Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon - RunMarathon

I had a lot of fun running this marathon. Despite the rain, puddles, soggy socks and shoes I think this may have been the most fun I have had in a race. We all lined up together but Mike and Natalie were gone from the start and I just started talking with Derek and didn't stop for 26 miles. I had no goal time in mind at all, just to finish and feel good. We started off thinking 4 hrs would be a good goal. Splashing through the puddles and running through some pretty hard rain was not the ideal way for starting a 4 hr run but it was the hand that was dealt so we had to play it. I had to pee from the start and one good thing about running in the rain is that you can just let it go and the "flush" will take care of itself. The masses of people were moving pretty slow and the first couple miles were very slow. I was just chatting away with Derek and not really paying attention to the miles. My HR was around 120 and other than being soaked I was feeling great. Derek was looking for a porta john without a line, perhaps his mentioning this stimulated my bowels because all of a sudden I was looking for one as well. (Thanks Derek!) We saw the 6 mile mark and I told Derek 6 down and 20 to go, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR 20 MILES!! We passed another set of porta johns that had a line and when I saw a bridge I knew there wasn't going to be another chance so I spotted some cars and darted off the road and told Derek to go ahead. Unfortunately there were too many people around to drop trow so I just peed and continued on. It took a few minutes to catch up to Derek and I still had to "go". Another mile or so down the road we started going up a long hill and I spotted a Greyhound Bus. I told Derek that there has to be a bathroom on that bus. No, I didn't go on the bus but the bus was parked at a Greyhound terminal. I DID go in the Greyhound terminal! Total and complete relief!!! It took a little over a mile to catch back up to Derek and it was all uphill, that took a little effort. When I caught him I asked him if he enjoyed the peace and quiet for 10 minutes. :-) He said no, it was a hill! The next couple miles were rolling hills overlooking the river and what would have been a beautiful view if it wasn't raining and my feet weren't soaked. Legs were still feeling good and I was keeping on top of my nutrition. Around 11 or so miles Derek finally found a porta john with no line and took advantage of it. I walked for a bit then hopped up on the curb with a family and cheered the runners that ran by. They looked at me like I was crazy but it definitely got a smile out of them. I continued walking until Derek caught up and we crossed the 13.1 mi mark in about 2:04. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR 13.1 MILES!!! He was still thinking about breaking 4 hrs so I started to push the pace a hair to see how things went. We were walking the aid stations and just trying to hold on to a pace between the stations. The "new pace" wasn't going so well so we backed off. A few more miles clicked away and when we stopped at one of the aid stations Derek ran into Natalie so we "dragged her along". :-) Somewhere around mile 22 we ran into McFuzz (Mike). When he heard us he tried to run faster. I didn't take it personally, I just got my fishing pole out and started to reel him in. It was nice to have a couple more people to talk with. Not that Derek wasn't nice to talk to but he just wasn't talking much at this point. At 23 miles I said that there's 5K left, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR A 5K!!! We walked and ran for the next couple miles until the 1 mile mark. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR 1 MILE!!! I could sense a collective "SHUT UP BOB!!" brewing but they were all pretty polite. The thought was to run the last mile but there was an evil little hill just before the finish that was telling us to walk. We crested the hill and Derek and Natalie took off running to the finish. 26 miles of conversation to keep him going and he smokes me in the last 385 yds! :-) Mike and I just tooled across the finish line. Great race, a lot of fun! It's always nice to finish with some BTers!!

Train more.

Walked around the finish area, ate a bunch of food and grabbed some extra for the kids.


Lack of training once again.


This is a must do race! It would be a great 1st marathon because of all the people in the crowd support. Even in the rain there were thousands of fans cheering. A good course to BQ on as well. Most of the hills are early and the last 16 miles are generally downhill.