Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon 2007

I ran the Flying Pig Marathon this year because I wussed out and didn’t run Boston because of the weather. I was quite nervous about the Pig since I hadn’t done a long run since before Boston—a good 5-6 weeks ago. In addition, we had a very noisy room in our hotel which included noisy neighbors (not only were they talking loud, I heard them having sex!), loud talking housekeeping staff (their maintenance closet was right across from our room) and people who desperately needed ice at all hours of the night (the ice machine was also across from our room). In total, I got about four hours of sleep. Because of the sleeplessness and the nerves, I had a hard time eating before the race. I ate about a quarter of a bagel. My stomach was just not feeling well. And I didn’t have time at the race start to hit the port-o-johns one last time.



I have run the Pig before, in 2002, but the course was a lot different this time. All the hills were at the beginning and I thought they were just as tough as anything in Boston. The hills were shorter, but a lot steeper. And there were several tough climbs all before mile 8. I did not feel good in the race until mile 9 when things leveled out and I felt like I could get into my race pace.



Unfortunately I might have pushed the pace a little too much. By mile 20 I was feeling dead and needed to start walking. It was disheartening too because I was on a 3:35 pace and I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I walked through all but one of the water stops from 20 to the finish. My official time was 3:38:37. It’s my second fastest time and I’m okay with that.



Some final thoughts…
It was really hot on the course with little shade. Three miles of it—17, 18, 19—were on a freeway where there was no crowd support and no shade. By the end, I was finding any shade I could.

I got chafed in the strangest places. My stomach got chafed from my number as my jersey was riding up. I got chafed on my ankle from my anklet I wear that holds my chip. And I got chafed on my inner right calf from my left shoe’s lace nub. How weird is that one?
The race had great technical shirts (separate girls and guys—mine was pink!) including in the race packet along with a sling backpack.