The 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500

One of my favorite things about living in Indianapolis is all of the hype that surrounds the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," the Indy 500. If you had told me ten years ago that I would fall in love with a car race, I never would have believed you, but it's the truth. May in Indianapolis is simply magical and this year was no exception.

On Friday of race weekend, Wheat and I ventured downtown for the Carb Night Burger Bash, which was sponsored by Steak 'n Shake. For a couple hours, we sat on Pan Am Plaza, ate burgers, fries, and milkshakes, and watched as various drivers (including Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Sage Karam, Josef Newgarden, Pippa Mann, JR Hildebrand, Graham Rahal, and others) were interviewed. Over the years, it has been fun to get to know the drivers on the IndyCar circuit, thanks to events like these.

Unfortunately, while my favorite driver (Tony Kanaan) was being interviewed, it started to storm and the event came to an abrupt end. Trent Harmon, the final winner of American Idol, was supposed to close the night with a free concert, but due to the weather, the show was canceled. However, thanks to my scary impeccable stalking skills, we learned that he was doing an acoustic show at a Steak 'n Shake nearby. After a little begging on my part, we stopped by for a few songs and I can confirm that listening to live music while eating at Steak 'n Shake is just as awesome as it sounds. I even got to meet Trent afterward and tell him that his version of "Chandelier" kills me.

The next morning, we walked over to the 500 Festival Parade to watch the drivers, marching bands, floats, and celebrities cruise by. If you're ever in the area on race weekend, I highly recommend checking out the parade because it's free (though you can pay for actual seats with an unobstructed view) and gives you a great taste of the race action. Plus, if you're an oversized child or celebrity stalker like me, you'll love seeing all the floats and celebrities.

This year, the parade featured Holocaust survivor Eva Kor as Grand Marshal and also included US gymnast Madison Kocian, WWE wrestler and manager Ric Flair, Pacers shooting guard and 2017 Dunk Contest champion Glenn Robinson III, and iCarly actor Nathan Kress. Most importantly, however, Jeffrey Dean Morgan took part in the festivities, which was my personal highlight of the entire weekend. As he rolled by with his son and girlfriend Hilarie Burton (umm..am I the only one that didn't know he was in a relationship with Peyton from One Tree Hill?!), I shrieked, "NEGAN!!!!," which elicited the exact reaction from him that I wanted: a gorgeous smile and a bonus thumbs up. I melted on the spot.

Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan, Pippa Mann (the only female driver in the field)

Hours after the parade, my brother and Elizabeth showed up so that we would be ready to go early in the morning. In previous years, we have always paid to take a shuttle from downtown to the speedway, but this year, they got rid of the downtown depots. This forced us to buy a parking pass and drive ourselves to the race. This was a mistake. We literally sat in traffic for three hours before arriving at the parking lot, despite leaving at 5:00 AM and only living four miles away. I'm not sure what we'll do next time, but it certainly won't be this.

Once we finally arrived at the speedway, things went much smoother. We staked out our usual spot on the viewing mounds at Turn 4 and enjoyed the pre-race festivities, interviews on the red carpet, and vibrant atmosphere. We wandered around the track for a while then found our seats before the race began. Elizabeth was thrilled to learn that Jake Gyllenhaal was on-hand to wave the green flag and I was happy to hear Chicago Blackhawks national anthem singer Jim Cornelison sing "Back Home Again in Indiana."

The race itself wasn't lacking for storylines. F1 champion Fernando Alonso, who decided to miss the Monaco Grand Prix to participate in the 500, kept the crowd on the edge of their seat as he contended for most of the race before blowing his engine. We witnessed the worst crash I've ever seen in person as pole sitter Scott Dixon's car was launched into the air, smashed into the barricade, and rolled a couple times. Miraculously, he wasn't seriously injured. Only 19 of 33 drivers were able to finish the race and the winner happened to be Wheat's favorite driver, Takuma Sato. Somehow, he was able to hold off a strong surge by three-time winner Helio Castroneves in the closing minutes, becoming the first Asian driver to win the Indy 500. Wheat's reaction really says it all.

We battled another three hours of traffic to get home, but as always, I can absolutely say it was worth the effort and the slight sunburn. It was especially awesome to have my brother and Elizabeth there for their first 500 and the thunderstorm that everyone was expecting never came. Further proof that there's something magic about Indianapolis in May.

If you're interested, here are my other race recaps:

99th Running

100th Running

Odds and Ends. Lovers and Friends.

I know I sound like a broken record, but WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Whenever I find myself thinking, "Hmm...maybe I should try to keep up with my good ole blog," I'm suddenly heading to the grocery store or cleaning the bathroom mirror or folding laundry or driving somewhere for the weekend or unexpectedly asleep on the couch out of sheer exhaustion. When someone finally figures out how to perfectly balance work, relationships, self-maintenance, chores, and hobbies, please alert me immediately. Again, how do parents do it?

Lately, my life has been a little heavy on the work and hobbies side...and lacking in the relationships, self-maintenance, and chores areas. Let's just say it's starting to show around the apartment and on my waistline and toenails. I see a pedicure in my future.

At any rate, the last few weeks have been busy - busy at work and busy at home. Here are some highlights:

- My mother-in-law visited. She's a college professor and we were thrilled to have her in town for part of her spring break. We visited the Indy 500 museum, showed her some of the best food and hidden treasures in the city, and watched our brackets implode over a ton of March Madness games. Wheat's family lives in Texas, so it was wonderful to finally spend some time with her in our natural habitat.

- Speaking of family, we also took a weekend to visit Ohio. As expected, that mostly consisted of watching Scarlett crawl around, laugh, and generally be perfect, but we also got a nice lunch with some of my hometown best friends. Scarlett turns ONE YEAR OLD this month, which fittingly brings me back to the question at the top of this post.

- Whose Live Anyway? On Friday, Wheat and I went to the Whose Line Is It Anyway? tour at the Murat and we had an absolute blast. We both love improv comedy and these guys blew us away with their quick wits and creativity. Four performers (Joel Murray, Jeff Davis, Greg Proops, and the legendary Ryan Stiles - yes, the Ryan from the show!) took turns acting out skits and singing songs based on audience suggestions. They did several games from the TV show and even called volunteers onto the stage to provide sound effects for one skit and move their bodies for another. Although I left a little embarrassed for Indiana (ex. "What is something you see a lot of when walking around downtown?" "Heroin!" and "Make the sound of a goose." "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"), we had an incredible time and Ryan absolutely killed it.

- Bloomington. Wheat and I also took a day trip to nearby Bloomington to explore. Despite the fact that we have degrees from IU and I work for IU's business school, we haven't really had the opportunity to explore the school's main campus. The Midwest has finally decided to feel like spring lately, so we traveled south to walk around the beautiful campus, admire the picturesque Sample Gates, and check out Kirkwood Avenue. We stopped at Nick's English Hut, a 90-year-old sports bar/IU institution, for lunch (where we learned all about a drinking game called Sink the Biz) before venturing to Lake Monroe. I searched everywhere for Ben Higgins and/or Mark Cuban (both IU alums), but had no luck and was forced to console myself with ice cream from Bruster's. Darn. We'll definitely be back soon to explore some more.

So, as you can see, life has been pretty kind lately, but also very busy...and it shows no signs of slowing down. Pacers playoff season is upon us, so my husband will soon disappear from view until that's over. That's just as well because the Penguins also begin their playoff quest to win back-to-back Stanley Cups tonight...and I think he'd much prefer to not watch those games in the same room as me.