IU Mini Race Report

I still get nervous every time I run a race, especially a long one. I think about all the whatifs. Like, what if I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the race, what if I get a side stitch I can't get rid of and have to walk, what if the weather is crappy the day of the race? All sorts of things go through my head and I never sleep well the night before a race. Thankfully, the IU Mini turned out great despite my nerves and lack of sleep.


The weather the day of the race was about as ideal as possible. It was cool, sunny, and clear. Honestly, the weather several days before and the day after were horrible, so the good conditions were a relief. I like this race in that it is pretty small, so even though the course is not the greatest, you aren't weaving through crowds of people or getting stuck beind a line of walkers. However, the hills are killer. They changed the course this year to make it supposedly less hilly. Supposedly is the key term here. I would still rate this a very hilly course and my legs can vouch for this - still sore the day after! But, I had practiced parts of the course, so knew what to expect, which was helpful.


The cool thing this year is that I ran with my friend Mandy. I have run other races with people, but not people I really knew. In fact, all were people that I met the day of the race. Mandy and I had trained on longer runs together, and it was good to run with a friend to motivate each other the entire way. Trust me, long distances are boring and usually happen at a slower pace than when running alone. Headphones keep you going, but finishing with someone is more fun. The funny thing was we actually met a another girl in the port-a-potty line before the race(yes, we were nervous and needed to go one more time). We invited her to run with us and she thought she would be slower than our pace and trained less miles, but we told her to join us anyway. Yeah, she ditched us by before mile 2 and finished 10 minutes ahead of us. Nice.


Overall, it was a great race. We may try to run the Indy Mini or some other long distance race together soon. The hard part will be training in the warmer temps, although that does not appear to be a problem with the snow expected tomorrow. Ugh!