After finishing the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November of 2019, I set my sights on all the races I wanted to accomplish in 2020. I had just broken 3 hours for the first time and was certainly feeling the runner’s high. I made the decision to enter a half marathon in the Spring of 2020 to see how low I could get my time. The pandemic hit halfway through training, and as a result, all racing was canceled for the foreseeable future. It made for a long year with little motivation, as race after race postponed or canceled. This spring brought new hope with the introduction of vaccines and cases dropping. I set my sights on the Flying Pig Full Marathon. However, most large races, along with the Flying Pig still decided to postpone to the fall. It’s funny how opportunities present themselves sometimes, as I ended up getting to race the Carmel Half Marathon!
A week before the Carmel Half Marathon in Indiana, I got an email saying they were opening up some spots in the previously sold out half marathon. I had kept my training up, but I had been training for the marathon distance. I had not done as much speed work as I would have for a half marathon training program. However, my wife and I were already planning to travel to the Indy area for a wedding, so I decided to give it a shot. After hitting submit on the registration form, all of the nervous excitement that I hadn’t felt in over a year came rushing back. It was suddenly race week!
Race Preparation
I am a very analytical person, so I probably do much more preparation than the average runner. To prepare for the race, it’s important to consider nutrition, sleep, race week workouts, travel accommodations, and much more. Click here to read my full article on marathon preparation. With the race only a week away, I stuck to the race week schedule that I had used for my last marathon.
On Monday, I did a relaxed 5.5mi run to get the week started. On Tuesday I did my go-to race week workout. This consisted of a 10min warmup, 2x2mi tempo at projected race pace, and a 10min cooldown. I went into the race thinking I could hold a pace somewhere between 6:20-6:30 min/mi. I nailed the workout with both 2mi sections around 12:40. This workout gave me some great confidence heading into the race. I took Wednesday & Thursday off to let my legs recover. Finally, a short 3 mile shake-out run on Friday capped off the week.
Carmel Half Marathon Pre-Race Experience
We arrived in Carmel Friday evening to get my packet at the expo. Carmel High School hosted the expo in the past, but organizers moved it outdoors to Carter Green this year. Being a smaller race, the process was quick and efficient. We arrived towards the end, so many vendors had already packed up. After registering, we looked around for a few minutes before heading back to our car. After that we decided to stretch our legs before the sun set by taking a short stroll down the Monon Trail to shake out the legs.
One of the best decisions of the trip was to stay in the Hotel Carmichael. The hotel is located less than 200 yards from the start/finish line. I highly recommend the hotel for its cleanliness and proximity to the start line. There are plenty of other hotels in the proximity and also a few parking garages to use on race day. I ran the full marathon in 2019, and we easily found parking just a short walk away. However, it was very nice just to waltz out of the hotel and lineup for the race!
Carmel Half Marathon – The Race
The Carmel Half Marathon course is a big loop that goes out to the east of Carmel and finishes down the Monon Trail. It was a breezy morning with winds around 10mph from the south. Consequently, this created a headwind over the first couple miles, a nice tailwind during the middle stretch, and a closing couple miles back into the wind. There was anxious excitement in the starting corral as the sun rose on a chilly day with the temperature in the upper 20’s. Finally, the gun went off and I settled into my pace.
I found a rhythm that felt comfortable to me as I tucked in behind some other runners to shield from the wind. My watch read 6:03 through the first mile, which was a little faster than I had planned. However, I wasn’t too concerned because my body felt relaxed and not overly stressed. After a couple miles of maintaining the same pace, I started to debating slowing down a little as I was starting to bank some serious time over my initial plan of running a 1:25 pace. I crossed through the halfway mark (6.55mi) at 39:50 and I couldn’t believe I was on sub-1:20 pace.
Back Half of Race
The thought of reaching my goal of hitting a NYC Marathon Qualifying time provided some great motivation on the back half as the miles started to pile up. The effort started to show around mile 8 as the body started to tire a little. At that time my HR had climbed up into the mid-170s and I knew I would have to dig deep to achieve my goal. I hit the last 2 miles still on track for sub-1:20 as long as I kept my same pace I had run the first 11 miles. Luckily the last couple miles were through some wooded area and helped knock down some of the headwind. Coming down toward the finish, I knew it would be close and I dug in deep as I came down the final hill. 1:19:52 was my official time. Overall, it was a great race and a new PR!
Mile Splits & Cumulative Time:
- 6:03 (6:03)
- 6:04 (12:08)
- 6:11 (18:19)
- 6:02 (24:21)
- 6:08 (30:30)
- 6:03 (36:33)
- 6:03 (42:36)
- 6:06 (48:42)
- 6:05 (54:47)
- 6:12 (1:01:00)
- 6:08 (1:07:08)
- 6:05 (1:13:14)
- 6:11 (1:19:25)
- 0:27 (1:19:52)
Overall it was a great weekend and a fun race. I’m looking forward to racing some more half marathons in the future and would highly recommend the Carmel Marathon to anyone looking for a great race to enter.
