We were getting ready for a team run when Kerry said "Dano, do you want to run the Indianapolis marathon with me in November?", so I said "sure!"There's a funny sensation, once you finish an Ironman, that you can do anything. It's one of the great joys of completing the thing, I'm sure, the confidence and empowerment that comes with a long, long journey and crossing that line. Unfortunately, there is a certain element of "training" that goes into all these endurance events, which the body requires in order to be able to do them.... I finished IM after training long, and training smart - with careful build ups and lots of rest. So Indy - I had 5 weeks to go, and had been moving well since September, so I set up a mini-training plan where I'd build up quickly through 10, 14, 18 miles, then taper, then run! If each run worked, I'd go on to the next. On the 14 day, my legs said 'nope', so I made the switch to the half-marathon instead. No sweat.
Word got around, and by the time race day came there were six of us in two cars, making a road trip to Indy for a fun weekend. Coach Art had been training all year with the TNT teams, but hadn't had the chance to actually run a marathon all the while, and was looking to re-qualify for Boston. Coach Ronnie is gradually working his way toward marathons in all 50 states, and needed Indiana. Mike, I suspect, just loves to run and probably was looking for a weekend out of the house! Kerry had spent the last half year or so training for the San Francisco marathon, successfully finished it and didn't want to stop there, since she was trained! Maren, Kerry's roommate, also finished San Fran, but this time was happy to act as our #1 fan (are you ranking the "smartest" in the group?!)
Race day: this was a really interesting mental race for me. It wasn't a high priority - I was looking forward to it, but wasn't vigorously training, or visualizing, or really all into it. But when I got to the expo, I got to feeling the race-weekend vibes. I laid out my gear - not with the same worried meticulousness of a first-time half-marathoner like two years ago, but now with an organized feeling of a more seasoned runner. I was up most of the night, feeling calm, but turning over and over. Yep, race weekend! And race morning, we got up early, made our way in to town, and headed to the starting line! There were about 7,000 runners and we happened to queue up next to the six TNT'ers from the local Indy chapter! Great to meet them and talk with them about their training for Disney in January.
The gun went off and the field began slowly moving forward. Unbelievable day for November: clear blue sky and a high over 60 degrees, perfect for shorts and a T shirt. My plan was to run with Kerry, just like she had originally asked me to, but take the split to the half-marathon course after 10k. We had a great hour together, catching up and talking about racing and everything. We saw Maren a couple times going nuts on the sidelines, too. I tried to say some inspirational words to Kerry, at her request, before we split, and then she went off to do the hard work while I headed for home, a shower, and back to my training for my next A-race in February! It was a great run together, and we had held a comfortable 10-minute pace through 10k, clocking in at 1:02.
What happened next was an interesting mental game. I was solo, feeling fresh with 6.9 miles to go, and a half-marathon PR of 1:58 in my books. My mind was spinning.... that's 56 minutes left to go 7 miles. 56 / 7 = 8. I had been going 10. I can either just keep running normally and miss the PR, or try to run really fast and risk blowing up and missing the PR - but also risk breaking it. So I kicked up my knees and thought what the heck, let's try the second half at 10k race-pace and see if I can hang on! First mile, 8. Second mile, 8. Third mile, 8. This was no longer a leisurely run, but I told myself: pretend like you're finishing a full marathon! There was the thrill of running past everyone else, since I was cruising up from the 10-minute bunch. There was the 10-mile marker, where I knew I could keep up a 7:30 pace for 5k! And then there was the finish line, with a 1:55 and a new PR. Mike had finished just a couple minutes before, showing great prowess with the run-walk method.
So I stretched out and showered off and headed back for the marathon finish. Art needed a 3:35:39 to qualify for Boston - and he brought it in at 3:35:32. Ronnie, who had been laying on the floor and barely able to move the day before because of a sore back, was about a minute behind Art, and being an age group older, also qualified for Boston! Kerry maintained pace the whole way and came in with a new PR of 4:31. Wow - it was success all around!Afterward, Art showed us the way to a highly-recommended local deli called Shapiro's, where we replenished more than the number of calories burned in the ultimate human endurance test. Delicious!
Then we drove back to Madison; I stayed in Chicago to meet up with Jenn and some friends, and by now, everyone is pretty much back to normal and thinking about which one to do next!
