Monumental marathon - 2022

I ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon this past Saturday, November 5. It was my 5th full marathon (in 5 years), and my first one as a 60-year-old. It was not my best.

My official time was 4:43:50 (10:50/mile pace), which put me in 3,424th place out of 4,609 finishers (as best as I can tell). Apparently there were a total of 13,757 finishers between the marathon, half marathon, and 5k (again, as best as I can tell). There were a lot of people. This is the link to my results:

my CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon - 2022 - Marathon results

Since my 60th birthday was Wednesday, I took off work on Thursday, Friday and Monday. So we headed to Indy Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday. We stayed at the Downtown Marriott on W. Maryland (between the Westin and the JW Marriott). The back of it - where our room faced - was actually on W. Washington overlooking the finish line. It was kind of fun watching them set up the night before, and seeing more finishers coming in after I was done.

It was a beautiful weekend... other than the day of the race! The half and full marathon started in waves at 8 am. This was my "D" wave waiting to start. The rain began around 7:45. I had one of those cheap $1 parkas and wore it until about mile 5 because at 61 degrees and humid I was wet from the inside out. The rain didn't last the entire time, BUT THE WIND SURELY DID!!! It was so windy. It really made it a chore. I walked more during this race than any other, mostly because sometimes it simply did no good to try to run because the wind was blowing so hard.

I got squeezed into a mud puddle at mile 4 and knew right away it was not going to be good. Around mile 10 I felt a blister on my right foot. 16 miles is a long time to run on a blister (or 3). 

This was by far the most grueling race I've competed in, and I was more sore than any other. Nothing really hurt (I'd blanked out the blister long before the finish), but I was just completely worn out and my body was uncomfortable. I had one beer at the after-race party and a slice of pizza, banana, and pretzels, then we headed to the room.

If anything I was glad I persisted and kept running the last 4 miles or so. I knew I just needed to keep my rhythm going, however slow I went. A LOT of people in my section simply walked it in. There were also a number of casualties along the course who did not make it in. At least not on their feet. It was a very rough day to run due to the wind, so I felt fortunate to at least run it in. Honestly, though, I have little recollection of smiling for the above pic for Jane right before the finish line. It took total concentration just to keep in a straight line and upright.

I didn't really have a time goal in mind - though I estimated somewhere around a 4:30 finish. I started out pretty good and did several early miles under 10. I thought maybe I could get closer to 4:20. But I simply ran out of gas. In the end I was happy just to be under 5 hours. Actually, I was really happy just to have finished. It was a chore.

Yes, I'd had a head cold and sort of a respiratory thing going on the 3 weeks before. I worried about my stamina. I can't really say if that was a problem or if it was just the weather, and my age, and... you know, just the way it is. I'm not complaining and felt like this was perhaps a greater accomplishment for me than a normal year (other than the year I ran it with a hangover).

I was feeling pretty good yesterday, but after mowing the lawn the top of my right foot started hurting. It's the area where I have mid-foot arthritis. I don't know if it's that, or just some bruising or something. I hope it's not a stress fracture. It doesn't hurt constantly, but it's pretty sore to walk on yet today. We'll see.

I plan to maybe force myself to take a full week off - though I'd really like to jog a couple miles this week if I can - then I need to figure out a running rhythm to keep myself going. 

At some point I need to rough draft what 2023 will look like in planning for marathon #6.