KDF Mini-Marathons
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Mini Marathon 2003
Mini Marathon 2002
Mini Marathon 2001
Mini Marathon 2000
Mini Marathon 1996

Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathons - Louisville, KY 

For more details and to view photos of the event, click one of the links on the left.

Our Mini Experience

The Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon is one of many KY Derby Festival events.  It's a half-marathon race (13.1 miles) and the largest running event in Louisville (with around six to seven thousand runners). 

The course includes three miles of running through the rolling hills of beautiful Iroquois Park.  Once you're out of the park (which is at around six miles), most runners think the worst is over, since the rest of the course is relatively flat.  For me though, the hills keep my mind off other things, so it's the long, straight, relatively flat seven miles at the end that I find tough.  No matter how much I train, I always feel like I'm "bonking" at around mile eight or nine.

Some of my favorite memories include:

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The person who plays bagpipes in Iroquois Park,

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The "crazy guy" who plays music and recites poetry to the runners as they leave Iroquois Park,

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The volunteers at the water stops who play the theme from "Rocky,"

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Slapping the hands of all the kids as I run by,

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Running around that last corner before the finish line,

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Watching my family members finish the race, 

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Running the race with Laura in 2003, and 

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The post-race meal!

A big "thank you" goes out to all the friends and family and strangers who have come to watch us finish this race.  Spectators and volunteers in a race of this distance make a huge difference.

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