On Saturday May 8th, 2021 we took part in the 45th running of Indianapolis' IndyMini Half Marathon, virtually. Originally, Dave and I signed up for the 2020 race however due to the covid-19 pandemic that race went virtual with the option to transfer to the 2021 race. With an anticipated 30,000 plus runners and the pandemic still not fully under control the race organizers decided a few weeks before to go virtual again. Not wanting to postpone our Indiana race for a second time we decided to make the trip and run on our own.
We paid $60 per person for the race tickets since we got them early in the year. The longer you wait the higher the price goes up. By participating in the IndyMini we also supported the 500 Festival Foundation, a non-profit organization the promotes youth fitness, health and educational programs throughout Indiana.
I booked a room at the Springhill Suites in downtown Indianapolis. The whole reason for booking there is because it was only one block from the starting line and a couple of blocks from the finish. The hotel ended up being in a great location to sightsee for the long weekend. Be sure to check out my blog on Indianapolis.
As tradition demands we ate Italian the night before the race. Not realizing that it was Mother's Day weekend we had a hard time finding a restaurant within a 20 miles radius that wasn't completely booked for dinner. Through perseverance I was able to find La' Trattoria in Greenwood, Indiana which operated on a first come first serve basis. We arrived early and were seated immediately in their front room. Dave was able to eat his lasagna and we took an extra plate back to the hotel for after the race.
A couple of weeks before the race I found the Speedway Running Club on Facebook. Located in the town of Speedway which is where the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is located, the club posted a notice that even though the race went virtual they were still going to run the IndyMini on May 8th. Their route consisted of three different out and back legs with their home base in front of the racetrack. We decided to start our race as soon as we exited our hotel and run the 4.8 miles to where the Speedway Running Club was. We then ran a couple of miles on their route and headed back to the hotel to make the 13.1 miles. The running club was extremely helpful and supportive as they provided 2 porta potties, some water and people cheering us on as we passed through.
It was at mile 6 that I took a fall, the first time ever, and scraped both knees, my right elbow and left palm. I also ripped the left leg of my brand new running pants. The chilly weather helped out as it kept the burning sensation on my cuts to a minimum.
Along our route we saw many other IndyMini participants running. They were easily identifiable as they had also printed out their virtual running bibs and pinned it on their shirts like we did. We downloaded the IndyMini app that tracked our miles and officially logged them in. It also cheered us on as we ran through each mile and gave us IndyMini frames for our selfies. You can check out our route here! We had two weeks to (virtually) run the half marathon however, we decided to stick with the original schedule and run it on the day and time and in the location that it was set for.
Approximately a week after we came home from our trip we received our swag bag in the mail. It consisted of our race shirt along with an extra long sleeve zip shirt for those who opted for the 2021 virtual run rather then postponing it for next year. Our swag also included our medals, two running hats, a metal straw, tissues, koozie, cliff bar/granola, Grinds coffee pouches and a finisher banner. The only regret about the race was that we were unable to run on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which was the whole reason for choosing this particular race. The Speedway Running Club choose the perfect location to get as close as possible to the track so we could get some good destination running pictures.
Race and State #42 in the books!