Indianapolis Marathon

3 months of training...for four minutes?!

While the world was waiting for the New York Marathon, I was lacing up my shoes, bundling up, and preparing to run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 1st.

Jeff Galloway!

The day before was windy and rainy, I was almost blown into the street! However, we were able to go to the Expo and learn about the course, as well as meet Olympian Jeff Galloway. He was there, signing books and discussing his walk-run program. I picked up a book on motivation and mental training.

We also stopped by the NCAA Museum to play some interactive games and quizzes on different sports. For dinner, we ate at Palomino, and we split a salad and a delicious butternut squash soup (keep eyes on a recipe soon, I’m going to be experimenting for a healthy and yummy homemade butternut squash soup recipe. Normally, I eat protein with pasta or bread, but this time I just had some capellini marinara. And a small glass of wine to celebrate my birthday.

Yum!

Cute idea for the kids before the race!

                                           

Maybe it was the wine, but I ran very well the next day. I felt really strong up to mile 20, when I slowed down. I used slogans like, “everyone’s legs are feeling the same way” and “It is the last 6 miles that make a marathoner!” to get me through. And some good music. I knew at mile 17 I was going to beat my previous time. This reminder, kept me going strong.

It felt so good to beat the time I've been stagnant at for two years. I did it by four minutes. Baby steps to get where I want to be! Eating well this month was key to success and it's important to keep it up as I develop into the winter training season.

Indianapolis is a cool city! We enjoyed our stay at the Omni Severin and loved the atmosphere on Georgia Street. We also loved this local cafe for breakfast: Cafe Patachou.