When looking at the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series calendar, I noted that the first weekend of May was not going to be spent at a race track, which prompted the question early in the offseason between my wife and myself if we wanted to try and do the Indy Mini Marathon on Saturday, May 2.
Err, the IU Health 500 Festival Mini Marathon, to be precise.
We figured the challenge was worth tackling, so we registered back in January.
Yeah. The nerd who was picked last in everything athletic throughout his school years and couldn’t finish a 20-mile hike as a teenager in the Boy Scouts when the troop went to Shiloh battlefield was going to attempt a 13.1-mile run.
What could possibly go wrong?!
Training meant going to a gym and running on a treadmill, things I haven’t done since I lived at my old apartment complex.
Yeah, this half marathon was going to be a bit of a mountain to climb. However, training eventually started to pay off. I was able to get my endurance up a bit and for a few Mondays in a row, I ran 10 miles on a treadmill.
Take that, high school version of me!
Race week dawned, and with it the Indy Mini Expo where runners picked up their race bibs and shopped for other running essentials, such as head bands, shoes, and perhaps most importantly, running gels.
Yeah, I didn’t know about them either. Apparently a company named GU Energy makes gels that give energy while competing, as long as you chase it with water or some liquid (fruit punch Gatorade for me).
I bought some a few weeks ago to use at the gym. The vanilla bean and chocolate outrage flavors were most pleasing to me, so I made sure I had a pair of each flavor for the big run.
We parked in downtown Indianapolis for race day, which dawned a bit chilly for May. After getting to the starting area, my wife and I walked down to the gear check area that UPS had set up with several package cars and we checked a bag with our valuables inside it.
After one last trip to the bathroom, it was time to find our starting area and begin the race. We were set up in the fourth of five waves of runners to get started. After a brief moment of affection, we went our separate ways in pace as the course brought us along W. Michigan Street towards the town of Speedway.
After turning left onto W. 10th Street, the course snaked onto Main Street. Up next was Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The course went through the most severe elevation change as we all ran through the tunnel going under the south short chute that the transporters drive through and then we moved toward the backstretch of the 2.5-mile oval.
After a quick bathroom break at the restroom building in the infield, of course.
The course was now at its smoothest part. The six-mile marker was just before the restroom building and the eight-mile marker was in the middle of turn 1. The course allowed all of us to run on the IMS backstretch before funneling all of us onto the warmup lane at the north end of the Speedway and then running back onto the main straight.
The Speedway erected signs along the main straight catch fencing telling participants that if they wanted to kiss the Yard of Bricks to go to the right while the rest of the runners stay to the left. The signs worked and order was maintained on the course.
Of course, there were also signs up telling runners to not use gels on the track surface and those signs were mostly listened to. Once runners left the Speedway, there were numerous empty gel packets lining the ground.
Runners need energy, after all!
After going eastbound on W. 10th Street, the course went back along the White River briefly before turning onto W. New York street where the race ended alongside Military Park.
I had a finishing goal. As I was in the final three miles or so of the course, I saw a pace setter that had 2 hours and 30 minutes on the flag attached to them.
“There’s no way I’m finishing behind that pace setter,” I told myself.
Within the race’s final mile, I sped up my pace enough to pass that pace setter and finish ahead of them.
After 2 hours, 27 minutes and 22 seconds, my Indy Mini Marathon was over. That averages out to about 11 minutes and 14 seconds per mile, including that aforementioned bathroom break.
Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that, and I don’t think a lot of people did either. But getting to that finish line and receiving the finishing medal made those months of training worth it.
Let’s get into what was good and not so good about the race.
The course was well organized. The water and Gatorade stations were plentiful throughout the course and the staff were quite friendly, especially when giving runners their post-race snacks. The UPS gear check was easy to figure out based on bib numbers as were the pickup stations at the Mini Expo.
There were numerous food vendors at the afterparty and the medal engraving looked incredible. All were massive positives for the event.
There was one major downside to the race, however. Shortly after taking my photos in front of the Mini Marathon backdrop, my phone’s battery died. Not packing a mobile battery pack to keep at the UPS gear check was my own fault, I’ll admit it, but there were no charging stations to help any other runners that shared in my predicament.
When I went to stand in line to get my medal engraved, I told the people at the tent that my phone was dead when they showed me a QR code to scan. I’m thankful I had some cash on me, because otherwise I would’ve been majorly out of luck when trying to pay.
That was the only major downside of the event from the organizational side. The race organizers can’t control this next point, but I didn’t see how many IndyCar drivers were either at the Mini or participating in it. Conor Daly drove a Corvette pace car at the Mini and Rinus VeeKay‘s wife ran, but I don’t think many more drivers were involved.
IMS and IndyCar President Doug Boles did wave the green flag to get runners started and was at the Yard of Bricks, but I think that was to cheer on his wife Beth who also ran in the Mini.
The Indy Mini Marathon is the perfect way to kick off the Month of May in Indianapolis. Everyone was in good spirits as the weather was great and the event had a lot of great energy for all who participated.
Let’s make sure there’s not an IndyCar race on the 2027 Mini Marathon weekend, shall we?
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.