Nothing Mini About It

Looking back, it’s still pretty amazing to me that I was lucky enough to run with SEVEN family members in the Indy Mini. In early May. Of 2010.

I had hoped to run the Indy Mini last year but I didn’t sign up early enough … so my friend Nancy Zech ran it last year and boasted about how great it was. Subsequently, at one of our family events last year we all started talking about running the Mini. And, one thing led to another and in early November, seven of my close friends and family signed up for the Mini. My husband and I are both from Indiana and he’s a huge Indy car fan so when he heard you get to run the track … even he signed up.

Training was tough. First, it’s tough for both of us to train and find times throughout the weekend to schedule long runs around church, soccer and other commitments – including and especially -- laziness. Second, I’m not in as good of shape as I was last year … the effects of chemo and radiation definitely took a toll on my body.

Checking the weather as we packed we knew it would be chilly. I was stressing about which shoes to wear. On long runs, my new Saucony shoes leave my toes feeling like someone took a baseball bat to the base of all my toes. My older shoes, Asics, often cause my knee to hurt and I think the lack of padding changes my stride. At the last minute, I took my old shoes.

On Friday, Jeff and the girls and I had a leisurely lunch with my former travel buddy in the rice field of Louisiana where she provided us with great knowledge of the course – including where her “patent pending pit toilet” strategy. It came in real handy on Mile 6. We ran into a dear friend from high school at packet pick-up and had just a few minutes to exchange pleasantries and wish each other luck.

Throughout the afternoon, friends and family started converging on the Spring Hill Suites which was located right at the start line. Most of us could see it from our hotel windows. I can't say enough about the SpringHill Suites, it was great!

With our support crew and cheerleaders, there were 17 of us at TGIFridays (a very short walk from the hotel in what may have been a smattering of rain) for our pre-race dinner. Nearly half the table enjoyed the Bruschetta pasta dinner. Selection was slim! The weather report was predicting 40 degrees and windy. We were all strategizing about what to wear – tights, shorts, Capri, long sleeves or short … the list went on.

Someone had mentioned beach balls and as we made our way to Corral O, the place was crazy with hundreds of beach balls bouncing over heads. With 1,500 runners in each corral, it was a sea of arms fending off these ferocious beach balls. They came faster and harder as we waited for the starting gun.

Finally, we were off. Within two miles, we had seen at least four bands of varying talents and skills, the 33 Indy princesses working a water stop and an elephant! That’s right … you run past the zoo and along the river for a while. It was at mile 2 that I waved my 67 year old father, my sister and my sister-in-law (who just had a baby in Nov.) onward. My race strategy was to walk about a tenth of a mile at every mile marker. Only Jeff stayed behind with me.

We motored on … usually in silence … just enjoying the many, many bands. We ate our Gu, we nibbled on shot blocks. There were water stops and Gatorade at every half mile. It was a well stocked course. You could throw a water cup behind you and it would get caught in the gusts and pass you … As usual, I had an old t-shirt to shed … it took me until mile 3 or 4 to drop it off. I then was sporting my new “Will Run for Wine” shirt in a nice Merlot color!

About mile 6, we were running through an industrial section of town and finally turned right onto “Main Street” in Speedway. It was our route into THE track. The Brickyard. While the stands were deserted, it was cool and awe inspiring to imagine what it must be like to race there. This is where my lunch with Carla really paid off and I took her advice to find the third set of pit toilets … where there were toilets that flushed with no line! I washed the Gu off my hands.

Our walk/run strategy was working well until we hit the track. It was just so cool that we walked a lot! We pulled out our digital camera and staged a few photo opps of the runners, the stands and the enormity of the track. There is only one yard of bricks remaining at the Brickyard and the tradition is that the winner of the 500 kisses them … we took the opportunity! It was great! I’ll post pictures on Facebook.
Meanwhile, we kept passing and getting passed by a woman who was running in just a running bra and was fairly pregnant. About 4 or 5 months. She stopped at every port-a-jon and we stopped at every mile which gave us a game of cat and mouse all the way back to the start line! We ran past an older man in his 60’s or more who wasn’t wearing a shirt … might not have been so memorable if you couldn’t see his thong that he was wearing … no it wasn’t a jock strap! It was a thong! Seriously!

The course back was overall unremarkable and the crowds were sparse (they may have been blown east to Ohio). We did pass a restaurant/bar that offered fresh fish and frog legs. We were temped. We trotted along and at one time picked up a sweatshirt as a souvenir for my friend Nancy … but we quickly tired of carrying it and shed it near IUPUI. My brother called me as we were entering mile 10 and let me know he was at the 13 mile marker. We trudged on. Jeff and I were both starting to get tired and were trying not to complain.

Finally you could see the crowds and we passed the final water break, which was the Indy princesses again! Jeff and I kept going and saw our girls and my mother and brother right beyond mile marker 13 just as we were finishing! I really felt like I earned this medal! We ran into my Uncle John and Cousin Mike at the finish line.
Apparently, somewhere along the way, we passed my dad, sister and sister-in-law – they were probably in line for the potty! They finished shortly behind us.

I feel really lucky. This time last year I was bald and in the worst of the chemo. It was difficult to walk just 2 or 3 miles … so it feels great to have made such progress in a year. I couldn’t have done it without a whole lot of support. Thanks to Stephanie and Nancy for dragging me out on so many mornings when I really didn’t want to go. Thanks to my family for believing in me and supporting me and being such great examples of a healthy lifestyle. And, I’m really proud of my husband … who barely trained for this and was a real champ. His biggest concern was me and I’m really lucky to have him. Congrats on your first half!

As I think about our next adventure though … I have to wonder if we could morph into the kind of family that just rent s a house on the beach for the week, or goes on a cruise, or just has a reunion with barbecue and carrot cake in the backyard. And, while we’re all there we could talk about running Nashville or Disney or Vegas or …