runningmyownrace replied to your post: One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon (Indianapolis)
This is on my bucket list! Do you live in Indiana? I went to school at IU so I would love to do this race. Maybe next year.
I actually live in Tennessee, but love Indianapolis and love this race. It is a good race to put on a bucket list. A lot of race directors could learn a lot from the organization of the Mini Marathon.
Just registered for the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (the Mini) for the fifth year in a row. The Mini is the nation’s largest half-marathon, having sold out with 35,000 participants for the past 11 years. The course for the Min begins in downtown Indianapolis, and then heads west toward the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and does a complete lap around the 2.5 mile track before heading back downtown to the finish line.
This is a fantastic race on a flat and fast course. Lord willing Nathan and I will be lined up in seeded corral A on May 4th, ready to go really low, and get the coveted “500” medal for being one of the first 500 finishers! Who else is running the Mini?
Also looking forward to some awesome steak and shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse!
Slowly, but surely, my speed and endurance are coming back. Tonight’s run was by far the best since coming back from the injury, and was a BIG confidence boost for the future.
The conditions were pretty nasty (45º and raining), but I still felt FANTASTIC. My heart rate is coming down, and my pace is picking up. The totals for tonight were 7.9-miles completed in just over 1-hour. This comes out to a 7:39 average pace with 56:20 of actual running and 4-minutes of walk breaks. My average pace for the running segments was 7:23 per mile.
This Saturday I’m scheduled to run the Chickamauga Battlefield Half Marathon (transferred from the full after my injury), with my doctor’s permission, even though tonight’s 7.9-mile effort was my longest in 10 weeks. I’m still not sure how I’m going to get through a half marathon, but right now I’m thinking about doing a 10/1 run-walk ratio. Regardless of what I decide, the goal will mostly be to just get through the race without injury, and give my training a jumpstart toward a successful spring racing season.
Beast Mode….ON!!
NATHAN, who crushed the Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon today with a time of 1:29:18!!! Here’s a breakdown:
Great work my friend. I’m proud of you, and knew you had it in you to go low today! Now you’ve set the mark I’ll be chasing next year!!
Honorable mention goes to my friend Josh with a time of 1:36:19 in only his 2nd half marathon! That’s an improvement over his first by almost 6 1/2 minutes!
Even though I will not be able to run the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in early November as originally planned, my wife was able to talk with the race director and get me switched to the half marathon. This was a bit of a surprise to me since the half is already sold out.
I did ask my MD about this on Wednesday, though I was pretty sure it would not be possible to switch. He told me that running the marathon would be a big risk, but that doing the half should be perfect. Since I have his approval, I’m thrilled that it worked out.
So, not only does this give me something to train for, but it also means that were are back to having a “Team Agee” race weekend with Olivia and I doing the half and Kate doing the Kid’s Marathon. On top of this my dear friend Nathan is running the full, and my parents are also coming with us. Should be awesome!
Recap of the 37th annual One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, IN
One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon
May 5, 2012
www.500festival.com/marathon/
My Run: Overall, the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (“the Mini”) in Indianapolis was my 12th half marathon. This was the fourth year in a row that I have run the Mini, which is the largest half marathon and fifth largest road race in the U.S. with 35,000 runners. The Mini is part of the month-long 500 Festival that leads up to the Indianapolis 500.
I was finally able to look up my official stats from the 500 Festival Mini Marathon this morning in Indianapolis.
My time was 1:31:28 which was 418th overall out 31,129 finishers (top 1.3%). As I said earlier my goal had been to break 1:28, but that was before the forecast of higher than normal heat and humidity. The humidity ended up being 95% at the start and 81% at the finish, and was a huge factor in the race. Considering these conditions I’m ecstatic with my time and especially with getting the special “500 Club” medal for the first time.
In addition to this it was a fun trip with my wife Olivia and good friend Paxton. I love running road trips!
It looks like it is definitely going to be a HOT one for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis on Saturday with Olivia and my friend Paxton. The forecast just is not relenting. I’m trying to figure out how much I need to adjust my goal to accomodate these conditions. With good weather I was hoping to break 1:28, now I have no idea what to expect.
After missing Monday and Tuesday with a bad head-cold, it was good to get back on the road this morning. My legs felt good after the marathon on Saturday, but my cold just exploded on Sunday and I ended up spending most of the day in the bed after morning worship at Bellevue Church of Christ. On Monday I stayed in bed until after 10am and didn’t go into work until after lunch. I started feeling better on Tuesday, but John advised me to take that day off as well since there wasn’t much to be gained before the 500 Festival Mini Marathon on Saturday.
For the rest of the week, John has me doing easy runs of various distances with 4 x 100m stride outs. Today’s schedule called for 4-miles and I was joined by my friend Paxton running through the streets of Bellevue. I ran in my Saucony Hattoris and we kept the pace very easy which was good because the humidity was crazy even at 6:30am. I was drenched after the run. Overall my legs felt fantastic, but I could tell that my energy level was down a bit from being sick. Hopefully this will come around before the race on Saturday.
We finished with stride outs in the church parking lot, and it felt pretty good to run fast. I’m a bit worried about the forecast for the race on Saturday which is calling for highs in the mid 80s and humidity over 70%. If this turns out to be the case, I’m definitely going to have to dial back my expectations.
Well…the weather forecast for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon this weekend in Indianapolis is not looking much better than the Country Music Marathon last weekend in Nashville. It’s gonna be HOT for racing. Might not be able to go as fast as I’d hoped.
Even though this is a lighter week leading up to the Country Music Marathon, today’s schedule called for a 6-mile tempo run which included a 1-mile warmup, 4-miles at half marathon pace, and 1-mile cool down. Coming into this morning my legs were fairly tired because of a 2.5-mile run with Kate late yesterday afternoon for the ING Kids Rock Marathon followed by P90X Legs & Back with Olivia last night.
The temps this morning remained cool and quite comfortable with a little bit of cloud cover. Nathan and I met at the Edwin Warner Nature Center and ran our 1-mile warmup on the Harpeth River Greenway. We continued down the greenway for the tempo portion and on into Bellevue. As I’ve said before, my target pace for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon (a week from Saturday) is 6:42. With this in mind I wanted to average around this pace and since my legs were already tired I tried to think about this like the last 4-miles of the race. Nathan took a little bit of a head start since he wanted to run at a slightly slower pace, however he ran really strong and there was no way I could catch him.
Most of the first two miles were relatively flat and the splits were 6:37 and 6:38. Even though my pace was good I didn’t feel that great. Not bad, just not as comfortable as I would like. Miles three and four were mostly in Bellevue and contained a few hills. This caused me to slow a bit for mile three with a 6:40, but I was able to finish out with a 6:35. Still felt ok, but not fantastic.
On the bright side I was able to hold pace even though I had tired legs and was never fully comfortable during the tempo portion. Nathan and I joined back up for the 1-mile cool down which felt great after the hard effort.
Today was also the first time in a while I’ve run with a heart rate monitor. My coach John had asked me to train with one for a while so he could monitor my heart rate during different types of runs. Not sure what he will think about this one, but my heart rate was actually lower than I was expecting during the tempo sections.
Tomorrow is a day off, which is gonna feel strange, but I know my body needs it to get ready for Saturday.
Beast Mode….ON!
500 Festival Mini Marathon Long-Sleeve Shirt – As great a race as this is (and it is fantastic), they’ve had really, really pathetic t-shirts over the last three years:
From the picture above, it looks like they’ve finally come up with a more minimal design that is striking. Have no idea about the material, but this looks like a big improvement for 2012.
The mini is my favorite race!
I LOVE the Mini….This will be my fourth year in a row to run it. It is by far the most well organized big race I’ve ever participated in, and the only race that I’ve run each of the past four years.
With a 6-mile run yesterday afternoon and P90X: Legs and Back last night, my legs were fairly tired before we ever got started this morning. The schedule called for 8-miles including a 2-mile warmup, 5-miles at goal half marathon pace, and a 1-mile cool down. For this run I met Paxton and Nathan at the Edwin Warner Park Nature Center, and we ran along the Harpeth River Greenway.
After a leisurely 2-mile warmup we started the tempo portion together. Since they were targeting a different pace from me, I decided to break up the tempo section into 2 x 2.5-mile out and backs on the Greenway. This way we would stay close to each other and be able to run the cool-down together. My goal pace for the upcoming 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis is 6:42, so this was the target I had in mind for the tempo section. Since my legs were fairly tired I tried to think of this like running the last 5-miles of a race.
At the start, my left shoe came untied about halfway through the first mile which forced me to stop and then restart. This disrupted my rhythm slightly and led to a 6:51 first mile. My second mile felt very good and I completed it in 6:37. Paxton ran mile three with me, and we were way too fast at 6:31. I ended up paying for this during mile four which was 6:43, but is still close to my goal pace. I had regained my wind for the last mile which I finished in 6:37. Once we were all back together we ran a cool down mile back to the cars.
Overall the tempo section felt pretty smooth. I could definitely feel the fatigue in my legs, but my heart and breathing were not a real issue, except for the mile that I ran too fast. Even with that mistake, I’m still very pleased with the run. Tomorrow will be a recovery day with 4-miles scheduled followed by 6 x 100m stride outs.
Beast Mode…ON!
Save the Date: The Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon
The 2012 Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon and Murph’s Fun Run presented by Middle Tennessee Medical Center will be held October 13. Registration opens June 1 at 8 a.m. Mark your calendars!
For my fellow runners in Middle Tennessee (or those who would like to travel here!), this is one of the best run races in our area, and sold out in 11 days last year! Definitely a MUST RUN event!
What a Nasty, Nasty, Nasty day for those running Boston. I had several friends that toed this line this morning, and I’m so proud of those that finished in such brutal conditions. Even though I’m eager to run Boston for the first time, I’m hoping that my first experience will be accompanied by cooler temperatures.
Back here in Nashville, my schedule called for an easy 6-miles followed by 4 x 100m stride outs. I wan’t able to get it in this morning, so it ended up being an afternoon run when the temps and humidity were up a bit after morning showers. As instructed by John, I just tried to run by feel which led to a 7:51 overall average before the stride outs. This was faster than I expected, but still felt pretty relaxed overall. My first mile was around 8:20, but the remaining 5 were all under 8:00 with the final 3 under 7:45. My legs felt great, and other that sweating like a fountain, the temps and humidity did not seem to have a big effect.
Tonight Olivia and I are supposed to do P90X Legs and Back, and then tomorrow’s schedule calls for 8-miles with 5-miles at goal half marathon pace (6:42). I’m thinking this will be a tough effort, but will be good prep leading up to the 500 Festival Mini Marathon which is 3-weeks from Saturday. This is the largest half marathon in the country, and my goal is to finish in the top 500. The first 500 across the finish line receive a special medal, and Paxton and I just barely missed out on this last year.
Beast Mode…ON!
My thoughts on the 3rd annual Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN
Oak Barrel Half Marathon
April 7, 2012
www.oakbarrelhalf.com
My Run: Overall, the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg was my 11th half marathon. This race was capped at 1050 entries, and this was my second consecutive year to participate in the event.
Even though I had a specific goal going in, I really didn’t treat this like a goal race. I did drop my total mileage by about 10-miles for the week of the race, but otherwise just trained right through the event. My goal was to “officially” break 1:30 for the first time. At the Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon last October the course ended up being long by 4/10 of a mile due to a mis-routing in the early miles. My “unofficial” re-calculated time for that event was 1:29:49, but it never felt like I had truly broken 1:30, since this result was from a recalculation.
Anyway, the Oak Barrel course is much tougher than the Middle Half, but I also felt like I was in better shape than I was last October. This is especially true considering that the Middle Half was six days after the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and my recent PR performance at the Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon (3:12:28) a few weeks ago.
The Oak Barrel course is famous for a very difficult climb during part of mile four and all of mile five called “Whiskey Hill.” This hill is significant enough that you almost have to base your entire race strategy around it. To break 1:30, I would need to finish with an average pace of 6:52 per mile. With that in mind, my plan was to run the first three miles around goal pace, and then hope to complete Whiskey Hill with an overall average around 7:00 min pace. After Whiskey Hill, there are three miles of rolling hills, followed by four miles of mostly downhill (or flat) and a rolling finish. Provided that I didn’t spend all of my energy on the climb, I was confident that I could make up eight seconds in the final eight miles.
Can you guess which one is “Whiskey Hill?”
Oak Barrel Half Marathon – “Whiskey Hill”
One of the hallmarks of the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN is a 1.5-mile climb known as “Whiskey Hill” that will make you hate your life. Can anyone figure out from my Garmin elevation chart above where that hill might be? 🙂
When I finished the 4th mile, just after the start of Whiskey Hill, my average pace was right at 6:50 per mile. It took me 8:01 to finish the fifth mile and my average pace dropped to 7:04. It took me three more miles before I got control of my breathing and began to make up the time that I lost.
I love this race, but Whiskey Hill is quite a challenge!
After so many consecutive days in the 80s over the past two weeks, I was fairly worried about the weather conditions for tomorrow’s Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN. However, this forecast looks just about perfect for an 8am start!
Beast Mode….ON!
After a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG day-trip to NYC yesterday, I slept in a bit this morning, and then went out for a 2-mile shakeout run just to work out the kinks before tomorrow’s Oak Barrel Half Marathon. I took the first mile very easy, but felt a bit of stiffness in my calves and right ankle. Most of that had dissipated by the end of the first mile, so I picked up the pace for the second mile and my legs felt pretty good.
Not sure how fast I’m going to be able to go tomorrow since I haven’t really taken time to rest before the race. If I feel good I’m going to take a shot at breaking 1:30, but will probably start out a bit slower than this pace to test the waters.
Beast Mode…ON!