KDF Mini Marathon Recap

I haven’t talked a lot about it, but I trained for and ran the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon two weeks ago. I knew training would be tough with work, class, and the winter weather but I decided to go for it. It was so difficult to set goals for this race. At first I was disappointed because I knew I would be nowhere close to the times I was running two years ago. It took a few pep talks before I realized that it didn’t matter what my time was as long as I did the best I could given my current situation and time constraints.

As always – it was great to be back in Louisville with the old running crew and be a part of all the usual race traditions.  We kicked off the weekend with some carbo loading at Rockey’s followed by a trip to the Expo. I usually try to avoid most of the vendor booths, but they made you walk all the way through. Your timing chip could only be activated by walking through the “exit” expo doors. Bummer. I did sign the “I Run Because” banner. It was pretty cool to read all of the reasons people were running before adding my own.

On race morning, I tried to eat before I left the house, but my stomach was not having it. I did manage to scarf down a banana while were driving to the course. I was MUCH more relaxed and excited once we got our warm up out of the way.

As usual I took the first mile out way to fast (8:57) but I settled into a grove after that. I was planning for a 10:15 pace but I was feeling really good so I decided to pick it up a bit. Just as I was starting to feel tired, I reached my favorite part of the course. My #1 fans(s) were waiting for me just before the 8 mile mark. My mom, dad, and Justin gave me the boost of energy I needed before heading into Churchill Downs (which is one of my favorite parts of this course!).

I held a 9:30 pace all the way through mile 9.5 and then I hit a wall….maybe not a wall…but definitely a very tall fence. The next 2.5 miles were rough! Of course I was looking my worst for the cameraman at mile 11…why couldn’t he have been at mile 5 when I was still feeling/looking great?! Right after the 12 mile mark (as I was giving myself a DO NOT QUIT pep talk), I passed my #1 Fan(s) again. I guess that was all it took because I got a burst of energy (which I NEVER have at the finish) and finished the race at a 9:30 pace.

My goal in life is to get a great finish photo. I was actually pretty happy with these J I’m not gonna lie – that smile lasted about 10 seconds. It was a rough couple hours after the race. I got back to my parents’ house and slept on the floor of their sunroom for almost 3 hours before feeling human again. I was super pumped with my finish time: 2:08:02. 

I actually had some pretty decent finish photos...which never happens! I might actually order one of these. My finish time was way faster than expected and gave me the motivation to sign up for a fall half. Now I just have to decide which one!

Here are my splits if you’re interested:

Mile 1: 8:57     Mile 4: 9:37     Mile 7: 9:29     Mile 10: 9:49      Mile 13: 9:38

Mile 2: 9:33     Mile 5: 9:39     Mile 8: 9:31     Mile 11: 10:07    Last 0.3: 3.22

Mile 3: 9:30     Mile 6: 9:34     Mile 9: 8:44     Mile 12: 10:31

My Garmin clocked mile 9 short and the last bit of the race as 0.3 instead of 0.1. I'm running with it (pun intended :)

Have you ever run the KDF half? Or full?

What is your favorite fall half marathon?