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INDIANAPOLIS 5K & MONUMENTAL MILE
JUNE 22, 2024

#bemonumental

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Team Film Monumental Blog: Three Women’s Stories

Team Film Monumental Blog: Three Women’s Stories

Beyond Monumental

These three film stars have some great memories of their monumental experiences.  We love this Indy race for many reasons but here are just a few!

Gretchen’s Support

I signed up for the marathon to support a friend of mine who had never done a marathon before and we thought local beauty, convenience, and sleeping in our own beds would be smart for her first time.
The best memory was on mile 22.  She broke down due to pure exhaustion, which in turn made me cry.  We were trying to control our emotions and get our breathing back to normal when we were joined by our very supportive, awesome friend.  She ran the last 6 miles with us!  Running with fresh legs and new attitude makes the world of difference. Team Film was shouting us on the last half mile and we both became entrenched in the marathon emotions.

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Krystal’s Motivation

It is flat, which makes it a great qualifier. It is not too crowded, but there are enough people to run with. I had heard it was a great Boston Qualifier. The pacers are amazing and know how to encourage the people around them, even if they are not part of their group. This to me was huge.

My two Monumental Memories were when I got to see my Filmers when I was 800m out. They knew it. I knew it. I qualified. They all screamed, and I just screamed, “I DID IT!” I qualified for the Boston Marathon.

The second memory was at mile 17ish when I came up to a pace group. The pacer was amazing. I ran with the group, and I continued on after a few miles. At mile 25, my hamstring was tight. So I just let up. I didn’t want to push it. The pacer passed me and encouraged me to come with him. I let him go as I went by my filmers. When I finished, the pacer was there waiting for me. He hugged me and said, “YOU QUALIFIED!” I never got his name, but it was a moment of runner unity.

In just a couple weeks, I hope to relive only half of this experience running my fastest half marathon. I am signed up the half this fall 🙂

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Maria’s Secret: Why She Ran the Monumental Marathon
I never, ever thought I would attempt a marathon. In fact, I have told people I would never do a marathon. I put this limitation on myself because basically, I suck at breathing.  I have lifelong asthma and chronic anemia and I get short of breath walking up just one flight of stairs and fatigue easily.  Which, by looking at me one could never tell. I look deceptively fit. It’s not that I’m not fit, just that I have medical issues to contend with that cannot be readily seen.One of my closest friends ( and sister-in-law ) Tess got me into running.  I had  been running a mile or two here and there, and wanted to run more, and had every excuse possible why I couldn’t run more than that.  She said to me “everyone has issues to have to deal with when they run- physical ones or time constraint ones or logistical  ones. You just have to figure out how to do with them and do it.”  Over time, I figured it out I just needed to go slow-not worry about PR’s, or keeping up with anyone or caring that well, I’m not a fast runner.

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As I started to increase my mileage, I finally ran a 5K and thought to myself I could actually do a half marathon. Then the unthinkable happened- I had a cardiac arrest after doing a 10 mile trail run. This was in 2013, and a whole other story. I survived that and recovered well, though the thought of running any kind of longer distance never crossed my mind. But watching all my friends do what they do, I started running again and did the mini marathon in 2014 and kept running longer and longer distances. I wish it was some great epiphany that made me decide to run monumental, but honestly it was just plain old peer pressure.

Several of my Team Film friends decided to run in their first marathon, and I did not want to be left out so I decided to train for the Indy Monumental Marathon. I would have picked the monumental myself anyway, because running my first marathon in the city I grew up in and love on a beautiful course that happened to be flat  is exactly what I wanted to do. So I did the training and with a lot of encouragement and support from my friends and despite an injury mid training, I was ready for the 2014 monumental marathon! I was  excited just to be running in a marathon- nothing could damper my spirit. I truly enjoyed every single step of every single mile and at the end when I realized I was about to complete my first marathon I kept saying to myself I did it I did it I did it! When I came up on the cheering section and heard everyone (and I mean everyone, because I was the last of my group of friends to finish) cheering for me it felt like I had been swept up by a wave that carried me right to the finish line. Running in the Monumental Marathon and accomplishing something I never thought possible is one of the best experiences I have ever had and one I will never forget.  If I can do it, so should YOU.
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