I've been waiting for this race all year! My favorite running race in Indy has become my sole training ground since I "trained" for the San Fran race last year. I gladly call Holliday Park home turf now. I really don't want to run anywhere else. I have been running the course amid the rain, snow and sleet that pelted Indy over the past few months. Part of the course is completely washed away by the massive White River flooding so I was interested to see how the event would play out. I've done this race about 6 times, and I've now seen 4 different courses due to weather factors. The other variable in this race is the distance itself. I've also seen several different distances, anywhere from 3 - 5.5 miles depending on what trails are available to us. The normal course is 5.5 miles, but they still always advertise a 5 mile trail run. Which is ok, but they never adjust the pace split when they post times. Very misleading. On to the race...
I picked up my schwag bag at the Nature Center the night before. I was very pleased to find a great reusable bag instead of a crappy plastic. You get a lot of different stuff at this race like organic soaps, special fancy lotions and a bag of mixed beans or lentils for soups.
I had my normal pre-race night caps to get the guts going in the morning and settled in for a good nights sleep with a little help from the magic Zyrtech pills. Those things are so handy! The race starts at 9:30 am, kinda late, but I like it. I only live 5 miles away, so I arrived about 15 before the start and hit the line. There are no mats at the line, just a big mass start as we follow a guy on a bike around the paved 3/4 mile circular drive in the park before we head down to the trails. Helps to thin the group out. I was feeling pretty fast 1/2 mile in to look down at the watch and see I'm running 7:40 pace. I contemplated slowing down, but since I knew MOST of the course, I knew there would be plenty of places to catch my breath.
Here's a shot from March 3rd of part of the course. This was my 2nd time out since all the snow melted. The bridge that leads off to the right was unreachable 2 days prior. The water levels were 3 green poles higher than the bridge!
Here's a look at the same spot on race day.
We still needed some floating bridges but the organizers got the job done. Including the floating bridges, the course consisted of wide trails, wood bridges, stairs, single tracks, mud... all the great outdoor elements. I was cruising through, checking the watch, and just enjoying having lots of people on the trails with me. I was progressively getting slower, but I didn't care. I was still way under my normal running pace. A shot of some of the wider parts of the trail.
This race takes you through Holliday Park, under Meridian Street, through a housing addition and into Marott Park. The turnaround is over 1/2 way through the race, so once I hit it, I knew it was pretty flat until the very end. The last 1/2 mile of the course presents you with 2 lovely hills to climb. One is a set of rock stairs followed by a winding climb to what you think will be the finish.
Just as you get your breath back, instead of following the stone path around to the finish, they make you storm down a ravine and back up. Why not right? And just like each year that we are able to run a full course, this year's mileage came in at 5.5 miles. And I came in at 49:59 according to my watch. They have me at 50:00.7 but I like my Garmin time better! Another PR. Going to stop tracking that because they day the PRs stop will just be sad. I couldn't get friends to join me today, but I guess the trail is my friend now and he never disappoints!
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