OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (Indy Mini)

With thousands of people in the field, it would be easy to feel like just one of the masses, but this half marathon is “an event,” and one that is worthy of the crowd it draws.
I only made it in for the end of the Friday night race expo but it is large, with vendors offering a variety of products for sale and for free (Got a free shirt and two nice gear bags). I missed one of presentations I wanted to see but there were event information booths and plenty of volunteers.
The expo takes place in the convention center, attached to many Marriott brand hotels, so it makes for a nice atmosphere with thousands of runners milling about.
The swag is OK with the tech shirt. They sell a ton of other merchandise (and it looks like the year-old stuff is offered on deep discount with all the communication they send out, which reduces my incentive to buy this year.)
My hotel room overlooked the starting area, and I watched the pre-race festivities for the 5K on local TV while watching the runners gather in the street below.
The starting area is well-organized with corrals. There is plenty of support and event information.
The course itself is very easy, largely flat. The biggest incline was entering the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of a downhill/uphill combo. There was another slight incline in mile 12 onto the bridge over the White River. Otherwise, nothing notable in terms of hills. This could be a great course for PRs if you can get a clear path and the right weather conditions (which was the case in 2019 with mid-50s and light drizzle).
Chip-timed, of course, with splits for every 5k included in the results. On course, each mile marker has a clock corresponding to the gun time, which is a nice feature.
I expected it to be crowded, and it was, but it wasn’t too tight so as to be frustrating. I anticipated a conservative first few miles navigating people and while that was part of it, the pack kept moving and there was always a path for passing. There are probably some newcomers in the field, so you will see people stopping without signaling or walking in the middle of the flow. But, as mentioned, this is an event, so many are taking in the spectacle of running on the speedway, listening to the entertainment, and just enjoying the camaraderie of running.
Other than the beginning, the tightest part of the course seems to be Main Street in Speedway, which also is a stretch with a lot of spectator support.
The speedway itself is so large, it takes a bit to realize you are running inside of a sports stadium, but it is cool. There are several cheerleading groups along the oval, the sixth mile paying tribute to those who died in military service is moving to the point of putting a lump in your throat, and just the venue size is impressive. While I am a sports fan, I had never been to the speedway, and that was part of the attraction of the event for me, and it was worth it. The scenery grade is largely for that.
I am still a newcomer to this distance, and at some point in the races I question whether I really enjoy running 13.1 miles. This race has enough going on between the speedway, the bands, DJs, cheerleaders and spectators lining the course, and just people who came out of their houses and cheered that those thoughts never crossed my mind.
You will always have dozens of people around you to run with and pass, if those things help keep you going.
The finish area is well-organized with a half-block walk-through to get water, the medal, a banana, Clif bar, pretzels, Gatorade, a cookie, post-race photos.
The medal is neat, with a race car graphic on the front and the course map etched in the back side.
I was looking forward to the post-race party, but while the weather was great for running, it was not great for standing outside in wet clothes after running.
If the schedule allows, I would likely run again next year.