Better to Laugh

I got the race confirmation card for my 13th OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I am starting in corral D! I just stared, speechless, at the confirmation card, but in my mind I was yelling yippee, heck yeah, woo hoo, and any other burst of appropriate, celebratory words I could think of! I ran upstairs to show my husband (who starts in corral B every year). He said that when he got the mail and first saw corral D he thought, “Why did they move me back to corral D?” Then he realized he was looking at my card. He was really excited for me and himself, since he won’t have to wait as long for me to finish.

In previous races, I walked with spurts of running and finished on average at 03:20:00. My usual start corrals over the years were T, V, W, and even Z. Starting in corral Z and seeing the back cutoff for the 30,000+ runners is a strange feeling, not to mention boring, as it took almost an hour to get to the start line after the horn sounded.

Last year was my first attempt at running most of the race, finishing in 2:24:12. That time qualified me for a preferred start in corral D! Me, the one who used to despise running because it was too boring! Am I ready for this? I hope so, because I am doing it in 19 days and a wake-up. Yesterday’s nine mile run felt really good, so I say bring it on!