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Comments: Very interesting. The first 12 miles or so felt fairly effortless, even the BIG FREAKING HILLS! The pace ACTUALLY felt slow, which was good I suppose. There were some good bands every now and then to take your mind off the matter at hand. The weather was absolutely perfect for a marathon. Perfect. It was "just" cool enough to wear a tank top, and it never really warmed up, so heat was not an issue. My stomach did it's all to usual "non-emptying" routine, so I drank a bit less than I should have, but it wasn't flowing so good, so I drank all I could stand. By mile 14, the race REALLY began, and my legs knew it was time to start the effort. My quads and ITB's are what slows me down, and they began to feel the burn. In my mind, I have some mile markers I pay particular attention to, to kinda "take stock" of how I feel. 13(half way), 16(10 to go), 20(most I train at and 10K to go). At 16 I realized this was gonna hurt....again...but marathons ALWAYS hurt, but I held in there with my pace group. At 20, I was REALLY feeling the burn, and was for the first time wondered if I could hold this pace for 6+ more miles. 21.....22....and then after taking water, my pace group got a few yards ahead of me....and the distance kept getting larger. I was holding my average pace around 7:10 until then, but between 22 and 23 is where MR. PAIN decided I was going to slow up a bit. Mile 23 was 7:34, and from this point on, I ran alone. However, I wasn't discouraged. I still felt as if I could hold a pace and I wasn't completely falling apart...so on I went. Mile 24....8:03. Still, I was fine, because I had a PLAN A, and a PLAN B. Plan A was to make it in 3:10. Plan B was to BOSTON QUALIFY, and I knew I was WELL within my pace to Boston Qualify, so on I went. Mile 25....8:29. OUCH. Yea, I was in some good ole fashion pain now. Quads....ITB's....Back....Ass.....Feet...but my lungs felt good, so on I went. Before I came to mile 26, my GARMIN told me I had completed 26.2 miles in 3:11:32, so I DID MY MARATHON only 1:32 slower than what I was shooting for, but that was close enough. I was only slightly miffed that the course was long, but OH WELL, no use screaming at the rain. The cheering the last 3/4 of a mile was spectacular. Cow bells ringing. Clappers clapping. Families yelling. Strangers yelling. I put my shoulders back...got my form the best I could muster, and cruised it on in. I hit my watch at the end...26.86 miles...the furtherest I have EVER run...3:17:13. A PR!!!!!! No matter how you cut it...I PR'ed and BOSTON QUALIFIED A G A I N!!!!!! AND...AND....AND>>>>>>!!!! I DID THIS ON A THE FLYING PIG MARATHON....ONE HILLY FREAKING COURSE!!!!! This may be a BOSTON Qualifying Course, but to actually PICK this course to TRY to qualify on is not the best decision to make. Now I'm kinda thinking a sub 3 hour is not beyond my grasp.....one day....one day. NOW it's time to begin TRAINING! What would you do differently?: Nothing. The things that went wrong were out of my control. I did this one to the letter and it paid off. I ate, drank, slept, peed, and breathed WORKING OUT for the last several months. At 43, I'm in the best shape EVER, and it's only gonna improve from here.......  Post race
Warm down: I got across the line and THE PAIN set in, as usual. OUCH! Quads were in pain, ITB's in pain, knees giving out...HOWEVER, it all felt LESS painful than the last few marathons I've done, so that was a very good sign, and I'm encouraged. We walked around at the various activities after the race. I sat around on Serpentine Wall and felt the sun and tried to relax as my legs throbbed. There was Goetta to eat, shelter dogs and cats to pet, and alot of overpriced food to buy. We waited around as long as we could stand for my "friend" to finish, but my 4 year old was at his limit, so we made our way back to the car, then drove to Ft. Thomas for a Starbucks Mocha, then home, where I took a long shower and am now drinking my first of many Guinness. What limited your ability to perform faster: Gravity. Event comments: As stated above....the mile marker situation ticked me off. Those without GPS devices were probably wondering why their spits were getting progressively worse. Because of the rerouting of the course due to the fire, they said they were going to "requalify" the course after the race, so I wonder what that means. Either way, I'm happy. Profile Album Last updated: 2008-03-24 12:00 AM
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United States
Cincinnati Marathon, Inc
45F / 7C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 178/4725
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 26/399
We got up at 4:30 and began to get the family together. I had a small bowl of cereal, half cup of tea and then began sipping gatorade. The race is only 5 miles from our house, so we loaded up and drove to Newport and parked by the levee (Newport on the Levee). We walked across the bridge and into Cincinnati and made our way to the start behind Paul Brown Stadium, home to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The race was going to be delayed 15 minutes because of a large fire on the course. The fire department was in the "cleanup" stages of the fire and the roadway was still blocked. This was at mile 20, so they said they were rerouting the course there, and it would be "recertified" later. I did a bit of jogging to loosen up the legs, and I watered many a bush, as I apparently have a bladder the size of a ping pong ball. I eventually found my pace group (3:10) and began to wait in the mass of people. We listened to a few speeches, a prayer, the National Anthem and then a few more seconds for the race, which starts with a cannon.