On May 2nd, in Indianapolis, IN, 35,000 runners and walkers will participate in the nation’s largest half marathon known as the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. For sophomore Neil Shah will be participating in his 3rd mini-marathon.

“I have done 2 of them so far. This will be my 4th half marathon, but my 3rd mini-marathon,” Shah said.

Sophomore Molly Frank plans to participate in the mini-marathon this year. However for her it will be for the first time.

“I’ve always wanted to run in it and my dad said I was ready for it this year so that’s why I wanna run in it,” Frank said.

However, Frank and Shah are not the only high school students participating in the Mini-Marathon this year. According to communications manager Megan Bulla, there are currently 741 participants between the ages of 14-18.

“Registration is still open, so 741 is not a final number,” Bulla said via email.

In addition, Bulla said that the average age of the mini-marathon has decreased in recent years.

“Overall, our average age is 41. So younger people are becoming more involved with the event, but that may not necessarily correlate with more high school students participating,” Bulla said.

However, even though the average age may be lowering, the advertising plan is only meant to be 35-55 according to Bulla.

Shah said, “One of our friends was a big advocate of running and stuff and he just was a good influence on us, and then we my brother and I did it the first time and we really enjoyed it so we ended up doing it as a tradition now.”

Even though some of the participants may be participating in the mini-marathon for fun, practicing for it is still important.

“I have a running schedule and every other day I run a certain number of miles,” Frank said.

Shah as well has been training for the event.

“I kind of counted all of track as helping me prepare plus I do stuff on the weekends, such as doing longer runs, but track practice has definitely helped,” Shah said.

Shah said he decided to run in the mini-marathon because he enjoys running.

“I just enjoy it and it’s a really great event and 30,000 people are together and running together and there are people cheering you on the sides and it’s a really good time.” Shah said.