Flying Pig Marathon - RunMarathon

Well the gun went off and we were with the 3:10:00 pace group. My buddies were shooting for a 1:35:00 half and I was aiming for a Boston Qualifier Time. We pretty much stayed with the 3:10 pack of about 35 runners. It was a good pace, as my legs weren't really feeling it and I had people to talk with during the first part of the race. There were gatorade and water stations every mile, and that made staying hydrated easy. I had a gel flask on my shorts and planned to take a shot of it every 3 miles or so. Well at mile 3 I pulled it out and took a shot and put it back. Well I guess I didn't secure it well enough or something b/c I look down and it's not in the holster. What the hell? So now I just totally screwed myself b/c that was the only nutrition I brough with me, and they weren't going to have Cliff Shots until mile 17 or 18. I started freaking out, thinking I'm screwed. I've never had a long run w/o gel shots and I know I get dizzy/tired if I don't have something along the run. So I just kept worrying for the next couple miles. Somewhere around mile 5 there were spectators with handfuls of Jolly Ranchers right before we made the climb for the 3 miles of hills. This was it! I took 4 or 5 of them and thought "if I could just suck on these for some sugar and take gatorade and water every mile, I'll be ok until the Cliff Shots". So that was the new plan. I stuck to it and just went forward.

The hills from mile 5 to 8 weren't too bad. I didn't really notice them too much, probably b/c I was just stoked about having a nutrition plan again. So we were still with the 3:10 group and I was still feeling great. I talked with my friend Ross through the hills and between miles 8 and 9 we parted ways, as he was doing the half. He looked strong and went on to finish in 1:33 which is awesome! After I left him I noticed I was about 50 to 75 yards ahead of the 3:10 group. I thought about slowing it down and latching back on to them, but I was feeling alright and thought "just keep going at this pace and see how it goes". So I slowly started to put distance between myself and the 3:10 group. From mile 10 to 19 I was feeling good. My splits were great and I was gearing up for the last 10K. I had about 2 to 3 minutes in the bank for a "BONK" and still hit around 3:10-3:15.

So as you can tell with my splits above when I hit mile 22, it all started to fall apart. I wasn't completely dead, but my legs just weren't turning over. My farthest training run was 19 miles. These legs have never seen 22+ before. It was at this point that I started listening to my legs. I didn't come this far to not finish, and this was my first marathon so not qualifing for Boston would be quite all right. My original goal was 3:30:00, so getting a 3:15:00 would be totally awesome! Around this point I began to slow it down and just make sure my legs would keep working at a smooth pace. It wasn't about the time, it was about finishing. I just kept my head down thinking "ok... 4 miles left... 3 miles left...". The 3:10 group passed me with about 3 miles to go and they tried to get me to latch on, but I thanked them for their efforts and wished them good luck and a strong finish. Around mile 24 I saw Ross, Joe, and Bmac. They're the ones who did the half-marathon (and congrats to them for doing a great job!!). They were totally shocked I was still at this pace. Me too. I told them I was hitting a wall and wanted to just stay steady. Joe said that's cool, "but I'm going to run with you then" and after he had already did the half he ran the next 1.5 miles with me. We really didn't say anything as he knew I was hurting and just really wanted the company. He totally kept me in the race-mode. Thank you Joe.

Anyways, we get to mile 25.2 and i notice that if I just shake a little bit of time off my mile I could still get a BQ time. So with a half mile left I thank joe and begin heading downtown and pick up the pace. I see my parents in the crowd (thank you mom and dad for coming, it meant a lot to me!) and all I thought was "3 more minutes, 3 more minutes!!". I round the turn at the 26 mile mark and just take off in a dead sprint. I mean like I have nothing left and just wanted to do this!! I see the finish line ahead and the clock is at 3:10:55. I push it as hard as I can and cross at (no joke) 3:11:00. One second! One second!!!

Then I remember, i was 7 seconds off the starting line and it was Chip Timed. I'm golden. 3:10:53!!! Hello Boston, my name is Aaron...

Put in more distance workouts. 20+ mile runs at least twice or three times instead of 18 and 19 milers. Big difference.

So I cross the line and run into a medic. I hear "Aaron Rieth, that is awesome!". I look up and it's one of my good friends since High School! He just graduated Med School and was the finish line medic. I said thanks and planned on meeting up with him this week sometime!

I then made my way through the shoot and met up w/ Joe, Ross and my parents. Hugged my dad and just fell into my mom's arms as I was completely drained! I sat down with them for about a half hour and talked about the race.


I didn't have the long runs of 20+ miles to get my legs used to the distance and pounding.


What a great race! The whole city is awesome for volunteering and cheering on the runners. It's a challenging race, but totally worth it if you want a "Pig Medal"!!