Round 2 complete of the Indy Mini Marathon!

A recap of the mini…

Start – Took us 26 minutes to get from corral Y to the start line.  Slow and crowded.

Waiting to start!

Almost to the finish line….about 26 minutes after it started!

A great group of ladies to do 13.1 miles with.

Mile 1 – Momma and baby elephant at the zoo were so cute.  A few humans dressed as zoo animals to greet us.  Runners yelling at us walkers to move over.  People sprinting and me laughing at them when later they were passed.

America!

Miles 2 through 4 – Passed some interesting people.  There were some amazing kid bands and music.  Lots of people cheering us on. A few places that creeped me out.  Security like crazy that made me feel bertter.  Even got passed by the guy in the lead….that makes you feel PRETTY slow!

In the lead

An awesome kid band

Mile 5 – Heading into Speedway and Allison Transmissions reminds me that we’ve got 8.5 miles to go.  Thanks a lot!  Starting to get the groove and feeling good.

What a cool little town.  So much has changed.  It’s a beautiful place.

This is basically a fake smile.

Miles 6 through 9 – What I thought was going to be the worst part.  Amanda danced with the Chik-fil-a cows which was hilarious.  The track is dreadful (as I said before) and awful and terribly boring.  My feet hurt.  My hips really hurt.  I wanted to take my shoes off and lie down.  Not an option.

Going under this tunnel is a pretty cool feeling.

Kissing the bricks.  First time ever!

Miles 10-12 – Looking forward to the Cliff Energy shots we knew were coming.  Then realizing they were out except for one flavor, Mocha.  Yuck.  Apparently you have to be a runner to get the good stuff.

Miles 12-13.1 – Smiles are back on our faces because we are about to the bridge which means we are truly almost there.  I’ve decided at this point that I hurt so bad there is no way I’m ever doing this again.  Amanda tells me I am.

Finish Line – Get the medal.  Get a slim pickins on snacks because (again) we are walkers and I guess if we wanted the good stuff we should have walked quicker or ran a bit.  Our time was 3:34.  I only added 12 minutes from last year when I wogged it.  Half walked half jogged.  Guess I must have been jogging pretty damn slow last year.

My trainer and one of my other best friends.  She finished quite a few minutes before me.  I am so proud of her.  Her first mini in the books!

Blue Seas gym babes

Overall the weather was perfection for a little Saturday morning walk.  Slight breeze, nice and cool…just plain perfection.  MUCH better than last year.  I’m telling myself that if I had yesterday’s weather the year before that it would been a totally different story last year.  I would have been under 3 hours like I really wanted.

I will always remind myself of this.  Only 3% of Americans have done a half marathon.  I’m a part of a pretty small group of Americans that can mark that off their bucket list.  That can say “I did it.”  I did it slow.  I did it at my pace.  But guess what?  I did it when 97% of the rest of America was sitting at home or cheering me on the sidelines.

I DID IT!

  Extremely sore today,