One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon
May 4, 2013
Indianapolis, Indiana
Runners: 30,069
Course: Flat, with absolutely no elevation, including a
lap around historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Weather: Cloudy & 60 degrees at start and finish, 57% humidity, 13mph ESE wind
Health: Perfect, no issues at all
Weight: 177
_________________________________________________
SWAG: Long sleeve technical tshirt & hat
Food: Standard race stuff, bananas, fruit cup,
granola bar, & cookies
Volunteer Support: Tons of friendly people
Race Organization: One of the best ever
Crowd Support: Sparse throughout the race but GREAT finish line area
Water Stops: There were a ton of them, very well managed & supported, maybe the best at any race I've ran
_________________________________________________
Time: 1:28:09 ... Set Current Half-Marathon PR
Pace: 6:43/mile
Place: 313th/30,069 Overall, 38th/1,879 ... Finished in top 1% & received "500 Club" medal for being one the first 500 finishers
What a great weekend in Indianapolis at the One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon. Michael and I love Indianapolis and had a great time enjoying the city and experiencing one of the best races in America. It's the country's largest half-marathon with over 30,000 runners - but it's so well organized that you hardly notice the large volume of people.
 |
| One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon Finisher Medal one left, "500 Club" Medal on right for being one of the top 500 finishers |
I'll write a full race review later this week for my personal notes, over-analyzing my performance and being over-critical of things I can do better. Yes ... I know I chopped almost another full minute off my PR, but I really feel like I can run better and faster. But all in all it was a good race. Here are some pictures from our weekend - we always have a pretty good time!
 |
| Front gate at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
At the Expo...
The race expo was held at the Indiana Convention Center, and was huge! There were a ton of Indy race cars on display with music and vendors galore. Michael and I never miss an opportunity to act like idiots at one of these things, and some of the photos prove it. One of the great things about the race was where we stayed. Our hotel was directly across the street from the Convention Center, and only about 10 feet from the starting line. Indianapolis is a beautiful downtown area with everything in walking distance, but having the hotel so close to everything was awesome. We spent the weekend watching the weather forecast because of the winter storm moving across the country ... IN MAY!!! But fortunately, most of the bad weather stayed away from Indy and at race time, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. We had a 14-15mph headwind on the backside of the race, but other than that, the weather was almost perfect.
 |
| Some fast car - I dunno ... it looked important, but I'm not a car guy - pretty sure it moves a little faster than mine |
 |
| I actually got this car if I won the race ... missed it by 312, maybe next year |
 |
| Meet your new insane UPS driver |
 |
| This seemed like a funny picture until Security tackled me and I spent three hours in questioning (kidding) |
 |
| There I was, minding my own business, when these Beauty Queen girls ran up and started screaming ... what can I say, it happens |
 |
| Two Turkeys |
 |
| Whatup Gansta |
Around Indy...
 |
| Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana |
 |
| Indiana Repertory Theatre with some amazing ornate architecture on the facade |
 |
| Capital building in the sunshine |
 |
| Capital building in the rain |
 |
| Post race restaurant, Pearl Street Pizzera & Pub - nice little out of the way place |
 |
| AMAZING PIZZA!!!! The first pizza I had in about 6 weeks ... and it was FRIGGIN' AWESOME!!! |
The Race ...
 |
| Final stretch of the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon |
It's really tough to accurately explain how well organized this race was. I mean, there were over 30,000 half-marathoners and about 3,000 5K runners ... plus all of the people there with the runners - probably close to 100,000 people packed into downtown Indy. And the whole thing went incredibly smooth! You really never had that big race disorganized feeling at all. Everything was well-manned, from the water stops to the post race party. The only other race that I've experienced this perfect of organization from start to finish was the Boston Marathon. I don't usually rate Half-Marathons, but I would definitely give this one 5 out of 5. I would put on your list of race that's you need to do. To top it off, we got to run through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - home of the Indy 500. I'm not really a race car fan, but it was REALLY cool making the lap around the 2.5 mile track.
 |
| Beautiful day in Indy |
 |
| The tunnel into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
 |
| Pole position pole (I think anyway, I dunno, I'm not a race care fan) |
 |
| Pressbox |
 |
| Around the 2.5 mile track - no cars on the track today ... which was nice |
 |
| Indy's Finest walking the race in full gear |
 |
| Finish Line |
 |
| Tons of people and HUGE post-race party |
 |
| Michael was easy to spot in the crowd ... I just looked for the most beautiful girl there! |
 |
| Michael and me after the race with our medals ... we had a really great time! |
... be great today!
Indianapolis, Indiana
The race expo was held at the Indiana Convention Center, and was huge! There were a ton of Indy race cars on display with music and vendors galore. Michael and I never miss an opportunity to act like idiots at one of these things, and some of the photos prove it. One of the great things about the race was where we stayed. Our hotel was directly across the street from the Convention Center, and only about 10 feet from the starting line. Indianapolis is a beautiful downtown area with everything in walking distance, but having the hotel so close to everything was awesome. We spent the weekend watching the weather forecast because of the winter storm moving across the country ... IN MAY!!! But fortunately, most of the bad weather stayed away from Indy and at race time, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. We had a 14-15mph headwind on the backside of the race, but other than that, the weather was almost perfect.
congrats on your new PR! you always take the best pictures - the one of the beauty queens totally had me giggling!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on a huge PR! Nice Work!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your PR! I just found your site through Gracie's and was excited to see you ran the Mini too. I run it every year. My race report doesn't have all the great pictures like yours.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your PR! Cool that you got another medal for finishing in top 500!!
ReplyDeleteFor such a big race, they sure handle it well. I ran last year and enjoyed it.
Congrats on the PR, you are on fire recently! lol on that beauty queen photo!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteawesome PR. that looks like a fun half, especially the no hills part! I love your commentary on the pictures!!
ReplyDeleteI have not really heard one bad thing about this race! All of my friends that ran it over the weekend set PR's. PR city for sure!
ReplyDeleteMajor Congrats on the PR! Quit being so critical and just accept that you are awesome already. :-)
When I'm as fast as you I'll start thinking about being awesome - ha! Thanks though!
DeleteDamn, way to go on that PR. That is massive. You are one shifting Runner! Thanks for all the photos! Loved the pizza as I sit here hungry. lol. I see a sub 1:25 soon man! Congratulations again and thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteSounds and looks like a great event. I reckon I could even get my Dad along to the race expo if there's cars. He used to drag us around to speedways when we were little kids - not really my cup of tea but the poor man had no sons to share his passion with so we needed to throw him a bone once in a while.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Jim! I knew you'd rock that race. (And kudos to Michael letting you pose with the beauty queens--my husband knows better than to tickle my "jealous bone" that way. :^) )
ReplyDeleteAwesome Jim. I really enjoy your race reports. The pictures and description of your races are awesome! You make me want to run just about every race you have run. Congrats on your PR!!
ReplyDeleteMan, just one PR after another here! And hilarious photos. You sure had fun for non-race car fans (confession: I am fascinated by top gear but find most actual car races boring and tack).
ReplyDeleteYou're on track for some fast 5ks this summer and even bigger PRs in the half and full in the fall. Excited to see what's next!
Congrats on your PR! Did I miss the part where you told us what is up with MICHAEL'S hand? Hope it is nothing serious.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! That's a lot of people - but those two beauties finally found you in that sea of people! How lucky are they! I need to find flat races like this. I've gotten a lot stronger, but still w/this tendonosis, I lose it all going uphill.
ReplyDeleteI read this the other day but didn't have a chance to comment. I just wanted to say that I am SUPER happy for you. Congratulations, that is really awesome.
ReplyDeletebtw, LOVING the footstrike pics in the post after this one. :)
Congratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteThat would be cool to be at the Indy track. Although I know nothing about cars and have probably watched 5 minutes total in my life of a car race, it's still cool.
Really happy for you! Bravo! Huge PR!!! I cannot say I am surprised...no really!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun expo.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the PR!!!