About Kelly @ RaceFor50States

College grad spending the next year romping around the U.S. driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile - actively working toward my goal of doing a race in all 50 states by my 25th Birthday!

Touristy Tuesday: The Tale of Seven Cities in Seven Days

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Kelly @ RaceFor50States

During the month of April Eliot and I were moving around. A LOT. This coming from someone who packs and unpacks their suitcase weekly, logs at least 700 miles on the road in a seven day period, and never has a zip code to call home for more than a few days. April was such a crazy month that at one point I was in seven different cities, over seven days. This is that story.

City #1: Denver, Colorado
After our time in Louisville, KY Eliot and I criss-crossed the entire Midwest Region on our drive to Denver, CO. From our farthest East destination to our furthest destination to the West. The trip took two very long days of driving, which were more eventful than our actual two days off in Denver.

After the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon Eliot and I were Westward bound. There was just one highway separating us from Denver, I-70 and about 800 miles of it. Our first drive day was broken up by two fun visits. The first was at my Dad and Step Mom’s house in Kansas City. They live just two miles off of the interstate and every time Eliot and I drive through KC we stop to say hello. Although we couldn’t stay long, it was nice to get some quality time in with my parents. As we pulled the Wienermobile out of their driveway I said to Eliot, “It’s great – my parents are literally on the way to every city we go to in the Midwest!”

Home Sweet Hot Dog Home

Three hours later I called my Dad and he tells me that in the time it took us to drive 180 miles that: a neighbor had told a friend my parents were interested in selling their house, the friends had come by to check it out, and that they wanted to buy it. That means that they’re officially retiring, they’re moving, and they better find the next place to live! (More on that later!) Maybe I jinxed it when I made that comment to Eliot – so much for home being on the way now!

As I let that news sink in Eliot and I made a quick detour in Topeka, Kansas to pay a surprise visit. We had an enthusiastic Wienermobile fan who blew up social media trying to see the 27′ long hot dog and since she was on our drive anyway we figured it would be fun stop and to take her around the block. Kate proved that even big kids can get excited about the Wienermobile, that’s for sure!

By the time we made it to our hotel in Junction City, KS for the night we were wiped out. As we were waiting to check into our hotel rooms I started chatting up some of the other guests, one of whom turned out to be an amateur storm chaser! He was traveling over 1,000 miles in an attempt to catch tornados that were headed to SW Kansas – right where we were driving to the next day.

It turned out he would just be the first storm chaser of many we would see. The next day we saw a number of storm chasing vehicles pass us, with crazy gizmos attached to their cars and stickers proudly proclaiming their boldness.

Because we had been seeing storm chasers pass us the entire drive across Kansas I wasn’t exactly surprised when I saw a minivan pass us with a camera mounted to the top. I was surprised though when I looked in the side mirror to see the next vehicle, which looked like an armored tank approaching.

“Eliot – what the hell is that, a UFO?! Quick! Take a picture!” We knew it had to be some kind of storm chasing vehicle, but didn’t know what and quickly forgot about it.

That is, until I checked my phone later to see this:

While we were taking their picture, they were taking ours! Turns out it was the crew from the actual show Storm Chasers from the Discovery Channel! A celebrity sighting and we didn’t even know it!

Even with the impending storms, Eliot and I wanted to stop at one roadside attraction. I feel bad even calling it that – it isn’t like the World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn or anything. It was the Eisenhower Presidential Library. If you follow this blog regularly you know that I’m REALLY into these Presidential Libraries, and am trying to see them all. I think I’ve gotten Eliot equally excited about them as well at this point.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library is located two miles off of the interstate in Abilene, KS. As we drove down the main drag we noticed signs decorating downtown welcoming marathoners for the Eisenhower Marathon which was the day before. Shucks! Even though I did my own half marathon that weekend I still felt pangs of race envy swell up.

By the time we made it the two miles to the library the whole town of Abilene must have known the Wienermobile was in town, and before we even purchased tickets there was a local newspaper reporter there to interview us!

The library itself was certainly a relic and honestly lacked the grandeur of some of the other libraries, like Nixon’s. It delivered on content though, with some really great timelines and displays of Eisenhower’s military experience. If anything, it was more than worth it to go to the museum because the volunteers told me if you become a member of any library you get into the other ones for free. WHAT?! This was the fifth library I had been to in the last year alone. I should have joined JFK’s from the start. Oh well. I am now a proud member of the Eisenhower Presidential Library. I also get a +1 to any of the libraries, so it looks like I’ll get to drag a friend to Carter’s when I’m down in Georgia.

After two long days on the road we finally pulled into Denver, only to be met with the absolute worst traffic. Worn out from the road and exhausted, I was getting squirmish – something that happens in traffic that both Abe and Eliot can attest to. In an attempt to placate me, Eliot tried to appeal to my two favorite things: running and frozen yogurt. “There are some nice trails around here!” he cheerfully pointed out as we crawled past a park. “I. NOTICED.” I probably growled back, staring at the miles left to our destination on the GPS. “I’ve been looking for some froyo – maybe we’ll pass a place on the way,” he tried to perk me up with next. “I’ve been looking too. There aren’t any. They’re miles away on Yelp. Let’s just get there.” And finally, after what seemed like eternity, we pulled into the hotel just as it started to snow. We made it! (And Eliot was still friends with me by the time we parked, so that was cool too.)

Our days in Denver were substantially less exciting than our drive to Denver. The blizzard had us snowed in and we didn’t do much besides laundry and catch up on work. We decided to save our adventure for the weekend, when we made a trip to see a former Hotdogger, Tracy.

City #2: Boulder, Colorado
Friday night that week Eliot and I drove out to Boulder, where Tracy – a Hotdogger from last year – lives. We went out for Thai food with her and her boyfriend Sam in downtown. Eliot and I had won the Perfect Month Challenge at work and had $60 to spend on dinner. We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use it and figured it would be nice to treat Tracy and Sam to dinner since they would graciously be putting us up on their couch and air mattress for the night.

After dinner we headed to the Pearl Street pedestrian mall to a basement bar called the Sundown Salloon, where we met some of Tracy’s new coworkers, played some darts, and had a great time all around. It was fun to talk to Tracy now, when I was about 10 months into the job, and compare notes from when I talked to her in September, when I was just four months in.

The next morning I crawled out of bed, slightly dehydrated and slightly hungover – so basically in the best condition for a long run! I did 10 miles on the Boulder Creek Trail, enjoying the beautiful view of the mountains.

City #3: Estes Park, Colorado
After our night in Boulder on Friday, Eliot and I returned to Denver on Saturday to work during the day. After we handed out that last whistle I didn’t stick around too long, and instead headed up into the mountains of Estes Park, to see my aunt and grandma. I was exhausted and honestly slept most of the drive into town, but it was fun to get to have dinner and (surprise surprise) frozen yogurt with them.

In the morning we had breakfast in quaint little place in downtown Estes. There had been more snow and there were plenty of elk out to be seen on our way. That’s one thing I love about Estes – the wildlife might as well be town residents!

It was great to spend some quality time, however brief, with family. That was been one big advantage of the Midwest – I’m always seeing friends or relatives!

City #4: Lexington, Nebraska
Sunday it was back to Denver for one more day of work. Typically we have dedicated drive days, where we just wake up and drive, but this day we actually had to log a few hours that night. Because of some last minute schedule changes Eliot and I just had a day and a half to make it to Chicago.

This drive was substantially less exciting and marked mostly by bursts of song when the Pandora station came up with a karaoke-friendly selection.

City #5: Chicago, Illinois
Monday we woke up and drove. And drove some more. And some more. Or rather, Eliot drove. This was Monday, April 15th – the day of the Boston Marathon bombings. It was a rough day for me and Eliot was a champ, tackling most of the miles. If I-70 was our best friend on the way out to Denver, I-80 was our best friend on the way back.

In Chicago we were doing a video shoot for Kraft, Oscar Mayer’s parent company. We didn’t have to do too much, other than being our usual corndog selves, but we did get the opportunity to meet the CEO of Kraft. Now that was a cool day! Not many people can say they’ve done that!

City #6: Madison, Wisconsin
Promptly after the final “cut” was shouted from the video crew, Eliot and I hauled buns out of town. We continued to rack up the miles for the week with a drive to Madison. Eliot is a University of Wisconsin grad and was very active in WASB – the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board. WASB puts on a series of programs called “Dinners on Wisconsin” where UW grads buy dinner for current students and talk about what they do.

Eliot and a Hotdogger from last year, Tyler, put together a program for the Wienermobile and we stopped in Madison to have dinner at the Roman Candle, a pizza place, with about 7 current badgers. Not only was the pizza to die for, but the company was great! Since we are both so passionate about the job, it was fun to share that with other interested students. You can’t help but hope they get equally excited!

While Eliot and Tyler picked up the students in the Wienermobile I waited at the restaurant to hold the tables. While I was reading a book filled with Pizza Poems, I glanced up to see a familiar face.

I wasn’t kidding. Pizza Poems are a real thing.

In walked Louise (–SPELLING–), a girl I went to high school with. Even though we didn’t really know each other too well I had to say hello! Talk about a small world!

City #7: Oshkosh, Wisconsin aka OshVegas
While my parents live (or rather, lived) on the way to pretty much every city Eliot and I have visited in the Midwest, Eliot’s parents most certainly do not. He is from Oshkosh, WI which is pretty far North, near the Greenbay area. Luckily, Oshkosh showed up on our schedule and Eliot got to bring the Wienermobile home.

Oshkosh was our last city of the seven in seven days. Although we had two days off in town, it didn’t quite feel like it. Our first day off we had to drive from Madison to Oshkosh. Eliot’s family greeted us with a home-cooked meal, which hit the spot after the drive-thru diet that week. The next day the entire city of Oshkosh came over to Eliot’s house to see the Wienermobile. Ok, that may be an exaggeration, believe it or not. They did have a lot of friends over though, which was fun to meet every person who has ever met Eliot ever.

To prepare for that event Eliot’s mom, Carol, and I created a Wienermobile centerpiece – a rice crispy masterpiece.

The Wienermobile is made out of rice crispies, licorice, thin mint tires, and some marshmallow headlights. In case you’re wondering, it was just as much fun to eat as it was to make!

—-

Seven days later, we had covered quite a bit of ground. Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It was a long stretch, but worth it because of all the diverse experiences we had along the way – from friends and family, to future Hotdoggers and the CEO of Kraft!

—-

To finish up our travels in April, I’m just going to mention a few of our other stops along the way.

Once we made it out of Oshkosh, we headed to Milwaukee. We might as well have been in Eliot’s hometown still. He has more than 30 first cousins, so we continued to meet people left and right at work.

I was headed back to Kansas City on our off days that week to see my folks. Why would I fly back to KC after just seeing them just a few weeks prior? Well remember how I mentioned they decided to up and sell their house? Just as rapidly as they made that decision, they had to move out! By the time I would be back in KC in May, they would have to be out of the house. Luckily I had packed most of my belongings before I left to drive the Wienermobile, so I didn’t have too much work to do.

Once I packed up my few remaining boxes we went on a road trip to check out their new house, down at the Lake of the Ozarks. Let me first admit I was pretty leery at first. It is in the middle of nowhere. I don’t mean it’s kind of isolated. I mean, literally the middle of nowhere. As in 22 miles to the nearest grocery store. As in no cell phone service and dial up internet. Why would they want to move out to Edwards, MO!?

Then I saw the view. HOLY. MOLY. You are greeted by floor-to-ceiling windows when you walk into the house, which overlook the lake and beautiful foliage. The house is spectacular and they have a ton of land to garden on. Since my parents don’t mind the whole living-in-the-boonies thing, this is perfect for them! I left KC very happy for them to start their new adventure, and slightly bitter that they wouldn’t be just two miles off the interstate any more for me to visit them.

After seeing my parents, I then got to see my sister in Milwaukee. She drove in from Madison one night and we did a little bit of bridal gown shopping and a little bit of celebrating for her birthday. In one month I got to see my aunt, grandma, dad, step mom, and sister. With the exception of my mom, who lives in Europe, that’s pretty much everyone! (A big shift from the SW region where I never saw anyone I knew!)

She didn’t get this dress so I’m allowed to post this picture, right?

We ended our time in Wisconsin the right way. First by working this event called Stein and Dine, which is a beer, sausage, and cheese sampling event in Milwaukee. Naturally I had to get my picture taken with the Brewer’s Racing Sausages after work.

Our final stop was at the Cheese Castle, right before the Illinois border.

After copious amounts of cheese sampling, I felt it was only fitting to get a good cheese head photo to mark the occasion.

—-

And that was pretty much all of April. I know I crammed it into one Touristy Tuesday post, but it seemed to move so fast that you could barely distinguish one week from the next. April, probably more so than any other month on the road yet, was when I felt the most like a road-warrior. I’m glad I had friends and family to see along the way, because that helped make it as enjoyable as it was. Packing and unpacking was almost fun, knowing we would get to see familiar faces at the each new destination!

Touristy Tuesday: Indianapolis, IN + A Night in Chicago Edition

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Kelly @ RaceFor50States

With just a few weeks left on the road my Touristy Tuesdays are starting to get jam-packed again. During that winter hibernation period, where you didn’t see any blogs about travel or running, it was a struggle just to get out of the hotel. Now that the foot of snow is gone and the summer clothes have reappeared it’s a lot easier to get out and about!

Our first day in the Indianapolis we had high hopes. It was a maintenance day. Get the ketchup and mustard levels checked. Wash off the relish. That kind of thing. The idea is you get some work done those days, which we do, but they’re usually over pretty quickly, leaving time for adventuring. For example, our last maintenance day in St. Louis Eliot and I snuck in a tour of Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals play. This maintenance day on the other hand did not lend well to being a tourist. Instead, we hung out at Penske for almost the entire day. (Let me tell you – the Indianapolis Penske is not exactly the finest way to be introduced to the city.)

Luckily we found a Cracker Barrel and hung out in their rocking chairs for awhile. We had lunch nearby and played Yahtzee for the rest of the afternoon while we waited on the company car. We had just enough time to play three games, and I will shameless gloat that I had three Yahtzees and won 2/3 games!

That afternoon I met up with Tim and his buddies from the Bourbon Street Running Club for a group run around the Indianapolis Downtown Canal. Although I didn’t experience too much of the downtown area beyond this, I was really impressed. From the run you could see several different museums, arenas, and tons of parks! Between the people and the copious amounts of things to do in the area, I could easily see myself moving to Indy one day down the road. It’s up there with Louisville, KY I think!

I saw another running friend, Kathy, on our day off on Wednesday. University of Indiana got lucky that week – I brought the Wienermobile by both their Indy and Bloomington campuses. It was finals week, so it was kind of fun to catch up with her – hear about her running escapades (she does a marathon each month!) – and also surprise the kids on campus.

That afternoon I headed down to the main Indiana campus in Bloomington to see my friend Rachel, who is there for grad school. Now believe it or not, I do have friends that aren’t from the running community. (Or forced friends like Eliot and Abe who are friends with me only because we are stuck in a giant hot dog together.) Rachel and I have known each other from way back in the dorm days. She made my Wilma Flintstone Halloween costume that year and I’ve been trying to repay her ever since.

Egyptian. Genie. Wilma.

Just for throwback’s sake I’m including some fun college photos because they’re adorable and who doesn’t love a walk down Nostalgia Lane?

Ridiculous outfits we made to cheer on an intramural basketball team in our building. Go big or go home, right?

At the statue of David Francis. You rub his nose for good luck before exams! Whoo!

Rachel just finished her first year of grad school at IU studying Student Affairs, where she also worked as a Graduate Assistant managing Briscoe Residence Hall. (Yep – she’s a ResLIFER. Res Life, For Life. haha) I promised that she could totally take advantage of having the Wienermobile come visit, so she set up a hot dog bar for all of the residents to enjoy on move-out day. (That made me miss being an RA in the dorms for half a second, until I actually remembered all the babysitting that went into being an RA. haha)

That evening she showed me all around the IU campus, which was unbelievably gorgeous. I am really proud of how beautiful Mizzou is, but IU is a close rival. Perhaps because all of their red and white tulips were in bloom, but I was tempted to switch grad programs and move in with her!

We chatted quite a bit about grad school, girly things, and everything else under the sun. I love that girl because we can go for awhile without talking (sometimes too long) and still fall right back into cahoots together, planning adventures. It was over frozen yogurt that I talked her into coming to Chicago.

One of the traditions at Indiana is to dip in this fountain. Check that off the list, I guess!

Rachel is adventurous in a crazy/zany/spontaneous way, but hasn’t traveled too much on her own and somehow had never made it to Chicago. When I heard that, I insisted she come with! Our mutual friend David was taking the bus into Indianapolis and driving back with Eliot and I already. She could do the opposite – drive up and take the bus back! I can be pretty persuasive (not that going to Chicago in the Wienermobile is a hard sell) and I left Bloomington assured she would be joining us on the adventure.

Friday afternoon David came in for the race. If I was Rachel’s first friend at Mizzou, David was mine. Just a few days before I talked him into coming to Indy for the Mini-Marathon, which turned out to be a pretty awesome time. You can read more about the expo, carb-tastic dinner, and the race on my latest race recap.

After the race though it was time to pack and hit the road. I’ve managed to squeeze in three half marathons lately, but it has meant busy days afterwards. After the Go! St. Louis half marathon Eliot and I had to drive 7 hours to the middle of Kansas. After the Mini-Marathon we were headed to Chicago, +2 with Rachel and David in tow.

That drive was only supposed to be a few hours long. Unfortunately we hit a massive accident, that left us going 6 miles over the course of 2 hours.

Yes, that is us going 3.9 miles.

Yuck! I think the novelty of the company car had worn off for those two by that point.

It was probably good they slept because we headed out on the town that night. David and I really wanted to take Rachel downtown for a real night out in Chicago, but we got in much later than expected and they two of us were a little tired from running PRs. Instead, we went to the Rosemont Entertainment District right near our hotel.

After sharing an oversized margarita pitcher (or two) we decided to share some oversized beers as well at the Hofbräuhaus.

Somehow these German beer places bring something out in me, like my accordion playing skills in Chicago, and when they had a ladies beer drinking competition Rachel and I were both up on stage. (And to think, we were both RAs in college!) While neither of us won, we did put in a good effort.

This entertainment district has 10+ bars all within walking distance, so from there we headed over to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar. WHOOOO! I have been trying to go to one of these bars the entire time we have been on the road, but failed at two other attempts while in the Southwest.

After the long wait, it finally lived up to my expectations. (Sadly, my cowgirl boots were already packed away so I’m not sure I got the full experience.) Let me just say that after this country bar I’m even more excited to move to the South. (Georgia – Lookout!)

After our around-the-world tour with Mexican margaritas, German Beer, and some good old American country music we headed home and crashed. Sadly Rachel had to head home in the morning, but that was just the start of Chicago adventures for me!

So that was Indianapolis. Running. Friends. Running Friends. Board Games. And Beer. All around a great week!

Race Report: Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, IN

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Kelly @ RaceFor50States

WWWHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Let me just start off and say that on the list of things I’m not good at, one of the top is containing my excitement. As you might have guessed, the Mini-Marathon this weekend turned out to be an absolutely awesome race and a total blast to run. I’m not going to add a spoiler alert, but by now you can PRobably guess how it turned out.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

The Mini-Marathon was a last-minute add to my race calendar. Just a few weeks prior I found out that the Top Dogs in the department were sending us to Indy. I was thrilled about this for a few reasons. First, I have a couple friends in the area who I was really hoping I would get to see while on the road. Second, was obviously because I could check off one more state on the Race for 50 States, especially when the transportation and lodging is covered!

One of my friends in the area is Rachael, who I know from back in the dorm days at Mizzou. I’ll tell you more about Razzle Dazzle Rachael in the Indy Touristy Tuesday post, but I couldn’t wait to get to see her. I wasn’t the only one either. Our friend David, from Mizzou/Chicago, also wanted to pay her a visit. David is a runner and once I found out I was headed to Indianapolis it was an easy sell to convince him to come down for the Mini-Marathon as well! Luckily we both managed to score bib transfers off Craigslist and managed to get all signed up for the race.

I was in the Mini-Marathon spirit the minute we got to Indianapolis and immediately set to work decorating the Wienermobile for the occasion. Naturally, I had to make a jumbo-sized 13.1 sticker for the back of the jumbo dog and added a few other embellishments to the bun as well.

I’m not even going to play it cool. I’ll admit it. I even wore an Indy-500 themed dress to packet pickup on Friday.

I picked David up at the bus stop and we headed over to the convention center. (This was round II of the expo for me – I couldn’t’ resist and went on Thursday for work anyway.) When David got to Indy the weather was terrible – it was pouring rain. Not a good sign for race day. He ran into the expo through the rain while I went to find parking, something easier said than done in the Wienermobile.

The expo and packet pickup was extremely well organized. With 35,000+ runners and their families in tow all headed to the convention center I was worried it would be a madhouse. The flow of people was probably really well managed because the pick-up was spread out over two days. Neither David or I knew our bib numbers and just showed up. Within five minutes they had looked us up, pointed us to the right registration table, and gotten us squared away with bibs, shirts, and even a swag Mini-Marathon hat!

The rest of the expo was pretty typical for me. Wander around, sample a lot of protein bars, and make an impulse running purchase of some kind. This time it turned out to be a pretty big buy and I am now the proud owner of a Garmin Forerunner 910XT.

Once I’m no longer living out of a hot dog I plan on doing quite a bit more cross-training and hope to diversify more into triathlons. The 910XT just seemed like the best option for that. Waterproof and with a long battery life, I figured this would be a good investment for races to come… like a half Ironman maybe? (Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself again!)

After the expo we were on a mission to eat as many carbs as possible. Eliot was joining us for dinner and we headed back to the hotel to pick him up. Traffic was a mess and we opted to look for a place nearby instead of heading back downtown. That turned out to be a great decision.

By 7:30 the rain had totally stopped and the sun had started to creep out again. To make things even better, we stumbled onto this Italian restaurant which was situated overlooking an absolutely stunning lake. Hello outdoor patios! It’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other!

Dinner was wonderful! Eliot and David both made more delicious decisions than me, but all around it was the perfect pre-race meal.

In the morning we woke up to great news – it wasn’t raining! The skies were a little overcast, which I like to keep cool anyway, and there weren’t any any big rain clouds in sight. Hurray!

David and I made an early exit and headed downtown right away to make sure we could finding parking, which we luckily were able to find fairly close to the race start.

The start line was insane! So this is what 35,000 runners looks like?

Similar to the expo, I was really impressed with how organized it was. There were two waves of corrals. The first set were seeded runners who submitted race results proving their speed. This made sure that they were lined up correctly and not running over people in strollers, for example. The second wave, which is what I was in because I registered late, was all self-submitted times. My friend Kathy, who I actually met up with earlier in the week, had warned me that being in the second set of corrals could make the start really difficult – weaving in and out of walkers. I’ll admit it, I was seeded in corral M and snuck up into L to try to get a little extra advantage – I know, I’m a rebel.

With the tragedy in Boston, I was pretty alert at the start line. It felt really safe and there were tons of volunteers, police, and quite a few men in uniform that I would guess were National Guardsmen.

I slowly walked to the start line and eventually got a jogging start about 20 minutes after the gun went off. Sure enough, the first mile involved a lot of side stepping, trying to pass people. I’ll be honest, I might have been running a little bit like a jerk jumping around people to get through. At the half mile mark my watch said I was on pace for a 9:30 first mile. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but I had high hopes for this race.

The Mini-Marathon was going to be MY race. The climax of a month of running every day. The third half marathon in five weeks. The final race of my year Hotdogging. I wanted to go big. I wanted to PR and in a substantial way, breaking the 9:00 min/mile pace. That was the goal anyway.

Who doesn’t love a big American flag?

So when I saw 9:30 I knew I had to step on it. Even if it was just one mile, 30 seconds would be a lot to make up. I anticipated the first mile to be slower, with warming up and the course clearing out, but didn’t want to give it that much time. A few runners had left the pavement and hopped onto the sidewalk, which seemed like a good idea. The first mile I did in 9:06.

This was a pretty strategic race for me. Normally I tend to dilly-dally, taking pictures, sending texts along the way. Don’t get me wrong, I was still set on having fun (which is always priority #1) but had a little more pep in my step and determination in my stride. So no, I didn’t stop for a picture with the Lion mascot in front of the Indianapolis Zoo, but I did run zig-zags across the course to high five little kids and dance with the bands along the way. (Decisions and trade-offs, right?)

The first five miles went by fast. There was just so much to look at between the runners and the course. I was feeling really good and each mile kept coming in under my target 9:00/mi pace.

At mile 6 we turned into the speedway. The first thing you see going into the Speedway was the jumbotron. I had to laugh when I looked up at it and the news was interviewing the winner of the half marathon. Welp… guess there goes any hope I had at getting 1st place today!

I have a love/hate relationship with the Speedway section of that course. Let me first admit that I went in with the totally wrong mindset. Oh, it’s a track. That won’t be too bad. One loop – that’s like a half mile and it will be nice pavement. Well… It’s a car track though (duh silly!) and that’s much longer than I was expecting. It also got a little congested with runners in this portion of the track. Even so, it was really neat to do a lap in the Indy 500 arena! The only thing missing was a number and some sponsorship money!

It was on the track that I met the two guys who pushed me the rest of the way through the race. Right at the start of the track portion I heard a cacophony of high school girls cheering on this guy Jesse. I figured he must be their coach or something like that and joked he was their hometown hero. Nope, he was just an excited runner and they were reading his name off their bib! Jesse then proceeded to get our group of runners pumped up with some Army cadences.

Jesse – “WHEN I SAY ONE, YOU SAY TWO. ONE.”
Us – “TWO!”

Jesse – “WHEN I SAY THREE, YOU SAY FOUR. THREE.”
Us – “FOUR!”

Jesse – “WHEN I SAY PT, YOU SAY SOME MORE. PT.”
Us – “SOME MORE!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At6EvoFcc1o

I knew instantly this guy had the type of energy that would keep me going, at least around the track. I assumed he’d be a short-term running friend and take off past me, but I was more than happy to feed off his energy while I could. We ended up as running buddies for the rest of the race. Jesse had also started running in the grass around the track, which proved to be another useful tactic. It was much cooler than the asphalt, and while probably more tiring, it was a nice change of pace.

Toward the end of the track, mile 8, Jesse called out to CJ – another runner he had met. And just like that, we were as thick as thieves, three musketeers finishing out the race.

Both Jesse and CJ were faster than me. Jesse claimed to have calf cramps (having not really trained and instead just jumped into the race as a mental challenge – which he was deftly overcoming) but you couldn’t tell at all. This guy was a rockstar and so encouraging! CJ was doing his first half marathon and had that rookie enthusiasm that was also contagious. With them pushing me, the second half I clocked some serious negative splits! If I ever lagged behind at a water stop, they were calling for me to catch up and get back in step – exactly what I needed for a strong finish.

By mile 10 I knew the PR was in the bag. Even if I slowed down I could still make my goal, but those gentlemen weren’t about to let that happen. By mile 11 I was having that weird, emotional “I’m so proud, I love running, I love everyone!” moment that happens at least once during each race. That’s the runner’s high, right?

At 12.1 we decided it was time to sprint. CJ still had fuel in the tank and I told him he better haul it and finish way ahead of us. Even as he booked it to the finish, he was still waving us forward. Jesse and I stepped up the pace too and crossed the finish line together. Even that last mile, when we were both close to empty, he was still cheering. As soon as we passed the finish line and I hit stop on my watch I pretty much collapsed and he managed to catch me before I fell apart too much. Sorry Jesse – thanks for looking out!

I DID IT – 1:56:24!!! Mission Accomplished! My Garmin actually had me doing 13.27 miles, which meant an overall pace of 8:46. Whoo! That’s what I’m talking about. The pace for 13.1 would have been 8:54/mile though, which still shatters the sub 9:00 goal I was working toward. Whoo!!

I also finished 181/1638 in the W20-24 division, which is top 11% for my division.

You might have to click this to actually read it. Whoops

We met up with CJ at the finish and we all collected our well earned checker-print Mini-Marathon medals. At the end of a race I’m usually equally as excited about the food as the medals and we grabbed bananas, granolas, and one of the most delicious cookies I’ve had. (Maybe the secret ingredient in the chocolate chip treats were PRs and negative splits!) After exchanging hugs and well deserved high fives we split and I went to cheer on David.

This was David’s second half marathon and I was eager to see how he was doing. With 35,000 participants, who all started at various times after the gun time it was darn near impossible to catch him and I ended up missing his finish. Drats! I was really bummed because David also PR’d by a whopping 5 minutes! Now that’s what I would call a successful race for the both of us!

David had challenged me to meet my goal and we had even wished on PRs at the fountain in Monument Circle, so I was glad we both had things to celebrate!

After the race we went to meet up with Tim and his friend at the Bourbon Street Running Club. Talk about VIP treatment! They were wonderful and offered us sandwiches, cupcakes and beer! I went for the first two but naturally had to politely decline the last. It was a blast to share running stories and hear how everyone’s race went. I didn’t know this until then, but this year Tim is trying to run 62 races for his 62nd birthday. Wow! Now that’s impressive! I love runners and their ambitious goals!

David and I made the walk back to the Wienermobile, which seemed substantially longer after the race than it had been before, and headed back to change. Even though we had already run 13.1 miles that day, it was just beginning! it was time to celebrate! We still had to catch up with Razzle Dazzle Rachael, a story I will save for the next Touristy Tuesday post.

Here’s a preview though: the rest of Saturday involved a road trip to Chicago, a margarita pitcher, and Rachael and I losing a beer drinking competition. I know… you’re on the edge of your seat already!

Mission Accomplished: Run Every Day in April

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Kelly @ RaceFor50States

30 days, 157 miles, 9 cities, and 7 states later – I have officially completed my goal of running every day in April!

When I set the goal my motivation was to just get back in the habit of running. January through March my training was pretty much nonexistent. Let’s just say, I made excuses much more often than I made an effort. I recently saw this post, which seemed to sum it up pretty well.

They say it takes 21 days to break/form a habit and I committed April to getting back in the swing of things with training. My only rule was that I run every day by midnight and that I run at least 2 miles per day. (And for the sake of honestly, I’ll admit that sometimes those two miles were more of a trot.)

It actually went really well! The first week was easy peasy. I still had a runner’s high from the Run the Bluegrass half marathon and was leading into the Go! St. Louis half that weekend. “This will be no problem!” I thought.

Annica and I finishing the half marathon in STL.

Week two was a little more difficult. Eliot and I were in Denver for the week and naturally the night we arrive 8″ of snow are dumped on the city. Let’s just say, I learned to love the dreadmill that week. It was actually a good opportunity to try out podcasts and it reaffirmed my school-girl crush on Ira Glass.

At the end of our week in Denver Eliot and I went to Boulder to visit Tracy, a former Hotdogger. I met up with Tracy when I was in the SW with Abe last September and it was great to get together with her again. She is also training for a half marathon, so she didn’t think I was totally delusional when I got up at 6:30 a.m. after a night out on the town to go run.

Talk about a beautiful run! I’ve been throwing around the idea of either moving to Boulder, CO or Madison, WI after grad school, and that run just made me even more set on Boulder. Absolutely gorgeous and I was in good company – it is such an active city and so many people were out biking and running! I was worried about the altitude, but after a few days to acclimate it was totally fine.

Around week two I encountered the first obstacle. There were some days where I wouldn’t run in the morning and by the end of the day I was just exhausted. With running an absolute impossibility because I was so tired, I did what any (in)sane Type-A runner would do – I set the alarm for 11:00 p.m. and then hit the sack. Yep, I did this last minute nonsense not once, but multiple times over the month.

This method was effective for getting the miles in, but was an absolutely terrible idea. Groggy, I was obviously slower. By the end of the runs however I would be wide awake, with a bit of a runner’s high, unable to fall asleep! For someone usually in bed by 10:00, seeing the clock read anything after midnight is not a welcome sight to see.

The roughest late night run though was after our drive from Denver to Lexington, Nebraska, which finally ended when we pulled into the hotel at 11 p.m. This was almost exactly halfway through the month and I knew it would be a tipping point. The hotel gym was pathetic too and my tired brain kept encouraging me not to waste my time. Finishing 15 minutes before the witching hour though, I got my two miles in!

I’m glad I did – the next day was April 15th – the day of the Boston Marathon. This was a very emotional day for me. When I heard the news I was instantly gripped with fear, for my friends running and those who live in the area. Once I was assured everyone I knew was safe the fear turned to paralyzing anger and sadness.

The tragedy at Boston was the first terrorist attack that truly resonated with me. I was a little young to fully comprehend the horror of 9/11 and many other attacks, while devastating, have felt abstract. I am a runner. I want to run Boston. I know people running Boston. These are my people. I couldn’t believe that there were people out there with so much hate that they would want to rob people of so much joy, on the most monumental day of many of their lives. Even now, I am still eager for answers.

After the tragedy there was no giving up on the goal. There are three people who will never get to run again, and countless others who will face unbelievable obstacles. The least I could do was reach the goals I set for myself and run for Boston.

The second half of the month was challenging, no question. Without the initial enthusiasm, the goal was a little harder to keep up with. My strategy on those days was to go into the workout promising to at least do two miles and usually I ended up doing more.

On a lighter note though, I found this goal had one other unexpected difficulty – laundry. Holy sports bras! My laundry pile doubled in size each week with all the athletic clothes that accumulated as a byproduct.

The running definitely paid off though. I’m a goal junkie because there are always measurable results. You either did it or you didn’t. With running there is the added bonus of being able to compare times, pacing, and distances, and over the month I noticed some serious improvement in my times.

The first mini-goal I achieved was running a half marathon on a treadmill in Milwaukee. Running long distances on the treadmill was something I never really thought I could actually hack, so in a burst of dedication, I decided to give it a whirl. Not only did I do it (Ira Glass and This American Life helped me through the first hour) but I did the 13.1 miles in under 2:00 hours!

The second goal was actually a really huge deal to me. At the start of the year I set a goal to break the 9:00/mi pace for the half marathon. I knew I was capable of this, but with winter hibernation I figured it would have to wait until I was off the road. It was one of those things I was happy to be wrong about!

When I geared up for a long run last week I initially had only planned to do 12 miles at a 9:15 pace or so, but the run felt good. I’m talking about really good. Like wool socks in winter or a bratwurst at the ballpark good. I still turned back at 6 miles but knew full well that I would do a victory lap to make it a full half marathon at the end. I ended up finishing in 1:56:30, a training PR and an 8:54/mi pace. Whoo! While I would still like to break 9:00/mi in a race, I think it still counts as a goal attained!

The last few days have simply been recovering from those runs and tapering for the Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis this weekend. (That’s right, that will be half marathon number three in five weeks!)

The month ended on a high note and I did my final run today in downtown Indianapolis with Tim. (We met up in St. Louis at the beginning of April and also did Mississippi back in January.) He had invited me to run with his Tuesday group, the Bourbon Street Running Club. It was a total blast!

I ran with Tim, another Tim, Mike, and Dan – my friend Kathy’s husband. For four guys that are all roughly twice my age, they kicked my ass.

We ran the canal and it was beautiful. Indianapolis is a lot like Louisville in my book, a hidden gem of the Midwest. It was 84 degrees out, a drastic change from blizzard conditions just weeks before, and path was packed.

Running with people was a great change of pace, literally! I most likely would have lolly-gagged through a few miles today in the spirit of “tapering” but keeping a strong pace was no problem with these gentleman to chat with. After the run we headed back to the Bourbon Street Distillery to meet up with the rest of the group. It was a really fun afternoon, meeting all these other runners, and I’m even more excited now to join a running group when I get my bearings in Georgia.

Now thirty days after starting this journey, I’ve reached another finish line. I DID IT! I’m 30/30 and at an average of 5 miles each day. It was a pretty arbitrary goal, but I’m definitely glad to have accomplished it.

Now who knows what May will bring…

Race for all 50 States

The Goal: Complete a race in all 50 states. The Deadline: My 25th Birthday – 3/29/2015 (And driving the Wienermobile certainly helps!)

Author Archives: Kelly @ RaceFor50States

About Kelly @ RaceFor50States

Touristy Tuesday: The Tale of Seven Cities in Seven Days

Touristy Tuesday: Indianapolis, IN + A Night in Chicago Edition

Race Report: Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, IN

Mission Accomplished: Run Every Day in April