This is the 3rd time that I have ran the Santa Hustle in Indianapolis and it is always enjoyable and well put on. With a name like the Santa Hustle it’s not too hard to tell that this race takes on a Christmas theme with all the participates being urged to at least start the race in their full Santa gear. This year that consisted of a beard, Christmas themed shirt, and Candy cane socks. Along to course they offer cookies and candy with a lot of volunteers spreading Christmas cheer for all to hear. Unless you’re Mr. Scrooge you will have fun running this event and will be ready to come back and do the event again.
The course is flat and offers you a excellent chance to run a good time, but with the weather in December you never know what you are going to run into. The temp this morning was around 20 and with the wind it felt like 10 degrees. Chilly!!! My goal for the day was to break 2 hours. This marked my 25th half marathon so I wanted a good time to go with my accomplishment. My plan was to go out a little faster than my goal pace and see if I could bank some time just in case I needed to back off some in the 2nd half of the race. Fortunately, everything went as planned and by mile 7 I had a 1:40 cushion to work with going into the last 6 miles. At that point I slowed things down and tried to maintain a 9:10 pace for the remainder of the race. I was able to hold that pace and I came in at 1:58:38. All in all it was a great race and my 25th half marathon was a very memorable experience.
Thanks for reading and happy running!!