Month: December 2019

With nearly 30,000 participants, there are a lot of faces to be seen at the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon and the Delta Dental 500 Festival 5K. The first round of recognizable runners are the women behind some of your favorite Instagram accounts, blogs, and podcasts.

Lindsey Hein- @lindseyhein626

Lindsey is the host of the popular running podcast “I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein“. She interviews Professional and Olympic runners, as well as everyday runners chasing down big goals. She is passionate about running, community and family. Lindsey has completed 16 marathons and and coaches runners virtually as well as locally here in Indianapolis with Athletic Annex; a group training for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon. She has run the Mini Marathon 10+ times and is super proud of her hometown race. She is the mother of four young boys and you’ll find her around running around the city with them in tow. 

Janae Baron- @HungryRunnerGirl

My name is Janae Baron and I am a wife, mom, blogger and runner!   I am passionate about my family and love spending as much time as possible with them.  I live in Utah and love to train hard and race.  I compete in everything from the 5k to a 50 miler!  I’ve been writing about running on my running blog since 2010 and love the amazing community of runners that I get to be a part of because runners are the best. Check out Janae’s race recap of the 2019 Indy Mini HERE.

Sarah Canney- @sarah.canney

Founder and host of Rise.Run.Retreat. and author of the popular running blog, RunFarGirl, Sarah Canney has developed a loyal following thanks to her authentic voice and talent for storytelling.

After battling an eating disorder for nearly ten years as a young adult, Sarah found freedom and healing. Running proved a catalyst in her transformation as she learned to rewrite the negative narrative in her head and find a unique strength within herself. As Sarah became more involved in the running community, she was inspired by the connections she had made to create Rise.Run.Retreat in 2015.

Sarah’s mission is to help women gain confidence, find strength and make authentic connections through running. As the host, she creates a place for women to be inspired and experience personal growth through running.

Sarah is also a RRCA and USATF Running Coach and since she began running in 2003 has become a competitive mountain runner and was a member of the 2018 US National Snowshoe Running Team, finish 9th at the World Snowshoe Championships in 2019.

Kimberly Clark- @trackclubbabe

A native of Southern California, Kim discovered a love for running 7 years ago. She enjoys sharing the ups & downs of her journey with her followers on Instagram, while encouraging others to dream big. She has traveled to 57 countries & has big goals for the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. This will be the second year Kim is coming to Indianapolis for the Indy Mini and 5K. You can read her race review from 2019 HERE.

Charlie Watson- @therunnerbeans

Charlie Watson is a Registered Dietitian,  author of soon to be released Cook Eat Run (a cookbook for runners/athletes) and chronic oversharer. She oversharer about running, eating and life on her blog, www.therunnerbeans.com and Instagram @therunnerbeans. Charlie is a Six Star Finisher and currently training for a BQ!  This will be the second year Charlie is coming to Indianapolis for the Indy Mini and 5K. You can read her race review from 2019 HERE.

You can listen to a live recording of Lindsey Hein’s podcast, “I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein” at the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon on Friday, May 1 at 4 pm inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Afterward, you can meet all four women during a Meet and Greet session. Follow #IndyMini on social media for the latest updates and news!

Still need to register for the 2020 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon? Sign up before prices increase on January 1!

Jeffery Chapman, a 2020 #IndyMini Ambassador from Indianapolis, shares how he runs through the holiday season.

What does distance running have in common with the holidays? Endurance.

Growing up, I always thought the holidays were a chaotic time of year. It was weeks – sometimes months – of planning: an endless list errands, impossible logistics to coordinate, and of course there is cleaning and shopping. In addition to that, there’s juggling work and social schedules to find compatible times before it all finally finishes with a single-day, grand finale. That sounds a lot like training for a half-marathon, right? Now, as I enter my mid-life years with a spouse and career, I realize that prepping for the holidays as a kid in my parent’s house was basically the equivalent of a 5k run before a full marathon – I was only getting a brief glimpse of what I would really be doing.

There’s no doubt about it, getting ready for the holidays is stressful and time consuming. Despite how important a perfect turkey for Thanksgiving may be, carving out the time for yourself is equally important. When I talk about running and why I do it, I almost always come back to the same motivating factor – I’m prioritizing my own physical and mental health. We can become so consumed with the “season of giving” that we forget to give a little back to ourselves.

Leading up to my multiple-destination holiday tour of visiting what feels like every suburb around the Chicagoland area, I make sure that I’ve seen my chosen family which consists of good friends, neighbors, and co-workers. One of the best parts of that is a lot of my friends have common interests. Nearly every Sunday I can be found running at Ft. Harrison State Park with a great group of people. That group of people is motivating and inspiring but more importantly they hold me accountable. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many Sundays I would have slept in until way-later-than-acceptable instead of getting some miles done. Having people hold me accountable means that I make sure I hit the pavement every weekend. If I’m training for a run while out of town, they know how many miles I should be running and will be waiting to hear what my pace was – this keeps me training.

While having running friends makes things easy, I also use exercise as a way to explore new places and workout trends. Since moving away from the Chicagoland area, there are literally hundreds of new places that have opened for exercise. I try to pick out a couple new places and give them a try; you never know when you’ll find your next hobby. By venturing out into new places I’ve been able to keep my running routine in check while also experiencing a new bouldering gym, Pilates gyms, boot-camp style classes, cycling clubs, and many more new trends.

In short, running during the holidays doesn’t have to be another added item on the to-do list. It can be the thing that you look forward to. It’s a chance to try something new and meet new people while also giving you the opportunity to get out of mom’s house for a couple of hours (if you’re like me and just need some alone time).

If all else fails, just tie your shoes and hit the pavement – you’ll be glad you did.