Indianpolis Marathon

     I signed up for the Indianapolis Marathon around the same time as I left for Flatrock. I thought it would be interesting to see how a road marathon went. Only doing marathons on trails I am used to things being a certain way and wanted to see how a city marathon felt different. BOY did it feel different! One: it hurt more. Two: lots and lots of water stops with friendly volunteers and plenty of bathrooms along the route. Three: I didn't have to carry water (water pack or water belt) which felt so much lighter and was nice to not have to worry about that.
    I had been watching the weather reports and was a little unhappy about the forecast: Rainy and cold. Brrr. My friends and I left very early for the race so we got there very early which was okay with me because I am the kind of person would rather be early than rushing to a race. That is a stressful way to start! I had packed probably everything I owned as the weather was going to be so bad I had two pairs of shows plus my vibrams, dry socks, sweatshirt, sweatpants, jacket, stuff I needed for the race, a throwaway pair of sweatpants and a throwaway long sleeved shirt and lots more. A backpack plus a gym bag. But I knew at the end I would want warm stuff on. I always get chilled at the end of races.
  We went to the packet pickup, got our bibs, saw a skunk on the way back. He was moving too! So we got ready and headed to the starting line. As promised it was raining so I had a lovely, fashionable white garbage bag to wear over my clothes. Kept me dryer and a bit warmer though except I was making a mess of it. The course was beautiful: led all through Fort Harrison state park. The leaves were in fall glory and even though it was rainy it was still so pretty. I started out pretty well...pretty consistently 10 minute miles. I kept trying to do the math but I suck at math so it was actually more dispiriting for me because I kept coming up with these astronomical numbers. "Well if I keep going at this pace and then there are this many miles....around 7 hours. No that can't be right. I need a calculator!" So I just started watching the little clocks and I figured if there were about 10 minutes between clocks I was okay. Got to the half marathon point at 2:25 something so that was good. I had gotten rid of my gloves but then found some gloves along the course so put them on for awhile and then took them back off. I found a timex watch along the route and wore it to the finish line and left it there. Bad runner karma I thought to keep someone else's watch.
   After mile 16 things started to bother me. First it was something rubbing inside my shoe, then my left hamstring started to cramp a bit. But boy my calves hurt! I think it was the cold plus I tend to have very tight calves anyway. I kept stopping and doing calf stretches. I went through sometimes it cramping and then sometimes it feeling better. It never went to total charley horse so I kept going and was really happy at mile 17 to see a couple of my friends! Then at mile 18 I saw another friend! Really a pick-me-up. I was having a great time with my 68 song Marathon playlist on my I-pod too. I started to just concentrate on my music and how pretty the course was and try to ignore my calf pain. The volunteers were great: cadets from the local military academy I guess. They were very polite and kept saying things like "Great job Ma'am!". Lots and lots of "ma'ams" One kid said I was his hero. Nice.
   At the last mile I ran into a woman who was about to complete her first marathon. She was so emotional! I talked to her as we ran the last mile and she was almost crying! So great for her! We ran into the photographer and I said "smile for the camera! Make it look easy". We ran down the finish line together and did  a little sprint at the end. So great to be there for her big moment even though I never even found out her name. I got through, changed into warm clothes, had some food and then cheered my friends into the finish line. We saw another friend we cheered in as well.

I loved my medal and the shirts! I am happy to have finished in sub-5 hours. Marathon number 4 in the bag!