The Flying Pig Marathon was
something I anticipated for months and months, then weeks and weeks, especially after Boston. I had my mind set on breaking 3:30, even if
it was by one second. I had looked at
the course map, the elevation, and really didn’t think too much of the hills
everyone had warned me about.
I went to the expo on both
Friday and Saturday because it was amazing!
I don’t think I have ever been to an expo that was so big and had so
many quality vendors. Everything was
themed “Flying Pig” from the decorative pigs to the pig shaped balloons. By the time I got to the end of the expo to
pick up my t-shirt, poster, and cooler (great race swag), my plastic bag check
bag was already full of great free expo stuff. I went back on Saturday 'just to get a t-shirt' and ended up with arm sleeves, three tech shirts, a stuffed pig, magnets, oh, and a t-shirt.
Any Saturday before a marathon
is what I deem to be very lazy time.
It’s about concentrating on eating the right things, nothing new, and
making sure that there is enough, but not too much, fuel in the tank for the
marathon. Since the Hyatt restaurants
were under construction, they had a make-shift, all you can eat, pasta
bar. I think I would have failed on the
all you can eat part, but I took it to go and made it dinner for Saturday and
Sunday nights.
The morning of the marathon is
always full of anxiety for me, but I was much, much calmer at the start of the
Flying Pig than I was at the start of the Disney Marathon just a few months
before. For instance, I didn't doubt that I could run and finish the course in the time I wanted, and I didn’t almost
start crying 10 minutes before the start (but after knowing the course now,
maybe I should have).
The pre-race tribute to Boston
with Amazing Grace being played on the bag pipes was very moving and I think it
reminded all of us why we were there and that we can do this, overcome, and stand strong as a running community. We are runners, nothing will stop us. Suddenly, the gun went off to start. I started in Pig Pen B, so as I inched toward
the starting line, I could hear Sweet Caroline playing, and took off.
The first mile was deceiving
because it was flat, but shortly after, there was a turn onto a bridge and then
it’s Kentucky. So I guess I ran a
marathon in two states in one day, right?
The next turn I remember was a turn on another bridge to go back to
Ohio, and then it was a slow uphill on that bridge until the course flattened
out for the next few miles.
The fan support running on 7th
Street just at mile 5 and beyond, was constant and it was one of the best miles
of the marathon, probably because it was before all the pain of the hills that
were just around the corner - I had no idea what was coming up ahead.
OMG the hills! Even at the expo when I watched the hills and
talked about them with some of the people at various booths, nothing could have
prepared me for the hills. Biggest lie –
after the hill around miles 6-8, it’s flat until the finish. There must have been about 5 or 6 hills after
that. I do enjoy the going down part,
but the up really trashed my legs.
The mile 6ish hill was long and
steep, and then there was a turn onto another shorter, steep hill. I have never walked so early in a marathon
before, ever, but I didn’t want to completely blow it at mile 6. I was able to get back on track once it
flattened out at the top of the hill, and regained my normal pace. I crossed the half mile mark at about 1:41,
which is on long run pace for me.
It was about the 13 mile mark
when the 3:25 pace team caught up with me.
For about the next 5 to 6 miles, I ran either ahead, or with this pace
team, which allowed me to stop thinking, stop looking at my watch, and just
keep pace. I kept thinking that if I
stuck with them, even if I dropped off a few minutes, they would get me to my
goal pace and get me to Boston.
One of my things that I really
like when I am running is seeing all the dog fans that bring their humans out
for the marathon. At about mile 17, I
saw an Old English Sheepdog, and thought of my Dublin and Abbey. Seeing their little faces in my head helped
me push through the next few miles.
I started struggling a bit at
mile 20, and struggled more at mile 22 when it started raining. Most of this part of the course was flat, but
things started hurting, so I walked through water stations and took water to
calm things down. At mile 24, I my knee
started to feel awkward – a little pain, but some indication it was my IT band
– and my thighs were just thrashed from the hills.
From mile 24 to about 25.5 I was
doing a run walk because of the pain.
Mentally, I was losing it because I didn’t know where the finish line
was and the miles just seemed to get longer and longer. It was then at about mile 25.5 when someone
came from the sidewalk, grabbed my hand and ran with me. When I thought I couldn’t go any longer, she
kept telling me what I great time I had and that I was almost there. Then she told me to finish, and I was doing
great. Her name was Candace and she’ll
never know how much she saved me at that moment. It goes to show that our marathon spectators
are so awesome, and Cincinnati did all spectators proud.
When I finally made it to the
finish line, I was greeted by a man in a suit that shook my hand and
congratulated me. Then I got my medal,
my awesome Flying Pig Marathon medal!
Overall, I did not hit my goal
of 3:30 or better, which means back to the training schedule and trying to fix
what went wrong – HILLS!! I didn’t know
what to expect in Cincinnati, but the reception from everyone in the city,
especially for us crazy marathon runners, was overwhelmingly positive. I don’t know if I will ever be back to
Cincinnati to run this again, since there are so many other marathons on my
bucket list and so little time, but I would definitely recommend this marathon
to other runners – just train for the hills.
And…shortly after finishing all
of the above while waiting at the airport, a guy sits next to me, sees my big
black box that contains my poster and asks me how I did. I told him I was shooting for a 3:30, but was
happy with 3:35:50 after all the hills.
He said that no one comes to Cincinnati to qualify for Boston, it’s a
tough course. But…I did get a BQ time,
so I am still really, really happy with my time.
On a side note, the money spent
on compression socks for recovery is so worth every cent. I can’t wait to train and run in them! And hopefully, more pictures to come...
