To start I must address the fact that the number of states I’ve done has changed. I joined this club where you get this super sweet trophy if you complete 50 endurance runs (a half or full marathon) in every state. Previously if a race went through two states I counted it as two because I was making this up as I went, but alas if I want that sweet, shiny reward at the end of this journey I need to count each race as one. So Indiana is officially my 16th state under these new, stricter rules.

I arrived in Indiana to run the She Power Half Marathon which is an all women’s race in Indianapolis. First off the airport in Indianapolis is amazing! They have bicycles to charge your phones, robot prepared ice cream, and vending machines full of salads and healthy treats. So I’m a fan of this place from the start.

After checking into the hotel and picking up my race packet I went to this place that serves “world-famous” shrimp cocktail. It was sinus-clearing and tear-inducing and one of the spiciest things I have ever eaten. I sat next to a window and the people watching was incredible. PopCon was going on and there were tons of costumes. Remember Sims? I saw a guy walking by that had a glowing diamond attached to his head. Lots of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat costumes as well.

The next day was the race. I stayed at the host hotel and the start was literally right out the front door which was nice since it was raining. And it wasn’t a beautiful, peaceful, cooling drizzle, it was more of a heavy, your socks will get soaked in the first mile, and your feet are really screwed kind of rain. The course was beautiful though, and gave a great tour of Indianapolis.

Also, luckily it was flat so there weren’t hills to contend with. I wouldn’t say that I felt terrible the entire time but I would say that I’ve kind of adapted this philosophy this year:

So I continued along until I was done where I was greeted with one of the most amazing medals in the history of medals. It’s a 6 inch beauty with one of my favorite sayings on it. Plus there was some great after race swag that included a rose presented by a suave, young gentleman, some Balega socks (my favorite running socks), and cake. I really like cake. And it’s somebody’s birthday somewhere, right?

After drying off it was time for brunch so I went to Milktooth and ate a Dutch Baby Pancake. I’m still not entirely sure what that is but it was freaking delicious.

The tour of Indianapolis continued with a trip to a restaurant called Rook where I tried fried spam for the first time as well as ube ice cream. Both were fairly tasty. I’m not sure why I’ve never tried spam before as it is readily available in the canned meat section at my local grocer but it seems like a better idea when it’s fried up and served in a bao bun at a neat restaurant. And I wanted to try it, so I did. Motivational posters are always telling you to follow your dreams, and that day mine involved spam so I went for it. Ube was like eating a bowl of fruity pebbles with mixed fruit.

The best part of the trip was spending it with one of my favorite running buddies. Running is an individual sport that teaches you to enjoy your own company but it sure is nice to have people who enjoy doing it with you.

We had a blast. And now I’ve been working on planning a Fall with as many races as possible to make up for the slow start I’ve had in 2019. I’m planning on getting California, New Mexico, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Mississippi in during the Fall/Winter season. If only travel therapy was covered by my health insurance.