Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
That proverb was on my mind Friday afternoon as my wife and I tossed a couple of bags in the trunk and made the 90-minute drive to Indianapolis.
The first Saturday in May is when more than 20,000 people make their way to the Hoosier capital from all over the world to participate in the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon or 5K race, including several from Wells County.
I ran my first half-marathon in 2000 and a second one the following year. Following a 12-year hiatus, I started running them again in 2013 and was on a roll until COVID-19 canceled the 2020 and 2021 in-person races.
I was all set for last spring’s race until getting a breakthrough case of COVID-19 a couple of months before the half-marathon. While the worst of the symptoms — a throbbing headache, chills, sore throat and a recurrent fever — passed after two days, the body aches, fatigue, chest congestion and shortness of breath lasted longer. In fact, it took more than a month to fully recover.
Initially, I thought I could make up that lost training time as I started to run again in early spring 2022. It didn’t take long, however, to discover that long-distance running wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.
I didn’t realize just how much I loved this annual running tradition until it disappeared from my May calendar for three years.
This year, however, the tradition returned, and the weather could not have been better.
Participants from five continents, 16 countries and all 50 states traveled to Indianapolis to run this spring’s race. There were 10 runners from Bluffton, Ind., and two from Bluffton, S.C.
The winner of this year’s half-marathon was Panuel Mkungo, who finished the race in 1 hour 1 minute and 44 seconds — a course record.
To give you some context … I was between miles six and seven making my way around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when Mkungo finished. And surprisingly enough, we both received a medal for finishing the race, although I’m guessing that his first-place award might look a bit different from my 4,124th-place medal.
I didn’t finish the race as fast as I hoped and missed beating my best time by about 15 minutes. Being back in that environment again after three years away, however, made it one of my favorite races.
Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder.
The long lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is always one of my favorite parts of the race. Since 2018, race organizers have included the Gold Mile at the Speedway — a mile-long stretch that is dedicated to fallen service members and their families.
Pictures of Hoosier fallen heroes lined that stretch of the course, and several family members of those fallen heroes were there as well to support the runners while also honoring their loved ones.
It is always the part of the course that most impacts me each year as we pay tribute to the fallen heroes, and it makes my aches and pains seem irrelevant from that moment forward.
A few miles later, the finish line was in sight and another half-marathon was in the books. I haven’t signed up for next year’s race yet but it’s certainly on my to-do list.
Perhaps you’ll consider adding it to your May 2024 calendar as well. It’s always the first Saturday, and you won’t regret it. In fact, I remember reading an article awhile ago that claimed that an hour of running might add seven hours to your life since running is such a great form of exercise.
Here’s to hitting up the trails this spring and summer for a run.
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
