Lions, Cows, and Bears... oh my???

This weekend was the much anticipated Indy half marathon. This is the race that I had truly been training since for, even though it fell just two weeks after the Illini half.

What?? I heard that! I'm not crazy!

We all (Heather, Kerry, me, and family in tow) arrived Friday afternoon and headed to the convention center for packet pickup. I was looking forward to this because with the packet pick up comes a health expo. Last year I got my cholesterol checked for free and was banking on it again this year. Instead they were testing body fat... really? Nobody wants to know that. I can tell you how fat I am by looking in the mirror. I can't, however, tell you if my arteries are clogged.

After the expo we headed to Champions to load up on carbs. (That would be Heather, Kerry, and me along WITH our spectators.) It takes a lot out of a person to watch 35,000 runners finish.

Saturday we had to be in our corrals at 7:00am for a 7:30am start. This year I was in corral F versus last year's R. So I've already moved up in the world, but since that was based on last year's achievement I still had to run this race to validate my insanity. Along the route I high-fived a lion, bear, and a cow, which, for a moment, I thought I was on the yellow brick road and not the brick yard. I also counted nineteen hot air balloons and ran behind Spiderman. I would say running behind Spiderman was a huge step up from being passed by a banana in Champaign. Kerry somehow managed to eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut along the route. I missed that pit stop but it almost made me want to lace up again and head out to find them.

Ben ran

in the 5K as Matt Erickson's proxy. Matt (Kerry's husband) had signed up but at the last second opted out and ask Ben to ru

n in his place. Not preparing to race he dominated! This was his fastest 5K yet; 21:11, breaking a seven minute pace. Ben didn't want to take the spotlight off of me, but I know he was beaming when the annoucer congratulated Matt Erickson over the PA as he cross the finish line.

I finished in 1:56:49, which was ten minutes faster than last year and about one minute slower than Champaign. I would have liked to beat my Illini time, but given the mass amounts of people, just keeping a pace was a challenge. Stats: (please pause as I relish in them) finished in top 23% overall, top 11% of all females, and top 14% of my age bracket.

After reviewing the photos I made a mental note that at mile 13, I should try to relax, breath, and smile. Every photo of me at the finish I appear to be dying instead of smiling. Apparently it's hard to mask the ever present signs of pain and exhaustion.

It was such a fun weekend. Not sure if we are signing up for next year's Indy, I know the Illini will be back on the books. The rules say to take one day off for every mile you ran, I may take a week instead of a day. The weather is getting warmer so for me the running shoes retire and the flip flops and swimsuits make their appearance. Cocktail anyone?