There was once a time when Half Marathons were very long for most runners and at that distance, traveling for a race was not frequent. The Indi Mini presented an opportunity for those wanting to travel outside of Chicago but close enough that its only an overnight stay.

From 2002-2009 I did just that, traveling to Indianapolis to run in the Half Marathon that promised a sure splendor wrapped around the weekend prior to the Indi 500 qualifying round. Albeit on foot, each runner would marvel at the opportunity of running the 2.5 mile track of the race on the hot asphalt reserved for cars buzzing at over 200 miles per hour for 500 laps. Although in May, this asphalted track and its concrete banks sweltered to the 80's and 90's ensuring that you will feel the pressing need for going faster and faster. Nothing but smiles, excitement and happy gazers were in this race and no one would except anything else from miles 5 to 7.5.

One marveling fact was that back in the early 200's races of this magnitude were the only ones that successfully instituted the Corral assignments to control the start of the race. NO OTHER RACE at that time that I or others were aware that dealt with that fact successfully. Indi Mini was the largest Half Marathon for quite awhile so organization done well was a huge accomplishment.

Loved the race, swag was pretty cool as long sleeve tech shirts and the party afterwards was the bomb. Flat course with the scenery being rather dismal through the neighborhood but the Race Track made up for all that jazz. Indiana was proud to have so many guests visit its area.

Need to head back for another dose of race track fun at 13.1