In a moment of weakness I agreed to run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon with Michael Steer and Anne Winters. My original plan was to run the full marathon with Michael but my training was sidetracked by the Dances with Dirt (DWD) race in Hell, Michigan in September.
Over the summer I focused my training on hills and trails so I would not kill myself running DWD. My longest run after DWD was 16 miles and it was unlikely I could get milage up to 22 by mid-Oct so I opted for the 1/2 marathon in Indy.
I found others to join my madness on November 3rd. Jeff Deeds ran DWD and caught the running bug. It didn’t take much to talk him into running the Indy 1/2 marathon with me. His first 1/2 marathon, my 4th or 5th 1/2 marathon. Anne bailed completely on the race citing conflicts with her kids schedule.
In the weeks leading up the race we listened to Jeff’s worries, self-doubt and training plans. We reassured him that he was ready and he would love this experience. I’m sure he didn’t believe us and said as much.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading about our experience in Indianapolis and watching our videos.
Weather report
From the comfort of our Indianapolis hotel room around 7:00 am.
The Indy Runners
Jeff Deeds, Michael Steer, Brenda Sodt Foster
Our hotel was just a short walk from the start line. Even at 7:45 is was very DARK.
The Indy Runners heading to the start
The calm before the start.
The wheelchair Racers
You can kinda see a wheel chair on the left as is skirts out-of-sight.
The Elite Runners
I heard that there were 12,000 runners registered for the race. Hurricane Sandy wrecked havoc on the East Coast and the New York marathon was cancelled. We assumed many of these marathoners headed to Indy.
And finally Jeff and Brenda crossed the start line 6 minutes after the gun.
Support Team
Angie and Chuck were fantastic support from the sidelines. Thank you my dear friends for coming out and standing in the rain, sleet and snow flurries to cheer us on.
Jeff and I had an amazaing run. Our average pace was 10:30. Here we are closing in on mile 12.
Finally the finish line after 2 hours and 17 minutes of running. I have no idea who the guy in blue is. I’m kinda sad he is stealing our picture.
Half – Marathon Finisher Interview
We headed back to the hotel to shower and change so we could stand in the sleet to cheer Michael across the finish line.
We were slightly concerned about Michael’s whereabouts. He’d hoped to run the race 4 hours and a few minutes. If everything was going according to plan, he should have arrived by now.
We finally spotted Michael.
Michael’s Race Interview
First order of business, a toast for the runners.
Second order of business, food!
MacNiven’s Restaurant & Bar is located on Massachusetts Avenue. The very nice waitress gave us umbrellas so we wouldn’t get wet when we walked to our next beer stop.
