Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

If you want to be as good as possible at something for a long time, evaluation at a checkpoint/at a point in time requires context. This is basically two race reports in one, so it’s a bit long.

I ran 2:45:04, which is where I wanted to be two years ago. It’s possible I could have knocked it out earlier if I had the courage (or time?) to run more than two marathons a year. Or if COVID didn’t happen, but that one is out of my hands.

After 2:46 at the Charlevoix Marathon in June, my plan was to target 2:40 at the Chicago Marathon in October. My training for that race was sub par, in my opinion, but the meat of the training season came with a complete career change, and since I don’t do this for a living, something has to give somewhere. Still, 2:40 could have been in the cards if I executed the race perfectly. Unfortunately, I got sick 3 days before the race, attempted to run, and dropped out at halfway because breathing was a huge problem even at “easy” pace. I spent about 10 miles debating the merits of “just finishing”. I don’t know how long it would have taken, things were not going well after 90 minutes. Ultimately I decided that jeopardizing health and ability to work was not worth it. Turns out the sickness was COVID.

I’m thankful for Lisa, Aaron, and Stephanie for being the best cheer squad on earth. The walk of shame from where I dropped, back to the startline to get my bag from gearcheck was depressing, but their company was a blessing.

After a few days of reflection, with encouragement from Lisa, I decided to try one more time this fall. Indy was the best option, and multiple training partners were racing as well, so I signed up, I think before running a step after the race. I had no clue if I would be well enough to even attempt to start the race. After symptoms subsided (thankfully only a few days after the race) I went out for an easy run and it was not the best. The next day I tried to run marathon pace and I couldn’t string 3 miles together. I tried again a few days later with a little improvement, and a few days after that with a little more.

The next Saturday was the Old Kent Fifth Third Amyway Riverbank Run 25K. I’d been waffling on this race for months. Two weeks after a big goal race, wrong time of year, looooong training cycle (like 3 years long), alternate course (that’s a story unto itself), but the race suddenly had some purpose. For the sake of time, I won’t turn this into a blog of 3 races. Long story short, it went fine. Went out a bit faster than goal marathon pace and finished in 1:36:13. Missed out on top 50 by 5 spots. Confidence 80% back, 20% nervous that fitness wasn’t enough for another 11 miles.

Fast forward to Saturday November 6. Aaron drops me off and I make my way to the expo center. I meet up with Eric and Pete. Isaiah is nowhere to be found because he forgot to eat breakfast, which is a total Isaiah move. Eric successfully remembered his racing shoes.

Somehow in this mass of people which seemed even more crowded than the Chicago startline, I found Isaiah. Since we were planning on running together as long as possible, that was ideal.

It was cold. I think 28 degrees for much of the race. The beginning of the race felt pretty good, but I was definitely tight - typical for running in that temperature. Around mile 2.5 I made a quick pitstop at a porta potty, and then ran a 5:40 mile to catch back up to Isaiah. I was feeling the effects of that for multiple miles. I was never specifically in distress, but things never felt comfortable after that.

Isaiah and I got through the half in about 1:20:30. There was another Colin running with us for the first half running his first marathon. Around here, a big crowd, maybe 10-15 people caught us and trucked past. He had friends there, and went on to finish in 2:36. I didn’t feel awesome, and let them go. Isaiah I think tried to stick with them a bit, I know we got separated around this point too. Miles 15-19 were tough. I knew Aaron was going to be around mile 20, so I just made it a goal to get the that point and then take on the end of the race. I didn’t fade too hard yet, I made it through 20 miles in 2:03:20 compared to 2:05:37 at Charlevoix. Even though I felt pretty crappy, I was in good spirits. Getting to this point was a success.

The race course was very good. Lots of straights, which were great for simply cruising down. I was comparing different sections to places in West Michigan. The worst was a 28th street-ish mile in the first half, which should be self explanatory. I faded in the final 6 miles a bit, but again - two weeks prior I was struggling to do this for 3 miles. The final two miles met back up with the half marathon course. Lots of races this can be sketchy, but Indy did it right. Things got crowded with spectators again here, which was needed.

I feel bad about this last part. In one of the many running group chat threads we have going, friends were asking Eric, Isaiah and I about how we felt going in. I know Isaiah loves some trash talk, so I responded that I was going to make him do the work and then crush him at mile 24.

Around 23.5 I could see a familiar jersey and some OG Vaporfly flyknits in the distance… and I was gaining. I got the dude at mile 24. I was hoping he would respond and we could finish together but he was toast. There is joy in winning a race and sorrow in knowing a friend is in major pain.

Round a corner to get to mile 26 I see Aaron once more, and he lets loose with the best cheering possible. Absolute clinic by him. I look at my watch and see I have about 70 seconds to break 2:45. Strava says I ran that in about 75 seconds, which was not good enough.