Let's talk about the Indy Mini and 500 festival.
The good: there's too much good to only have one thing
The bad:... it rained the whole time?

I registered for this race maybe 6 months ago (possibly longer) and I wish I would have signed up for the Vip...but I didn't...and that's life.

Communication leading up to the race was perfectly timed and it was always enough information. Thanks to the reminders; I was reminded that I was doing 2 races today!!! (because it being 6 months ago I completely forgot that I was doing the challenge)

The challenge:
The challenge was a 5K followed by a half marathon and they almost expertly execute this feat.
In the email and the participant guide they tell you to route yourself through runner services and follow the signs. I would only suggest that they have a couple more signs routing folks around the metal people. The volunteers are so jazzed to hand out medals at the end of the 5K and you feel really bad turning them down...so there should be a designated channel instead of just a rough guideline if you get challenge folks around back to the start

The Expo:
This is the 1st expo I believe I have been to all year...and there were a lot of people there!
I think I forgot how crowded these things get.
I want to say that there are close to 30000 participants in the race on Saturday between the 5K and half marathon and while I know it would be hyperbole to say they were all there at 5 o'clock on Friday night...it felt like they were all there at 5 o'clock on Friday night
Despite their big crowds I was able to get my bib, get my wristband for beer and get out really quickly.I kind of know how I want my expo experience to be and because I drove 12 hours to get to the expo I really didn't feel like hanging around a whole lot...
Despite my wanting to leave quickly; there were some really good vendors. I think Orange mud was there; which is kind of cool for a road race, and I wound up stopping to get some nutrition for the race in case I needed it.

The course:
The course is actually really good. I was a fan of going around the zoo... I would have loved to have gone through the zoo but it's probably not practical...
The 5K is the 1st mile of the half marathon and the last pile of the half marathon and then obviously a mile in between
There are a lot of things that I really liked about this course
it was fast and relatively flat which was nice
going around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was kind of epic.
I will tell you that something that will stick with me and something that I think is really impactful is the mile when you get into the Speedway. I can only think of a handful of times where I've been emotional during a race and this was one of them from mile 6 to mile 7 There are pictures of fallen service members which just touched me.
There was music every half mile.
I can't explain it; but there was a this really neat feeling of running past fire trucks holding up water and Gatorade signs… like something out of a movie about a small midwestern town…

The finish festival was legit. There were massage tables and beer and music and food trucks! If it weren't so wet; I would have spent a lot of time there.

This is a great race and a great experience.
I suggest the JW Marriott. They treat runners super well and you can roll out of bed and be at the start line.

I had to steal this quote from my fellow BRP This race is well worth the trip simply based on the history, the tradition, and a very unique 2.5 mile section. Beyond that, this event is incredibly well organized, there is pretty decent crowd support, and it is very evident that the City of Indianapolis (and even the State of Indiana) truly get behind this race.