Race Report: Indiana Monumental Half Marathon 2022

The deets:

The Indiana Monumental Marathon (and half, and 5K) or "The Monumental", as it's affectionally known by locals, is maybe one of the all-around best races I've ever participated in. Clearly runners in the Indiana area are aware of its charms, but I can't really speak for how well-known it is beyond that. Despite it being one of the 15 biggest marathons in the country, my West Coast self had never heard of it before I started researching smoking fast half marathon courses.

What makes this race so great in my opinion?

June Reads (slowly but surely catching up!)

June was a busy month in that I was home for only about a week for the entire month--I spent the first two in Spain and Portugal & then for the last week of the month I was traveling for work. So most of my reading was done either on plane/train rides or via audiobook. There were a few good ones worth sharing, though!

In case you missed it:

January 2022 Reads
February 2022 Reads
March 2022 Reads

April 2022 Reads

May 2022 Reads

Race Report: Urban Cow Half Marathon 2022

The deets:

Urban Cow is another annual mainstay of the, maybe not Bay Area, exactly, but Northern California road racing scene put on by the Sacramento Running Association (which also puts on CIM). I have only ever heard good things but it is a *bit* of a hike (Sacramento, if that wasn't obvious) and it hasn't ever fit well enough into my fall plans to warrant the drive.

Why did I sign up for this race?

Urban Cow Half was a Pacific Association race this year and a bunch of my teammates were planning to race. I was planning to target the Indy Monumental Half a month later as a tune-up before CIM, so I had planned to use this race as a details-to-be-decided marathon pace workout; that way I could still help our masters team score for the event. 

And then what happened?