The One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon

I ran the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis Saturday, May 7. Well actually I jogged/walked it but I'll refer to all participants as runners. One of the largest mini's in the nation, there were more than 30,000 runners this year. According to the 500 Festival website, 24,768 people finished the race.

The 500 Festival celebrates the greatest race in the world with month-long festivities. It starts with a foot race, the Mini-Marathon, the first Saturday in May and ends with the auto race, the Indianapolis 500, at the end of May.

The mini is 13.1 miles long. It starts on Washington and West streets in downtown Indianapolis. It goes west to Speedway, completely circles the race track then heads back to Indy, ending by Military Park on New York Street. It can be a long, grueling trek. But along the way there's lots of entertainment for the participants.

I saw cloggers, square dancers, live bands and a bag pipe player. Many of the residents along the route stand by the roadside offering high-five's and cheering runners on. There was even a mother and her little boy beating pans with spoons to help quicken the runners' pace and encourage them. It does help when you start getting tired. For me that began at about the half-mile mark.

The runners themselves are interesting to watch, too. A lot of runners like to stop at the brick finish line on the track and get their picture taken kissing the bricks. One man was dressed as Santa Claus in shorts. There was an unescorted blind man using only a cane to guide him wearing a T-shirt saying "Blind Runner." I saw a fireman in full gear carrying a 30-pound backpack and wearing an SCBA face mask. He had to be very hot. I salute you, sir.

Signs were fun to read, also. One said "Is it worth all this work for a free banana?"

It takes 4,000 volunteers to execute this event. Just part of their job is to fill and hand out 40,000 cups of water and do clean up. They also hand out the medallions at the end of the race, plus offer bananas, cookies, chips and bottled water to the finishers. Roads are blocked off the entire route to ensure the safety of the runners. So trying to drive anywhere in the downtown area is very difficult during the race.

To get the city opened up and traffic flowing normally as soon as possible, the Mini puts a time limit on the runners.

They have to average an 18-minute per-mile pace. Supposedly, if you're slower than that a bus will come along and pick you up and drive you to the finish line. No one wants to be picked up by that bus. I'd rather be hit by the bus than picked up by it.

It's a pride thing.

This was the 40th anniversary for the Mini. The Indy 500 is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The Festival organizers wanted to honor both events. So they designed the medallion that they give to each mini finisher to look like the Borg-Warner Trophy which is given to the 500 mile race winner.

I wanted one of those medallions. And the only way to get it was to do the mini.

I didn't do this on a whim, though. This was my 15th mini marathon. I do an 18-week training program with the Wabash Valley Road Runners out of Terre Haute. Each year it gets a little harder. Probably because each year I get a little older.

This year's winner finished the race in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 3 seconds. That's about a 4.7 minute per mile average.

When I trained, my average time was about a 17.1-minute mile, just barely ahead of the bus. So during the race I pushed as hard as I physically could to stay ahead of the bus and finished in 3 hours, 31 minutes and 14 seconds. That was a 16.06-minute mile. Out of 24,768 finishers, I came in 21,785th.

Actually at 71 years old, I felt pretty good about my time. I was mentally patting myself on the back until I saw race results on the internet that a 94-year-old man did it in 2 hours and 12 minutes. Talk about being humbled.

But I did finish the race and I got my medallion. The goal of the elite runners is to win the race. The goal for most other runners is just to finish the race, vertical, ventilating and ahead of that bus.

I did it and I'm happy.

Keep smiling.

Linda Messmer can be reached at 812-448-8725.