Episode 653: CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Recap with Ally Brettnacher and Emily Infeld

Hey friends, welcome to I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein. If you ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, Half Marathon, or 5K this past weekend, congratulations. It was incredible to see so many familiar faces out there, and it was an honor to be the race emcee again this year. Between the energy at the start and the emotion at the finish line, this race really showed up — including a huge three-minute drop in the men’s marathon course record and a long list of Olympic Trials qualifiers. I wanted to break it all down with two people who experienced the weekend right alongside me. My friend Ally Brettnacher is here — she’s the host of Finish Lines & Milestones, part of the Sandyboy Productions network, and she always brings such a fun perspective from the everyday runner community. Emily Infeld also joins us. She was the guest of honor at Monumental this year — she helped start the race, she handed out medals at the finish line, she sat down for an interview at the expo, and she joined me for our live podcast at the post-race celebration. Emily barely needs an introduction, but here’s a quick one: she’s an Olympian, a US national champion, a five-time track world finalist, and she won the 10,000m national title this summer after ten years filled with surgeries, setbacks, comebacks, and breakthroughs. She’s sponsored by Brooks Running. Brooks partnered with us through Athletic Annex for the weekend, which was really special since Emily is a Brooks athlete. My relationship with Athletic Annex goes back more than a decade — I helped them with social media and events long before I started hosting live podcasts, and they’ve supported every single event I’ve brought to Indianapolis since. Every time I’m back home for a shakeout run, a live show, or anything related to the Monumental, they’re right there with me. This year we hosted our biggest post-race party yet, and I’ll be honest — I was nervous nobody would buy tickets. I wanted it to be an elevated event, with great food, drinks, a killer goodie bag, and a chance for everyone to actually celebrate their race. We ended up selling out and even added extra tickets at the door. One of the biggest hits was the Indy poster Ally designed — inspired by iconic race posters at major marathons — where everyone could stencil in their finishing time. It was so fun watching people make their own little Monumental keepsake. Our vision is to make this weekend feel a little more like the big-city marathon experience: a Friday shakeout run, community events, and a post-race celebration every year moving forward. One thing I’m especially proud of is that we were able to donate $500 from the event back to the Monumental Kids Movement — a school-based running and wellness program. Beyond Monumental does such meaningful work with kids year after year, and I’m glad we could give back to that mission. Huge thanks to everyone who came to the race, the expo, the live show, and the party — it meant so much. If you enjoyed this episode or were part of the weekend, a quick rating and review goes a long way. And if you’re already planning on Monumental 2026 — and I know some of you type-A runners are — make sure you’re in town for the Friday shakeout and the post-race party. We’re already excited for next year. Sponsors of the live show: Athletic Annex Brooks Running Foot Levelers Previnex Bottleworks Hotel Rachel Michelle Running StretchLab TwentySixDiamond Noogs Athlete Bouquets (owned by Ally Brettnacher)