"The Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon is a beautiful course, which “flies” along the streets of Cincinnati, Covington, Newport, Mariemont, Fairfax and Columbia Township. The course presents a well-balanced, diverse tour of some the best neighborhoods in the area."
Training: I roughly followed a Hanson's type plan. Removed the speedwork session, made it a seven day schedule instead of six & added in a step back week every fourth week. I was still on the cautious side because of a year filled with injury & re-injury, telling myself that making it to the starting line healthy was of the most importance. This led me to skip a run if I even felt a slight twinge or to pull up early during a hard tempo if something started feeling off. I still ended up with a small issue in my right calf that led to a full week off right in the middle of my peak. All in all this training cycle did exactly what I wanted, it got my confidence back.
Gear:
With temps in the low 60s for the start, climbing into the 70s by the end, this is what I decided to wear.
- Shoes: Saucony Kinvara 5
- Socks: Injinji Trail Socks
- Shorts: Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts 5"
- Shirt: Saucony Men's Hydralite Singlet
- Watch: Magellan Echo + iSmoothRun
- Other: Headsweats Race Hat, Throwaway Arm Warmers & Throwaway Poncho
This ended up being a near perfect "outfit" for the race. I've only had the Patagonia shorts for a couple of runs now but they make me want six more pair, best shorts I've ever worn hands down. The only small tweak that I would have made is a pair of compression shorts underneath. This only became an issue in the final miles when I was soaked from constantly dumping water on my head.
Gear laid out the night before
Race Day: The events leading up to race day are well chronicled in my training blog for the week. To summarize, it was a disaster. Sunday morning came with a 4:30am wake up. Had two servings of steel cut oats with raisins, two hard boiled eggs & a cup of coffee. All packed from home to ensure nothing new on race day. Jumped in the shower & sprayed off really quick, just to help wake the body up. Got dressed, grabbed a water bottle with some Nuun & got out the door by 5:30am. I didn't use my phone GPS to see how far the start line was, I didn't want to know, I just followed the masses headed that way. Looking it up now reveals it to be a one mile stroll, it was that kind of a week.
Arriving at the start line my corral was easy enough to find. There was a parking area down by the river that was being used as a warm up area, so I went through my normal routine. 10x squats, 10x side to side, 10x lunges, 10x front leg swings & 10x side leg swings. One look at the porta potty line told me all I needed to know, the bushes would be my only relief. I wasn't the only one with this thought as the bushes were quiet crowded.
Arrived back to my corral with fifteen minutes to go before the start. It was about this time I realized I had forgotten my nipple tape. Images of a bloody number eleven on my chest flashed through my head. I quickly texted Chas to bring some Vaseline to our first meeting spot, got my tracking app started up & iSmoothRun loaded. Before I knew it the national anthem played & we were off!
Obligatory Start Line
- Mile 1-3: The first 3 miles take us from Paul Brown Stadium into Kentucky & through Covington. Some great views from the bridges across the Ohio & some nasty climbs to get to those bridges. I settled in behind the 3:05 pace group planning to stick with them until the halfway point & reassess then. Effort wasn't as easy as I would have liked, definitely felt like I was working harder than the ~7:00 pace we were running.
- Mile 4-6: Back into Ohio & through the city on 7th street. Took my first Gu at mile 4 & water at every stop. The plan was to meet Chas at Walnut & 7th for my goodie bag of lube. I had trouble seeing her in the crowd & we botched the hand off. Looks like we'll be going without any protection for the nipples this race. Effort levels seemed to have dropped off as I was now hitting my stride & felt like I could keep this for the rest of the race easy. According to the timing mats I hit the 6.8 mile mat at 48:20 for a pace of 7:04.
- Mile 7-9: This is the big climb for the race, the hills just never seem to stop. I took my second Gu around mile 8. This is where I noticed that my watch was off by a bit, the big buildings in the city had really messed with it. Not a big deal as I run most races by feel & only use the GPS to document it. I also had the pace group doing all the math for me. It was during this stretch that I began feeling the effects of the heat & humidity. Every water stop now included a small shower.
- Mile 10-12: Some gradual downhill running as we ventured further out into the burbs. I took my third Gu around mile 12. It was a struggle to get this one down, I'm thinking my next training cycle will involve finding a new calorie source. The texture of the Gu just doesn't sit well with me & I find myself dreading them.
- Mile 13-15: Finally the halfway point! I came through the first half in 1:31:59 for a pace of 7:02. Right on schedule & feeling good. I opt to stick with the 3:05 pace group as the heat has all but shut down any thought of going much faster. We also enter into an out & back section during this stretch so we get to see some of the runners in the front. I'm always amazed at just how effortless they look.
- Mile 16-18: This section completes the out & back portion. I take my fourth Gu around mile 16 & almost lose my cookies. The crowd support at this race is amazing. It seems the whole city comes out to cheer us on with people lining the streets for almost the entire length of the course. Still on pace & hanging with the group, which at this point is starting to thin out.
- Mile 19-20: I came through mile 19.7 in 2:18:15 for a pace of 7:02. Still right on schedule, This is the only portion of the race without much crowd support. It's along a limited access highway & I refer to it as the lonely section. These miles always seem the longest & I was actually surprised to find it was less than 2 miles in length, it feels like 4. I took my fifth Gu at mile 20 & decided it would be my last. The one planned for mile 24 would stay in my pocket, no matter what. It was also during this section that I really started feeling the heat & humidity, often dumping two cups of water on my head at aid stations.
- Mile 21-22: At the water stop in this section my biggest fear was realized, the pace group gapped me. This happens often, due to congestion at aid stations, but this time it was different. I didn't have another gear to hit in order to catch up. I calmed myself down by thinking they crossed the start line before me so I have a buffer, if I can just keep them close I'll be alright. Unfortunately these are the kinds of lies a person tells themselves when they are dying. That gap would continue to grow but I'd tell myself that I'd catch them in the final miles. It was around this point that I started passing some walkers, apparently I wasn't the only one dying out there.
- Mile 23-24: The wheels hadn't totally fallen off yet, I could still see the pace group in front of me. The gap had gotten pretty big by now but they were still in sight. I'd finally accepted that I wouldn't be catching them & at this point was just pushing for a PR. One of the aid stations had a guy with a water hose giving showers, an angel without wings he was.
- Mile 25-26: And then the wheels came off. I could no longer see the pace group & was in full on damage control mode. At this point I started freaking out. Would I PR? Would I even squeak into a BQ? I passed a few more folks in full death march & even considered just walking it in a few times myself.
- Mile 26.2: I covered the last 6.5 miles in 48:44 for a pace of 7:29, not terrible but most of the damage happened in mile 25 & 26. I managed to pull it together & pick up the pace for the final .2 miles in what felt like a sprint but likely looked nothing of the sort. Crossed the line in 61st place with an official time of 3:06:59 which is a PR of 1:36 & another BQ.
Conclusion: With the planets seemingly aligned against me I couldn't have asked for a better result. While I really wanted sub-3:05, it just wasn't in the cards. The heat/humidity got to me pretty bad. I had trouble sleeping that night because of how hot I felt. I think my core body temperature was elevated as my skin was very warm to the touch. Now time to start getting ready for my fall races. For the next training cycle I'm going to dial back the volume & focus on intensity, shooting for a sub-85 half in the fall.
Soaking wet finisher's photo
