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Two years ago I had no intention of running the Indy Mini again. I had just come off the worst race I’ve ever had (that still stands true today), I don’t like running the speedway, and I was just not in the mood. But then, in a moment of craziness, I signed up for the Indy Mini last May… and then ended up regretting it once 2015 hit. My training wasn’t good, going to Mexico took 3 weeks away from training, and I had a bad attitude about the race. As I drove to the expo on Friday I gave myself a stern talking to about being lucky to have the chance to run, to race, and to experience this moment, and my attitude started to shift. So, that’s where I found myself as I woke up on Saturday morning…
Flat Caroline ready to race.
I woke up at 5:30 and drank about 12 ounces of orange juice, a banana, and a protein bar before getting ready and driving the 30 minutes into downtown Indianapolis. It was already getting warm by the time I parked (almost 50 degrees and sunny), so I was already comfortable in my skirt and tank top. I dropped my stuff at gear check (I was running by myself and had no one cheering for me at the race to hold my things), stood in line for the port-a-potties, and jumped in my corral right before my wave was off. This was the first year that I’ve run that they had the wave start, and I really liked it. There was much less standing around and slowly shuffling to the start.
I forgot just how badly congested this race is (and also forgot how much I dislike the congestion). People seem to not know much about race rules, and walkers walk down the middle of the street, stop in the middle of the street to tie their shoes, etc… which can make it extra difficult to swerve around and keep the pace that I wanted.
Miles 1-3: I settled into the race pretty quickly and felt pretty good. I didn’t get a side cramp during the first mile, which I’ve gotten in the last two Minis that I’ve done, so that was nice. I mostly spent these miles swerving around and staying focused as people cut in front of me, clipped my heels, etc… By mile 3 I was feeling the heat, and was wishing I had worn my sunglasses. I was squinting as the sun was already strong, and there wasn’t much shade.
Miles 3-5: I took my first salt stick and first two shot bloks (margarita) between miles 3 and 4, and took drinks every opportunity that I could. By mile 4 I really felt that I had hit a good stride, and was hitting paces that were faster than a lot of my training runs. I felt pretty good. By mile 5 I was starting to get a little worried about the Speedway coming up… I really hate running on it, and with the heat I knew it wouldn’t be fun. I took two more shot bloks (cran razz) right at mile 5, hoping that would give me a bit of extra umph to get through the speedway.
Miles 5-8.5: I made sure to grab an extra thing of water right after mile 5 before heading into the speedway. When you enter the speedway, you run down a very steep hill and then run right back up it, and at the top you hit the speedway. I stopped to get a tattoo pick with the IMS!
About 5 steps into the Speedway and I remembered just how hard that pavement actually is. YIKES! By about mile 6.5 I was overhwelmingly hot and felt like someone was blasting a space heater on me. The speedway is a large bowl, so the heat just builds up in there and the sun bounces off the dark cement. I started to get dizzy (remember- with POTS I can’t control my temperature really well), and began praying for some wind. Right around mile 7 the wind picked up just a little, and it helped. I ran across the brick yard, and thought about how much stronger I was running the Speedway than the last two times.
In the Speedway…
By the time we were off the speedway around mile 8.5, I was HOT, my legs were feeling a little tired, and was itching for some shade.
Miles 8.5-11: I knew that some shade was coming up right around mile 9, and I was desperate for it. I was dumping water down my back and on my wrists trying to help cool myself, and while it helped, I could still feel myself getting more and more hot. It was rough. By mile 10 we were out in full sunshine without much more shade the rest of the race. There were some wonderful humans who had hoses pulled from their houses and sprayed runners as they went by. It was wonderful. I took more margarita shot bloks and another salt stick around mile 10.
Miles 11-13.1: I had a weird tightness going up the back of my thigh, which I don’t think I’ve ever had before. The muscles running along the sides of my shin were also doing their pre-cramping thing, and I didn’t want to push so hard that it went into full blown cramps like that time. I cut down my run walk ratio so I ran more like 2:1 instead of 3:1, which also helped with the heat. By the time I neared the finish it was almost 70 degrees with very few clouds, so it was HOT. I kept drinking as much as I could, and kept dumping water down my back. I zoned out and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Right around mile 12 I said to myself “Now I remember why I run half marathons- for this feeling right here”. It’s this amazing feeling to realize that I could carry myself so far. That last mile I again focused on the fact that what my body was doing was amazing. I thought about those months I spent in bed after I first got POTS. I thought about the times I had to crawl around the house because I was too weak and dizzy to stand. I thought about my first run where I almost passed out at 0.75 of a mile. And I thought about how much stronger than I was before.
I crossed the finish line in 2:35, which is just a few minutes off my PR, BUT, it IS a 6 minute course PR! The Indy Mini is a tough course for me with the speedway, so the fact that I cut so much time, along with some of the worst training that I’ve done (and the heat), is pretty impressive to me. It’s showing me that my base is getting stronger, which is why I was able to run a course PR even though my training was far worse than when I ran the race in 2013.
I enjoyed a slow and relaxing rest of the day. I re-hydrated by drinking a LOT of watermelon nuun (if you haven’t tried the flavor yet I encourage you to RUN to your nearest store and pick some up, it’s delicious!).
And of course I celebrated with some Starbucks 🙂
And then I sat down at the pool for a few hours to read.
And then I got a very painful but helpful massage.
Sounds like a good Saturday to me!
I am stronger than I was before, mentally and physically. POTS impacts me greatly, and it’s easy to get down on myself for the slowness in my improvements, but then I remember that the fact that I can even run at all is a gift. It’s a beautiful gift to be able to lace up and carry myself 13 miles, and I’m so thankful that I’ve been able to run. Running is a beautiful thing.
If you’re interested in reading other race recaps, click on my race recaps page.
As always, make sure to review races at the Bibrave website!
Amazing job setting a new course PR!
Thank you! It was completely unexpected!
[…] peak weeks, included absolutely no running), and even considered dropping down to the 5k instead. And then, shockingly, I pulled out a course PR (this was my 3rd time running the race), and was only 5 minutes off my current half marathon PR. I […]