Mini Good Returns

Thanks to a big assist from Christopher Smith, I ran in the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon on Saturday. I was actually running as Chris, as he was a late scratch due to back problems. Thanks Chris! My goal was to run the entire 13.1 miles without walking and to finish somewhere between 2:15-2:30. I did manage the whole race without walking (though I did stop for a bathroom break just before the 5 mile point), and my time ended up being 2 hours and 2 minutes! That was good for 8,952nd place out of around 36,000. I was pretty happy with the results.

I was also very happy with the event itself. It is an amazingly well organized event considering the number of people involved. There are hundreds of volunteers visible to the racers and no doubt hundreds more behind the scenes. They were all energetic, positive, and very encouraging. Also, there is a bunch of entertainment along the race route for the runners to enjoy. I probably saw ten local bands performing (including an indie rock band in front of the zoo), people line dancing to horrible top-40 country, people square dancing, some dude rapping, and on and on. The middle of the race takes a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was very cool, and there were several cheerleading squads in the track doing running themed cheers.

So now three days have passed and my body is almost back to normal. It was a great time, and I'll definitely do it next year. Probably even under my own name. Now the question...do I go ahead and finish out the second half of the training and do a full marathon? Time will tell...

And speaking of good returns...here's hoping Obama pulls out an unlikely win in Indiana tonight and ends the nonsense. End the drama, vote Obama!