Hate: the parking situation. One year we parked at the garage right next to the expo, then waited like half an hour to get out of said garage, and learned our lesson there. Normally we park at a garage a few blocks away and walk. This time, at noon on Friday multiple downtown garages were full. (This is not normal.)
Love: the expo. Highlights include where you can buy past year shirts for $3, the Good Will booth for throw away clothes, and the P&G line which we did not stand in this year.
SWAG: For this race, at the expo, I got a shirt (which I asked Olive to hold until I'd actually completed the marathon because I'm superstitious) a soft sided cooler, and a poster. Olive thought it was always backpacks, but it's been a bunch of different kinds of bags. We looked in the official gift shop, but I couldn't find the shirt I wanted ("I'll run a marathon when pigs fly"), nor the back up shirt I wanted ("I survived training in the polar vortex").
Transportation to and from the race: This year was an adventure. Olive drove, and parked in Lot 1 or Lot A (I'm honestly not clear which) The lines to get into these lots are crazy long. I finally just got out of the car while we were stopped in traffic and headed over to the start.
Transportation for spectators: This year, Mom and Olive had a spectating/cheering adventure of their own.
Spectating miles 1-5: Mom and Olive parked, spectated at the start line, the bottom of the bridge back into Ohio, and on 7th street downtown. They got to all those places on foot.
Miles 9 and 11 - Mom and Olive next saw me around Torrence/Madison, and then again at Erie/Paxton. They were able to drive there and had no problems parking.
Middle miles: After that team Dad/Marge saw me at miles 12 and 17, and were able to do that totally on foot (because we live near mile 12, and there's a wicked out and back which makes it about a 15 minute walk to mile 16.5).
Late miles and finish: Mom and Olive took a break while Dad/Marge were looking after me. Mom and Olive next saw me at miles 19 and 21, and then the finish. They drove/parked at 19 and 21, and were able to use their original parking pass from the morning to park again at the finish.
Note: This worked because Mom was comfortable with the crazy ass roads in Cincinnati and Olive was down for the driving and parking parts of the adventure. Out-of-town people who have access to a car can use the Waze app, which is updated with road closures. Out-of-town people without a car would either need to Uber, or just spectate downtown on foot, which is up to mile 5 and then at the finish.
Pig Pens: The corrals were a bit of a hot mess this year. (But only a bit.) The biggest issue is that Corrals D through I were on a different street around the corner and we absolutely could not hear the starting line at all. Like, didn't hear the anthem, didn't hear the announcements, didn't hear the gun. Nothing. Once we turned the corner and were on Elm, we could start to hear, but I have no idea what we missed. I bet they'll get a lot of complaints about this, and I bet it's something they'll fix.
Um, you know, other: There was an odd thing with the potties. There was a ginormous bank of them that were super easy to see from Corrals A to C. And then there was a significantly smaller bank in the back by Corral H/I. Shocker that the line was much longer there. There were even smaller banks in all the corrals. I think some of the big bank up front should've been relocated to the back to even things out.
Terrain: This is the hardest of any full marathon course I've run. Different from Twin Cities, the most significant climbing is in the beginning, and by mile 8/9, it's a net down hill. (It's not all downhill, there are definitely rollers, but once you see Skyline, that's the highest part of the full marathon course.) The last couple miles along the river looking at downtown and Kentucky are really pretty.
Support: There are cheering teams every five feet, tons of music, and all of the food and water and Gatorade you could want. I told Olive, at first I was really strict about when/what I ate but by the end, I was all "ooo a popsicle, yes please". Each mile has a sponsor that does a water stop. (Yes, I said there are water stops every single mile.) Most miles also seem to have food stops including Sweedish Fish, Hershey Kisses, Girl Scout Cookies, other kinds of cookies, and bacon. I did not have the bacon. There were also several (several) unofficial stops with alcohol including mimosas, margaritas, and all of the beer. I had a sip of beer very close to the finish line but that was it.
Cars: This course is partially open to traffic in some places. As a runner, I was never uncomfortable, and I am super fussy about these things. The first couple miles are totally closed to traffic, and the smaller side streets later in the race are also totally closed to traffic. Madison Rd and Erie Ave are open to inbound traffic while the runners are on the outbound side. Columbia Parkway is open to in and outbound traffic with an inbound lane closed for runners. I ran on the shoulder there. Even then, I wasn't uncomfortable with the cars.
For spectators/cheering support, having one side of the road open to cars can be an issue, depending on what side of the street people can access. There were places where there were spectators on the sidewalk, a lane or two of cars, and then the runners. The police do not allow spectators on the center line or islands in those places, so spectators can't get close to their runners for hugs or high fives in some places.
Pace Team:I did not use a pacer. Some of these pacers run and walk the water stops only, and some of the pacers do a run/walk. You just have to know what you're getting. The pacers did have their own booth at packet pick up and the person I talked to was very knowledgeable, familiar with the course, and had good advice for me. Mom, Olive and Dad all said they wish the Pace Signs were written on both signs in HUGE BLACK LETTERS, because the signs were hard for the spectators to read. Dad also said he'd just say "what group are you?" and everyone would answer him.
There are some stretches of this race where there just can't be fans (Hello Columbia Parkway) but in those places there are 'Squeal Teams' to cheer people on. The race does a great job of involving the local schools so there are also legit cheer squads around the course. True story: One of the places Dad and Marge waited for me, around mile 17, there was a cheerleader squad. This was later in the race when things were really spread out. So, Dad says to them "can you do a cheer for my daughter when she comes?" and they did. At first I thought it was because I had my name on my shirt, but Dad told me later that was a special request of his. Made me feel like a million dollars. (Different cheer squad than the one pictured. These ladies were on point as well and Olive snapped their picture.)
Did I mention the unofficial stops with the alcohol? Some of the popsicles may have been unofficial too. There was a ton of crowd support, even on River Road into the finish line, just people sitting on their chairs on their lawns, kids out having fun, tons of stuff.
App: Flying Pig does have an app that includes tracking. I had significant issues with it on Saturday with Olive in the 10K so we did not use the app at all on Sunday. Olive and I, as well as Dad and I, practiced Find my Friends and used that instead.
Race Recommended For: Well, I mean, this race has my heart. As soon as I got done, I was like "I'm never running another marathon again" and Olive was all "you said that before, and then you said 'except I want to do The Pig once". (Update: It's now been a full day from the Marathon and I can barely walk. This is just a note to my future self. Marathons are hard.)
Locals: Even though Cincinnati is a city, this feels like a small town race. If you know Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky, you will see yourself in this race. All the schools and neighbrohoods are involved (including my school Walnut Hills and my neighborhood Avondale). People of lots of different ages and races were involved, from the kids handing out candy to Avondale Running Club massive water stop in the middle of that horrendous climb. People of all abilities were also involved in course support including some people cheering from the wheelchairs in more than one 'squeal team'.
Likes a challenge: For an urban marathon, I thought the course itself was challenging. It has tons of climbing very early in the race.
First timers: Will appreciate the course support and the pace teams.
Experienced runners: Will also appreciate how well organized things generally are.
Fast runners: Will appreciate the competition.
Slower runners and run/walkers: Will appreciate the 7 hour time limit.
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