we got incredible stuffed French Toast which was well deserved. I had a mid afternoon flight, so we said our farewells and I headed back to the airport.

Official Race Pic - 39 states down, 11 more to go! #DREAMBIG

Medal - Bib - #39 check

Alright, so I took this pictures of the website and some of them have my dying laughing. I swear I am running in this races and not just doing a scavenger hunt for the photographers...

Bear claw? Like whats happening...

Rockin that head lean again

Paul did indeed finish

By far my favorite

On the track

Peace signs...cus I'm in 5th grade

Oh okay, I actually do run

Such a happy camper to be done....?

May 3, 2015
While I am humbly bragging about myself in this entire blog, I might add that this next morning after my half marathon, Gregg, Jack and I competed in the Atlanta TriPathlon in Chastain Park up in Buckhead Atlanta and I pulled off 2nd place in my age group. A seriously crazy weekend but I wouldn't have it any other way! Megan came and brought Tupelo who was obviously the most popular person at the race.

Gregg, Jack, Kristina and I then went to the afternoon Braves Game which I then had to leave during the 7th inning to race down to the airport to catch a flight out to Saint Louis for work...once again. As OneRepublic says "I swear I lived."