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Oy vey- long title, right? (as a side note- how many of you use the phrase “oy vey”?). My blog post comparing the Indianapolis Mini Marathon vs. the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon gets continuous hits throughout the year, so now that I’ve run the Carmel Half Marathon, I thought I’d throw that race into the mix! If you have specific questions about any of the races, feel free to ask in the comments section!
Race Size: The Mini is by FAR the largest, followed by the Monumental, and Carmel bringing up the rear. Each race size comes with pros and cons, so it really depends on what you’re specific needs are. The monumental feels really personal, the mini is a huge party, and carmel was nice and small, which led to extra friendly runners! The mini has people cheering constantly, but the course can be really congested, which is frustrating the first few miles.
Starting Line: With the Mini you’re assigned corrals and you must stay in that corral. In 2012 it took me about 20ish minutes to cross the starting line after race start, and in 2013 it took me maybe 12ish minutes. With the Monumental, there aren’t corral assignments (at least through the 2013 race this was true), and you line yourself up with pace signs depending on what you feel is appropriate for you. With Carmel there were corral assignments, but I switched corrals to fit with the pace that I thought I could run that day. With both the Monumental and Carmel I crossed the starting line in less than 5 minutes.
Spectator Numbers: If you want people lining the course screaming and cheering the whole time, then the Mini is your race! Obviously the Mini, because it’s the biggest, has lots of family members out cheering and holding great race signs! The Monumental is smaller, so there are less spectators, but still have quite a few people cheering along the course. With Carmel, there weren’t too many spectators out, which was a little sad, but with running with a pace group, I didn’t feel like I needed that many spectators either. Carmel winds through lots of neighborhoods, and there were people out in their driveways or at their front doors cheering. With all 3 courses, the spectators were great though!
Entertainment: Again, if this is of key importance to you, then the Mini is your race! There were lots of bands, singers, cheerleaders, friends, and family members lining the course (even in the speedway!). The Monumental has some bands along the way, but not as many as the Mini. I think I only remember 1 or 2 bands out playing on the Carmel course. This isn’t of high importance to me, so it didn’t matter much…
The Course: The Mini and Monumental are both located in downtown Indianapolis while Carmel is located in Carmel, Indiana. The 3 courses don’t overlap at all, which is nice for people who run all of them each year. The Mini takes you on a loop around the Speedway, which is sort of fun and sort of painful all at the same time. To me the speedway is the most difficult part of the course. The Monumental doesn’t have anything as big as the speedway, but it runs through a number of other “monuments” in Indy like Lucas Oil Stadium (where the Colts play) and Monument Circle. Both of these courses are really flat and speedy. Carmel winds mostly through neighborhoods except the last few miles. The course has some hills (don’t believe when people say that it’s a flat course unless you’re used to running big hills regularly!), but they’re very doable even if you don’t train on hills.
Hydration: All 3 races are absolutely fantastic with providing water and powerade/gatorade throughout the course! I have absolutely no complaints in this area for any of the races. Most of these races have stations about every mile and a half or so on the course.
Race Volunteers: All wonderful! All 3 courses have fantastic and helpful volunteers. They have all been friendly, encouraging, and supportive.
Price: I think the Mini is slightly more expensive than the Monumental, and I know that my entry to Carmel was about 10-15 dollars cheaper than the Mini. I know that I didn’t pay more than 65ish for any of the races though. Something else to consider: you have to pay for parking both for the expo and on race day for both the Mini and the Monumental. With Carmel the expo and race day parking are free, and that saves you around 25-30 dollars!
Expo: For both the Mini and the Monumental the expos were held at the convention center downtown. Both had lots of vendors (merchandise, businesses, and running gear), but the Mini expo is larger than the Monumental. For Carmel, the expo was much smaller, and had far fewer vendors. It was easy to run in and run out.
Race Swag: All of the races provided tech shirts (Mini was long sleeved and Monumental and Carmel were short sleeved). 2 of the races provided hats (Mini was a regular hat that didn’t fit me well and Monumental was a nice winter hat), and all 3 included finisher medals. The Mini and Carmel had a few small samples in the race bag (like vegetable oil, lotion) and some coupons while the Monumental had a race poster. The Monumental has kind of a cool virtual swag bag, and that came with an option to get a year free magazine subscription (I got Women’s Health Magazine). Carmel came with a few coupons for local things to do and some health/fitness services.
Communication Pre-Race: All the races were fantastic about this! I got emails regularly for each of these races, and I felt well prepared before the race. Each race had course maps with water, gatorade, and medical tents marked, along with starting line information, gear check, etc… All were really great about this! All 3 races are also very active on twitter, so that provides easy access to someone to ask simple questions.
Time of the Year: Carmel takes place in the middle of April, the Mini takes place the first weekend of May, and the Monumental takes place the first weekend of November, so all can provide some extreme temperatures. I’ve been really lucky and had pretty ideal conditions for all 5 of my half marathons so far.
Overall Race Quality & Enjoyment: I really truly loved all of these races. I think they were all worth the time, energy, and injury that went into training and running each of these races. I plan on running all of them again, and of course having fun while running them. It was really nice to not have to run that Speedway during the Monumental though, and I’m not the biggest fan of the hills with Carmel. I’ve run the Monumental twice (and have already signed up for the 2014 race), the Mini twice, and Carmel once. I’ve really loved them all.
If you’re interested in specifics of these races, check out my race recaps or leave a question in the comments section. If you’ve run any of these races before, feel free to share any thoughts that you have about the courses!
Now it’s your turn to share! What do you look for most in a race? What’s the best or weirdest race swag that you’ve ever received?
It’s weird to be watching this year, knowing that I’ve had my feet on that finish line, but also knowing that there’s likely no way that I’ll ever actually run this race. When I walked the last feet of the boston marathon race last September, I closed my eyes to take in the place, and to imagine the cheering, smiles, and tears that would fill that day in April of 2014.
Today, I also want to celebrate resiliency. Whether it’s the resiliency of each of the runner’s on the course, the resiliency of Boston, the resiliency of those wounded… the resiliency is important to acknowledge. Today is a day to remember and pray for those hurt and wounded (whether physically or emotionally) last year, and to cheer for and celebrate with those who have overcome.
And so today, I celebrate! Happy Marathon Monday!
Now it’s your turn to share! How are you celebrating Marathon Monday?
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Every year I got to arrange some of my little Easter figurines on the table. When I was at my parent’s house for Easter in 2011 I took a picture of all of them, and looking at them now I sure wish I had brought them back to my place! We also got delicious bunny bread (but I felt a little sad eating him!). When we were little my parents would track these bunny paw prints around the house so we could see that the Easter bunny had been there (was I really so dumb at one point that I didn’t put together the fact that they were paper prints and clearly a bunny wouldn’t leave paper prints??). And of course there were jello eggs. Lots and lots of eggs.
Today I’m celebrating by heading to church, and then hosting a big Greek meal for some friends (the leftovers will turn into this delicious mediterranean quinoa salad). And hopefully, as long as it stays nice, I’ll get in a nice long walk in the sunshine!
The reality is that all of that isn’t really important in light of what the holiday is about. The good news is that this is all about HOPE and GRACE.
Easter Sunrise Service on the beach in Marco Island (March 2013)
HE HAS RISEN and because of this we can have life. What’s more amazing than that? Happy Easter.
Now it’s your turn to share! Are you doing anything for Easter today? Any fun Easter traditions you had growing up?
This morning feels a bit random, so I decided to sit down and make a post out of it! Here’s what’s going on in my head right now:
1. I have today off because it’s Good Friday! I love days I get paid to get other things done (it’s 8:30 and I’ve already gotten my oil changed!)
2. Doesn’t “the cloud” seem a little confusing? When I got my last iPhone, I decided to be a little funny and ask the guy what would happen if the cloud evaporated. Would all my music and pictures evaporate or get sprinkled around the country? He laughed uncomfortably trying to figure out if I was serious or not. I enjoyed it.
3. I’ve been so thirsty since my half marathon this past Saturday. I drink more than normal every day, and still wake up feeling parched a bit.
4. I’m so excited for Marathon Monday, and REALLY wish I could be out in Boston. Last year on the morning of marathon monday, I posted a status on facebook saying the following: “This morning there’s no where else I’d rather be than in Boston”. I echo the sentiment again this year.
5. You NEED to watch this video clip :“I was there”– about Juli Windsor, who was stopped at mile 25.7 at the Boston Marathon last year, and was the first woman with dwarfism to run the Boston Marathon. She’s running again this year, and I’ll be cheering her on that day. I had the pleasure of knowing Juli and taking classes with her at one point, and I’m so impressed with her strength and courage!
Now it’s your turn to share! Tell me a random thought you’re having today?
So often I forgot to stop and really think about what I’m thankful for beyond just “running”. So, as with the weeks surround my last few half marathons (edition 1 and edition 2), I’m here with my 3rd installment of the half marathon edition of Thankful Thursday!
I’m thankful that I had a great fifth half marathon! You can read all about the challenges and joys it it here. I had a really great training cycle, so I felt a little more confidence going into this race than in my last races (although I was a bit nervous about the hills!).
I’m thankful that I ended up with someone to run with! I went to the race by myself, but once the race started, I ended up running the whole thing with someone else in my pace group (Melissa!). I know that I wouldn’t have had nearly as fun of a race if I hadn’t had her running by my side. We both participate in #runchat and read some of the same blogs, so we instantly had some things to talk about.
I’m thankful for nearly perfect weather on race morning. The race started in the upper 40s with the sun rising, and ended in the low 60s and sunshine. There was a slight breeze, and it was pretty fantastic. The only thing I would’ve liked is a little less humidity (it was in the 60’s%), but overall it was really an absolutely beautiful day!
I’m thankful that, even with POTS, I can still run. I really never thought that exercising would be much of a possibility for me once I was diagnosed with POTS. Even though my first run was really difficult, I’m glad that I pushed through so I can run today. It’s hard to imagine my life without running right now…
I’m thankful for race fuel/drink. My salt packet/water/powerade/margarita shot blok combo didn’t fail me this past weekend, and fueled me well through 13.1 miles. I’m thankful that I’ve found a combination that works well for my stomach and is able to give my body what it needs.
I’m thankful that I wasn’t really sore afterwards. Of course I had some tightness and soreness, and that’s to be expected. Last May I had pain for a few weeks (that turned out to be tendinitis), and my half in november of 2012 left my walking down the stairs backwards for a few hours the next morning because I couldn’t bend my knees appropriately. I’m thankful that I was able to move normally without much pain after this race!
I’m thankful for running. Pure and simple. I love it.
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today? What is one thing that running has given you?
Race Outfit
- Shorts or running skirt- depending on your preference
- sports bra
- Short sleeve or tank top that is moisture wicking (no cotton t-shirts!!)
- 1 hat, headband, or visor to keep sweat and/or sun out of your face
- Socks (moisture wicking)
- Shoes (because I like to be over-prepared, I tend to bring more than one pair of shoes and leave them in the car. You know… just in case something crazy happens like a shoelace breaks )
- depending on the race start temp, you may want a throwaway shirt
- spi belt or arm band for phone and fuel
- compression sleeves (arm or leg if you use them)
Other Items
- Orange Juice for the morning of the race
- Pre race breakfast (I eat one Luna Bar and one banana)
- Bag to turn in at gear check to hold post-race items
- head phones & ipod
- Garmin or other pacing tool (like Runkeeper on iphone)
- Plastic bag to throw race clothes in after the race (if you have to travel a long distance home)
- flip flops for after the race (I often put these in with gear check so I can walk back to my car or hotel in flip flops- it feels so good!)
- Gatorade or Coconut Water for post-race hydration
- Banana or other foods to snack on post-race
- 2 paper towels- can use if the port-a-potties are out of toilet paper or if you trip and skin your knee and want to wipe the blood off.
- Race fuel (I use sports beans and shot blocks)
- Salt packets- when it’s hot and I’m sweating a lot, sometimes a packet or two of salt on the course is helpful
- towel to sit on after race or to dry off with it if rains
- vasoline or body glide
- bandaids (for blisters)
- If it’s really sunny you may want sunglasses
- Foam roller or “the stick”- I pack this for the night before if I’m staying somewhere else before the race. The stick is also nice if you have a bit of a drive home.
- Phone Charger- whether you have a short drive to the race or a longer drive, it’s nice to be able to charge your phone on the way home- especially if it’s been run down by listening to music or running something like RunKeeper.
Now it’s your turn to share! What are some of your “must haves” when packing for a warmer weather race?
I have the recipe that my mom sent me, and I’ve spent about 10 minutes looking online to see if I could find it somewhere to link to. I couldn’t find it, so sorry if there’s one exactly the same that’s already out there!
Ingredients
- 4 packages of unflavored gelatin
- 3 boxes of flavored jello mix (your choice in flavors!)
- 3.5 cups of boiling water
- 0.5 cup of ice water
- oil spray (could use olive oil and a piece of paper towel I suppose)
Spray jello molds with oil spray so that the jello eggs will come out easily! Once you’ve done this, close the molds tightly together.
Bring about 4 cups of water to a hard boil. While you’re doing this, mix the gelatin packages with the jello packages in a bowl. Make sure to stir thoroughly together. Once the water is up to a boil, pour water from pan into a measuring cup and dump into the jello mix. Mix water and jello mix together thoroughly before putting in the half a cup of ice water. Quickly dump the mix into the measuring cup again (you want a good pouring spout) and pour slowly into the jello mold. When I made these on Saturday I made a mess, so you want to try to avoid that (but it’s not a big deal if you spill on the outside of the molds).
You want to fill right up the top of the egg part. Once you’re done filling them, put the tray that the molds are on into the refrigerator for 3 hours. Once they are set, use a knife to pop the molds open and shake the egg molds upside down into a bowl. You can also slide a knife between the egg and the mold to loosen it.
Store in a container in the refrigerator and enjoy! Kids LOVE these as they’re really a grab and go snack, but adults love them as well! If you’re looking for other recipes, check out my recipe page.
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s something you grew up eating on Easter?
Well, my half marathon is complete, and it was a great race (recap linked). This last week of taper felt really tough to me. I was antsy all week, and the walks that I took on Wednesday and Thursday were simply because I couldn’t sit still anymore and needed to move. I’ve never felt quite like that in a taper, but I guess it worked out for me! Here’s what my final week of “training”, in the taper period, looked like:
- Friday (4/4): REST
- Saturday: 2.3 mile run, 35 min gentle Pilates
- Sunday: 1.6 mile walk, 1 hour Pilates
- Monday: 30 minutes gentle pilates
- Tuesday: 20 minutes Barre (while teaching barre class), 20 minutes strength training (arms)
- Wednesday: 1.2 mile run (final run of training cycle), .65 mile walk (at a very slow pace)
- Thursday: 15 mins pilates (while leading class), .6 mile walk (at a very slow pace)
- Friday: REST
And then of course half marathon #5 on Saturday!
This training cycle went better than my first four did, so I think I’ll do a post in a few weeks once I’ve processed it a bit more about what I did differently this training cycle.
I’m a bit sore and stiff today, but not nearly as much as my other half marathons, which is nice to see. I can’t believe another training cycle is complete! Thanks for following along!
Now it’s your turn to share! What is one thing you’re doing differently while training this spring? What is one thing you’re keeping the same?
Sun rising at the starting line
As I lined up in my corral, I decided very spur of the moment to try running with a pace group. The pacer for the 2:30 time said she was going to do a run:walk pattern, which is what I do, although she was planning to do 2:1 instead of 3:1. Again, spur of the moment, I decided to just go with it and if I didn’t like it, I’d do my own thing.
The gun went off and I crossed the start line within a few minutes (the beauty of a small race). Within the first half of a mile I started talking to another runner in the pace group named Melissa. We ended up running next to each other and talking the entire 13 miles. It was her first half marathon and she rocked it! The first few miles flew by. It was about 47 degrees at the start, but once the sun came out it started to get warm pretty quickly. By mile 4 I was definitely warming up. The pace group was fun, and from time to time the pace leader would shout something out to help keep us going. There were water and powerade stations almost every mile (the powerade was another first! I’ve only had gatorade in training/races so I had hoped that powerade would do fine in my system while running).
I’m not sure if it was because I had a pacer telling me when to run/walk, or if it was the conversation, or the lack of crowds cheering on the side, but the miles really blur together. Normally in races I can break it down by mile, but this race I really can’t. It was a little disappointing at how few people were out cheering. A few people were looking out their house windows or sitting in their cars and waving, but it’s nothing like the crowds of people at the other half marathons I’ve run.
I took a salt packet about 25 minutes before the race, 3 margarita shot bloks at mile 3.5 and 3 margarita shot bloks at mile 7.5. I usually eat another shot blok or two around mile 9 or 10, but I guess I just forgot?
Starting at mile 3 we started to climb little hills. I really don’t remember at what miles the biggest of the hills were, but I remember them being there. I had worried a bit about the hills before the race, but people had made comments about it being flat so I tried to put those worries aside. Well- I train on almost completely flat roads, so to me, this course had HILLS (of course if you train on a really hilly route, they would likely seem like very little hills to you- all about what you’re used to). Our pace group walked up a few of the bigger ones which was helpful because there’s no way I could’ve run up all of them. I know I lost time on the hills, and I wouldn’t have lost as much time if it had been completely flat (like the monumental course). So the hills- I got a little fussy with them, and Melissa and I tried to make jokes about it (we may have yelled “liar” multiple times at all the people who said “oh, there aren’t hills on the course”). Running these hills was yet another new experience.
Maybe around mile 9 we hit a trail which helped to break things up a bit. There was shade, which was definitely pretty nice at this point. There were other people out on their normal Saturday morning runs, so it was sort of weird to race next to others who weren’t racing. We were only on it for maybe a mile before popping back out on the main road.
During both of my half marathons in 2013 (The Indy Mini and the Monumental), I struggled pretty badly with leg cramps (I was even stuck in the middle of the road unable to take a step during the monumental!), so i was a little worried about how this race would turn out. I started to feel that all too familiar heavy foot and calf around mile 10.5, and I got worried. Luckily nothing came of it, and I never once had to stop to stretch anything out (which is unheard of during my half marathon races)- I was lucky, and Melissa was so encouraging.
Another weird thing: for every other half I’ve taken off all my rings because my fingers swell, but I totally forgot this morning. By mile 7 I couldn’t move my ring up and down or twirl it around my finger at all because of how swollen it is. By mile 11 my finger was swelling up and around the sides of all my rings; pleasant, right? Another abnormal piece to this race…
From mile 11 on we picked up the pace, and each of our mile times was under 11 minutes, and I could feel it. Honestly, if I wasn’t running with a pace group, or maybe specifically with Melissa, I really would have likely not pushed myself as hard as I did, so I’m glad I had that throughout the race, and especially at the end! I crossed the line in 2:32:17. My PR is 2:31:48, so I was SO close. This is what my runkeeper said:
Could I call this a fake PR? 🙂
I’m a little disappointed that I was so close to setting a new PR (30 seconds faster and I would’ve had a new PR), but I’m really pleased with this race for a few reasons. I ran this race faster than either of my races in 2013, and I was able to control my cramps, which I couldn’t do in 2013! The courses I’ve run before have been almost pancake flat, so for me to run only 30 seconds slower on a hilly course meant that I really ran pretty well. I really do think if the course had been flat I would’ve PR’d by a few minutes. Neither here nor there though.
Melissa and I right after crossing the finish line (stolen from her twitter)
Overall this race was pretty great. I plan to write a post about my thoughts on how the things I did differently this training cycle impacted my race, along with my thoughts on Carmel vs. Indy Mini & Monumental.
Sorry this post is all over the place. I think this recap feels a lot like my race- no defined boundaries and a bit blurry. I ended the race and within 10 minutes had already texted my family that I needed to find another half to run asap. I love running. At the end of the day, I’m really happy with my race.
And with that, Half Marathon #5 is in the books, and another training cycle has come to an end.
- Click here for more race recaps!
- Click here for more info about POTS
