Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Flew to DC yesterday. Long day, and it was Seth's first cross-country flight, but he did pretty good. After the plane ride we took the metro to downtown, and then walked a few blocks with all of our luggage and a baby to our hotel. Good times.

Got up a little bit early this morning for a run. I looked at a map, and saw that we were staying not far from the Rock Creek trail, which is part of the new Ragnar DC course. Decided it would be a good opportunity to check my mapping. So I did a little 6-mile out and back on the trail. It was nice, because there are no traffic lights, and it's pretty too. It is very hot and muggy here, though, with highs in the upper 80s today and I can't even describe the humidity. It's probably good that I am acclimating a few days before the Indy race though. Will do a tempo tomorrow, and see how sea level suits me. 

Another day in Washington DC. Got up before my meeting and did kind of a quasi-workout. Ran out to the Rock Creek Trail, warmed up for 3 miles, and then started a 6-mile tempo. But despite the sea level, I could never quite get going. Then after 2 miles I got on a dirt trail that had a lot more hills, so pace was out the window, but I tried just to get a decent work. Ran a little bit better on the way back, but nothing faster than 5:55/mile. 12.5 miles total.

AM - Still in DC. Ran to Rock Creek, and then along the Potomac River on a paved trail. Not sure if this is the C&O Trail or something else. Eventually, I crossed a bridge and ended up at Arlington Cemetary. Good views of Lincoln and Washington Memorials/Monuments. The heat wave here has ended, and rain as rollled in. It was rather refreshing. I also felt a little perkier during my run today and have some snap back in my legs.

PM - took the metro out to Ben's house in Arlington. Ben and I did a run on the famous W&OD (under my request). More trail goodness. We averaged about 7:00/mile for 6.25 miles.

Back home again in Indiana. We flew from DC to Indy this morning. Later, I ran 6 miles from my sister's house, plus a few strides. Averaged 6:56/mile. The roads here have no sidewalks or shoulders, and it's humid beyond belief. Otherwise, Indianapolis is great.

Ran an easy 30 minutes through the neighborhoods around my sister's house. Didn't wear the garmin, but it was pretty slow pace.

We went to the expo later on and got my race packet. It was extremely well-organized, and I was able to just walk in and get my number/goodie bag in just a few minutes, with no line at all. Pretty impressive for a race with 35,000 people.

Indy Mini Marathon, short report for now, maybe more later.

Great course, very flat with just a few tiny hills. Weather was perfect, 50 degrees and low humidity, no wind. No rain.

I had about an hour to warm up. The elites got to use the NCAA headquarters to stretch out, stay warm, and use the bathroom. A good early sign was that this was a 3-star race for me.

Went out to the start line about 15 minutes before the start, and listened to the singing of "Back Home Again in Indiana" (a classic), the National Anthem, and the pre-race prayer. The wheelchair racers started, and then the runners started a few minutes later. Before the start, I tried to look back on the 35,000 runners, but couldn't see much.

The race went out slow, first mile was 5:22. I was running with Sean Sundwall and a local guy, about in 10th place. The next 2 miles were 5:08. I decided that was too fast for me, and backed off Sean and the other guy. However, the next mile was 5:08 again, so I guess my strategy of backing off failed. Eventually, I settled into 10th place, according to the spectator feedback, and hit 5:14-5:17 for most of the rest of the way.

Ran alone for the next 8 miles (so not much to say about it), watching Sean and the other guy about 20 seconds ahead of me, and trying to key on them. I also noticed that a Kenyan was very slowly dropping back way out ahead. Around Mile 10, I got passed, which dropped me from the money (not that I really care; money is just gravy). But around Mile 11, Sean and the other guy ate up the Kenyan who had been falling back, and he was coming back to me too. With 600 meters to go, I finally came up along the trail-leg of the Kenyan, but he sensed me and took off, and I could not catch him. So I settled for 11th place, but more importantly I got a 50 second PR, which of course you can't put a price tag on.

5K in 16:15, 10K in 32:25, 15K in 48:45. Mile splits 5:22, 5:08, 5:08, 5:08, 5:14, 5:13, 5:15, 5:17, 5:14, 5:15, 5:12, 5:19, 5:17, 0:27.

Very awesome event, highly recommended. The course was not particularly pretty, but it was fast, fast, fast. There were time clocks at every mile mark, chip splits for 5M and 10M, and also clocks at 5K, 10K, and 15K. Crowd support was good. Although there was never a mob of spectators, it was pretty much continuous the entire way. There were lots of bands and even cheerleaders all over the place. The worst part of the race was probably running around the Indianapolis 500 Speedway. I thought this would be cool, but it was very boring and mentally challenging, and there were no spectators here, other than aid stations and high school cheerleading teams. The straightaways were very long and...straight. The curves were very long too. I thought it would never end.

Positives of my race:

• Feel like I performed to my potential, and close to best possible outcome, in terms of both time and placing.
• Did not slow down much during second half; very even splits, despite aggressive Miles 2-4.
• One of my fastest 10K times in years, as a split
• 15K PR.
• Obviously, a great PR that I am very happy with, and is my best souvenir of the trip (we all collect PR's don't we?)

Negatives of my race:

• Was not able to finish the deal. You never want to come up on someone near the end of the race, after working on the person for miles and miles, and then not beat them. Top 10 would have been really sweet, not for the $100, but because Top 10 is simply cooler than Top 15. I'll reiterate that I'm really happy with my race, but kicking down the 10th place guy would have made it complete.

Here's some coverage from the Indy news station. If you look hard, you can see Sean and I at the start:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_5

And there's some good footage of me getting outkicked, and some better footage of Sean's finish (late in video, past the 5:00 mark):

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_13

Frank Shorter and Bob Kennedy do commentary of many of the segments, but most are pretty boring.