Mini marathon

I don't like the name "Mini marathon". Its kind of demeaning. Sometimes they call it a half marathon, but that is no better. They make a big fuss over the winner of the 100 meter dash. They don't insult him by calling the race the "mini-200".

Anyway, I've got my 13.1 mile run this Saturday. Its in Indianapolis. I've sworn off marathons. And I really didn't plan to ever do a mini-marathon either, but this is just too good to pass up. In the middle of the race we run one lap, which is 2.5 miles, on the Indy 500 track. By "we", I mean me and all the people up in the distance ahead of me.

I ran a couple miles tonight. That is the last I'll run until Saturday. I haven't really run as much as I should, but all I want to do is finish. I've tried to run 2 or 3 miles a couple times during the week and an 8-10 mile run on the weekend. I know enough about running to know that isn't the perfect training plan, but this should get me to the finish line.

Going into a race, I always have a series of goals, starting from rock bottom to the best I think I can do. It used to be that somewhere in the list was winning the race. My series of goals are much more conservative now. Here they are.

1. Make it to the 8 mile mark - It means not finishing, but I'll get far enough to run on the Indy track - My only real goal.

2. Finish the whole race.

3. Don't walk.

4. Don't come in last.

5. Finish in under 2.5 hours.

6. Each goal thereafter is to finish another 15 minutes faster.

I know I won't be able to run faster than the Indy cars. In fact, I'm just a bit faster than those cars when they're in the pits. I'm sure I can make the first five goals pretty easy, but you never know.

I didn't know when I signed up for this, but it turns out this is the biggest half marathon in the U.S., so it'll be crowded. Since the Boston Marathon bombing, they've sent out a number of e-mails regarding all the extra safety precautions they'll be taking. It'll be interesting to see how it all turns out.