2011 Indianapolis 500 Mini Marathon - Results!

Well, I did it! I finished the Indy 500 Mini-Marathon in 2 hours 44 minutes and 56 seconds!  I didn't really have a goal time, I was just happy to run most of it and be under 3 hours! Here are the official results:
my OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon - OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon results

The night before the race, I loaded up on carbs by making my boyfriend and his roommates some grilled pizza. I got to bed early so I could wake up at 5am for the race.

I had some leftover pizza for breakfast, coffee, and on my way to the race I had a sports energy drink mix with water from Whole Foods. I was feelin' pretty good!

My dad took me to the race and gave me some tips as we headed to the race. I found my corral (T) and waited almost exactly 30 minutes to finally cross the start line from when the first participants had crossed. Once I got going, I had to weave SOOO much the first 3-4 miles because so many people were walking in giant groups. It was hard to get around and actually be able to run!

There were tons of bands, some good, some...interesting, along the entire race. The race went around the Indy 500 track which was really cool and as part of the tradition, I kissed the bricks at the brickyard :)

At about mile 8, my knees really started to hurt. Once I got to mile 10, I had to really push myself to run so I could be done with the race and have the pain over with!  Mile 13 was the longest mile I've ever run...it felt longer than all 12 miles before it. I started to see the finish line, and kicked it into gear.

My family and boyfriend were watching for me at the finish. I met them at the designated meeting area because it's almost impossible to find anyone right at the finish. I'm so glad they all came!

When I was training, I told myself there is no way I'm running another one of these!  Now that I've done it, I may have to try another...but not for a while! I'm going to stick to 5k's for the time being.