Indianapolis Monumental Half Race Report

Today was the big day – The Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon.  Race time temp was around 27 degrees!  I hung out in the lobby area of the parking garage until about 20 minutes before start time. I had on my Brooks Infiniti beanie, Nike convertible gloves, Nike “thermal” running shirt and vest, and Brooks running pants.  I was cold, for sure, but not overly so.

I couldn’t hear the announcer very well, but apparently the wheelchair dudes started about a minute before the rest of us.  It took me about two minutes to get to the starting mat.  It was pretty funny watching all the shirts go flying off to the side of the course.  I’m not sure how many marathon and half marathon runners there were, but they said 9000 total runners including the 5k folks that started a little later.  It was a good crowd for sure.

The course took us down by Lucas Oil Stadium and then up through Monument Circle.  The crowd support at the circle was pretty cool.  I’m not too good at remembering details of the run, but I remember getting a little tired feeling around mile 7.  Luckily, there were Clif gels at the next water stop, which really hit the spot.  Chocolate.  I’ve never tried that flavor but it was actually pretty good.  I kept the tired feeling but had enough energy to keep on going.  Around mile 10 I felt some tightness in my left calf.  I stopped to stretch, but it didn’t really help and the tightness kept getting worse.  I felt like I was limping for the last mile, and I think I really slowed down.  The first 10k was done in around 57 minutes, but it took me 2:04 to finish the race.   Unfortunately, Runkeeper lost the GPS signal around mile 3 and didn’t track again, so I don’t know all my mile splits.

The recovery area was pretty crowded.  I was in pain and not in the mood to stand in a mass of people for a glass of water.  It was probably made worse by me being in pain, but I really think they should try to avoid that sort of wait next year.  I reached in to get a bagel and granola bar and a bottle of water at the end of the area.  Never found the Gatorade that I was looking forward to.  Maybe it was at the beginning where everyone was massed up?  Got my chip cut off and was out of the “secure area.”

Around the corner was the recovery tent where I found me a Sierra Mist to drink and a cup of Steak n Shake chili.  I wasn’t really in the mood for the chili though – just ate a few bites and threw it away.  The walk back to the car was painful, and each push of the clutch on the ride home hurt.  I’ve done something bad to this left calf muscle 🙁

I got home, showered, ate, and took a nap.  And the pain persisted.  I’m hobbling around.  I can pinpoint the pain on the inside of my left calf, around the area of where the leg is the widest.  I iced it down then went to CVS to get a compression bandage.  At this point I’m afraid that I’ve done something bad to it.  My hope is that I’ll wake up Sunday and feel fine.  I have a feeling the reality will be otherwise.