In the midst of the discussions about whether or not to double CT and Philly I'd told David I was going to double Indianapolis with St. Louis and he said he was in. In the VIP area after Denver I'd mentioned to Sherry that David and I were doubling it. Later that week she emailed that she was considering it and I invited her to join. She decided to go for it, but she decided to double the fulls! (She was also already doubling fulls the weekend before!) I was looking forward to the double weekend and time with friends, plus Rafael had decided to run St. Louis. I hadn't seen him since Miami last December and was looking forward to running with him. Rafael had taken the year off from running for golf, so he warned me that he wasn't going to break any speed records, but I didn't care; I was just happy to get to run with him again after having such an amazing time in Savannah last year. Thursday night as I was getting the boys' dinner and trying to pack (I had to leave for the airport at 3AM), I got a call from Raf...he was entertaining the idea of joining us for the double!! Sherry, David, and I had been changing our Facebook statuses to stuff about the weekend, the double, and seeing Raf and tagging him in it; and we got him interested. Five hours later, he was on a plane. 4 hours after that I was on a plane. I'd been so looking forward to this weekend for so long, but at the same time it was bittersweet as it would be my last Rock N Roll event for 2012 and therefore the last time I'd see my running friends for the year. I had another double weekend planned but they were small races that I'd just fit in around other activities that I was already planning. After that, I had nothing on the schedule until March 30, 2013. I knew it was going to be a long 5 months with no races and not seeing my friends, but I tried not to let that overshadow the weekend.
I'd been so crazy busy for so long that I was actually looking forward to my flights because it gave me a chance to sleep! We all planned to fly into St Louis and our arrivals were all stacked with mine being the latest by 10 minutes. When I landed and turned on the phone I sent a group message that I was there and would meet them at the rental car area. As my phone caught up I found out they'd all been on the same concourse as me. I called them and they'd just left the concourse so they met up with me there. It was great to see everyone. We proceeded to get the car (I'd rented it...so they had to deal with my driving all weekend!) and set out to the St. Louis expo so we wouldn't have to rush back for packet pickup the next day. We actually got there before they opened, so we found Rafael's hotel (it ended up being right next to ours), he checked in, we grabbed coffee/hot chocolate, and headed to the expo to wait for it to open while discussing the fact that we were going to freeze at the Indy start! We were barely an hour into the weekend and we had already had too many laughs to count, the weekend was starting out amazing.
During the STL expo we each had a little shopping we wanted to do - I'd decided to give CEP compression socks a try as many of my running friends swore by them; I now own 3 pairs and that number is sure to grow! We also had many friends/vendors to visit with. Dean Karnazes was at the North Face booth and we stopped to talk to him for a bit.
During the conversation we mentioned we were headed to Indianapolis for 2 of us to run a 1/2 and 2 of us to run a full. He'd looked puzzled and asked if we were running St. Louis on Sunday and we said yes, same thing, 2 of us running the 1/2 and 2 running the full. He looked shocked and told us WE were crazy! Really? Of all people? He has run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days...and WE are crazy?
Our shopping and visiting done, we grabbed some lunch and hit the road for Indianapolis! Right off the bat we discovered David is NOT a great navigator and Rafael is ENTIRELY too nervous when others (ok, me) are driving. After about an hour of "are we almost there?"/"how much further?" I laughed at the fact that we could literally all run for HOURS without thinking twice, but 4 hours in a car was too much for us to endure. We rolled into Indy as the expo was wrapping up and grabbed our packets. On the way out we met up with another Marathon Maniac and chatted a bit, then headed to grab dinner before calling it a night. Of course we hit the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner as it was 1 of 3 remaining US based cafe I had yet to visit (St. Louis was another and was planned within the weekend). After dinner we headed to the hotel, just on the outskirts of Indianapolis and only minutes from the startline. As Raf had decided to join us at the last minute he didn't have a reservation, but we didn't think it would be an issue...we were wrong. They were completely sold out. I had a suite with a sofa bed, so we all decided to make it work and went upstairs to do our pre-race prep and grab some sleep. I can honestly say I have never laughed so much or so hard in my life...despite the fact that I got sick! Pretty sure it was from whacky blood sugar levels, but I hurled my guts up 3 times before finally winding down and getting some sleep. And when I say "some" sleep...we got about 4 hours...but we were all ready to go and at the startline the next morning!
It was indeed a chilly start - the coldest I'd been at so far; and I was thankful to have the compression socks for the added warmth! (plus they looked cute with the skirt)
As we took our places in the corrals someone in the group mentioned that it was perfect weather for a PR...the comment had been made the night before as well and I'd laughed it off and said I wasn't looking for that. I hadn't been training for speed. I'd been training to handle the back to backs. My intent was to use the 5 months off of racing to train for speed and hopefully break 2 hours in Lexington in March. We toed the line intent on Rafael and I enjoying a 2:30 run together with David and Sherry starting with us and staying with us for a bit then picking it up to finish the first half in 2:10 before continuing on. That was honestly my plan. I don't know what happened, but I felt great right from the start. I was running strong and within the first 1/4 of a mile decided to run my race. I never said anything to Rafael, but I knew he would understand. With the first tenth of a mile I'd pulled away and didn't see him again until the finish. David and Sherry were right with me for the first few miles, sometimes just in front, sometimes just behind.
And we were running well. Around mile 3 I started toying with the idea of a possible PR, but I didn't know if I had it in me. Around mile 5 I'd pulled away from David and Sherry and gotten lost in my thoughts, wondering if a sub 2 was a possibility. By mile 7 I realized it was and that I had to commit then if I was going to go for it. I did. I was running well, the weather was great, the course was beautiful, it was on. By mile 9 I thought I'd blown it. I was filled with self-doubt and was second guessing my decision to go for sub2. My record for the year so far was Kansas in 2:07. I realized that by pushing for a sub 2 I was running the risk of bonking and losing the chance for a potential PR (2:03 to date) or at the very least a year's best; but I didn't let off the gas. I'd committed and there was no turning back. There was a pretty good hill at mile 10 1/2 and I honestly thought I'd lost the chance to sub 2 with that hill...I'd taken it REALLY slowly. But once I crested it and hit mile 11 a quick glance at the clock showed me that I still have a good shot. I kept pushing.
At the 12 mile marker I didn't look at the time. With 1/2 a mile left I checked the Garmin, unsure if I was going to make it, but pushing hard. I had 7 minutes left and only a 1/2 mile...for the first time all day I felt like it was nearly guaranteed but I didn't want to get my hopes up too much. Early on in the race (back when I'd committed at mile 7) I'd gotten a bit excited about the possibility of sharing a sub 2 with the group and had to make myself push it aside - not putting the cart in before the horse; but now, it was right there.
I am the biggest one for getting on my soapbox about not understanding how people push themselves to the point of having to be hauled off the course in an ambulance. I have also maintained that you can feel it way before then and need to let off the gas if its too much for you. I now understand. Literally as I passed the 26 mile marker for the full...with a mere .2 miles to go in the half I was pushing so hard that the thought went through my head "today I'm going to be the one that drops a few feet before the line because they wouldn't back off". I crossed the finish line in 1:58:31 and I'm sure when the photos are posted my finish photos will show the grimace of the hard work I was putting into the run! But I was on cloud nine. I collected my water and headed directly to the results tent to verify my Garmin was in sync with the official results. When I was handed my print out, it was identical.
I headed to the massage tent and got a bit of a work on my glutes, hips, and hams before meeting up with Rafael. He'd done well for just rejoining running as well. As planned, he and I headed back to the hotel, showered, and packed, then headed back to wait for David and Sherry. Literally as we walked up to the finish line we heard David's finish being announced. Sherry had crossed slight before. Both had had good runs with Sherry running a negative split and finishing the second half in sub 2! We headed back to the hotel for them to shower, we all packed, and then we headed into Indianapolis for lunch.
As for the the race, it was a great event and I definitely recommend it anyone that is looking for an event in Indiana. The course is rather confusing on paper. It was beautiful with the foliage in full effect. There were a few small hills, but nothing insane. There was a good turnout so the energy on the course was good. There was ample and Gatorade (though there was no rhyme or reason as to whether the water or Gatorade was first). The course wandered through various paved trails and offered a unique experience.
After lunch we eyed the memorial tower in the center of town.
We decided to check out the view from the top. Now, what would you expect from a bunch of crazy runners - a $2 elevator ride to the top or sprinting up 333 stairs? You guessed it...we took the stairs...just because we could!
After our lunch, tower climb, and a trip to Dick's Sporting Goods, we hit the road for STL. It's a good thing that we picked up our packets prior to leaving STL because we would have never made it otherwise! Rafael and Sherry napped for a bit in the car and I kept telling David he could (he was obviously tired), but I think they were all afraid to have me being the only one awake! We'd originally planned to hit the STL Hard Rock Cafe Saturday night, but getting back into town so late we opted to drop off the car, check into our hotel, and go somewhere nearby then grab HRC for lunch the next day. We ended up going on the recommendation of the vallet and hitting a local italizan place a few blocks over. The food was great, but after the running and the stair climb, when we saw where the restrooms were we decided no one needed to go that bad...
On the way back to the hotel we decided to have a drink before going our separate ways. Long after most runners were done for the night, while only the Green Bay Packer's fans (they were in town for a game the next day) remained, we had a few drinks.
And when David decided he wanted to run the race in a cheesehead, I set out to obtain one...and in less than 10 minutes...
Mission accomplished, a little tipsy, and a lot tired, we all made our way back to our rooms to prep for the morning's race and catch a few Zzzs.
After just a few hours of sleep, we drug ourselves to the start line.
My intent was to run with Rafael for the day. Given that I had PRed and Sub 2ed the day before I was looking forward to a chill day. Krissy joined us ready for the full but second guessing herself. When she said she intended to decide at mile 13 whether to run the full or half David told her in no uncertain terms that she was running the full. As we entered the corrals Raf looked me in the eye and told me to go for my time today. He told me he knew I wanted to run with him and he was back and promised we'd run a race when he had trained, but today I had to go for my time because he knew I wanted it. I told him I did and admitted that I was afraid I couldn't do it again and it was easier to not try than to fail. He looked at me like I'd lost my mind and said, "You've got this! This course is faster than yesterday! You can totally do it!" My eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas and I thanked him as our wave reached the start. A quick hug and we were off. I was literally off like a shot, but I felt great. Within the first quarter of a mile I heard David just over my shoulder telling me I was going out too fast...I didn't listen. At .46 miles I turned my ankle badly. It hurt so bad I wanted to sit and cry, but I wouldn't give up the hope of a sub 2. I spent three miles trying to convince myself that it didn't hurt too bad and that I could do it. I reminded myself that I'd run Vegas on a severely sprained ankle without even knowing it so I could do this. By mile 3 I no longer felt the pain of the ankle...I think it gave up telling my brain it hurt. I'd also started second guessing whether I could sub 2...it was rough and there were a lot of hills, but I kept pushing. Somewhere shortly thereafter I got in some weird zone...weird in a good way. It was almost like it wasn't me running. I was just passing folks and cruising through the course, but it was like I was watching someone else do it. It was neat. Around mile 5 my lovely trance was broken by the reality that I was hating life with the hills, the ankle, and the doubts about the sub 2; but I wouldn't let myself quit. I seriously didn't think I had it in me at that point, but I decided I would not quit trying until it was no longer a possibility. Around mile 6 I'd decided Rafael was a liar - and I called him out on it after the race...to which he responded "you didn't expect me to tell you the truth in the corrals, did you?" This course had a lot of hills! It was a Rock N Roll event so there was a huge amount of energy and the course was well thought out with plenty of support. All of the negatively and issues were purely me, battling myself mentally, but I pushed through. Even though I often felt like it wouldn't happen thoroughout the race, I crossed the line in 1:59:34! I went 2 for 2 on sub 2s. I headed back to the VIP area and visited with friends, old and new, including...
Any day you feel the cards are stacked again you for a workout, I invite you to visit getbackuptoday.blogspot.com or facebook.com/getbackuptoday. I've been truly blessed by the opporutnity to meet so many amazing people through running!
...including running legends like Frank Shorter.
Krissy did indeed finish the full with David! We knew she could do it, even if she doubted herself at times!
After a quick group picture at the finish, we headed back for showers and had just enough time for a quick lunch at the Hard Rock before heading to the airport. The guys had to return my rental car and I literally BARELY made my flight...but everything worked out and we had an amazing weekend!
Rafael was the first our our group to join me and snapped a picture of me with my Rock Legend medal. This was the further I intended to go with the Heavy Medal series in 2012. But after such an amazing weekend, it was too fun to be done! So...I came home and registered for 3 more RNR events to cap out my year with my Rock Idol again! Of course, Savannah is the same weekend as NC and George had been wanting me to double, so I am! And I realized if I doubled San Antonio with Huntsville, AL I would get another state AND hit mercury status in the Fanatics! So....you read it here first...I now have 4 weekends straight of doubles including the Indy/St Louis weekend and am capping it off with Miami! Ready for more fun guys?
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