Flying Pig 2019 - Race Report

Day(s) before

Expo: This expo is huge.  There's a good mix of local booths (like UC and the dentist booth that gave me a new toothbrush), race booths (Bourbon Half Marathon), and just other fun stuff. I always stop at the place that's selling the past year shirts, and in cold years I stop at Good Will for throw away clothes.  This year I did not stand in line for the P&G Goodies, but that's totally a thing as well. The 'Official Shop' had a lot of stuff but it did not have an 'I'll run this marathon when Pigs Fly' shirt which was a thing that I wanted. Sigh.
 
Transportation to/from expo: This is my least favorite part.  The Fountain Square Garage and Race Street Garage were full and closed, so I just drove till I found another place to park. I hate driving downtown and I hate parking.  If I do another half or 3-way, I may consider Uber.

Expo SWAG: Definitely another standout. Half Marathon and Full Marathon runners get a race shirt, a "bag" of some kind (this year it was a very nice soft-sided cooler, and I've got several backpacks from past years), and a poster.  Plus, did I mention the P&G table.  Anyone can go there. 

Race Day

Start time: 6:30am, my corral started closer to 7am and there were 2 corrals behind me.  Rozzi's does fireworks for each corral.  It's a thing.  My corral could not hear ANY of the start line announcements, the anthem, the wheel chair start, nor the actual race start. I hope they get a lot of comments about that and I hope they fix it.

Weather: Apparently, I lucked out this year.  I started around 55* and finished around 70*.  For me, there wasn't sun until the last mile or 2.  But apparently the sun was real before then because I have sun burns on my shoulders and an official watch tan. There was very little wind.  My coach told me I had to dump water on myself at each stop.  I was sopping wet by the end, including my shoes.

Wardrobe: This was a source of some debate.  I had very little time to test the wardrobe because I trained in the polar vortex and not normal weather.  I packed 3 sets of tops/bottoms with me that were generally interchangeable.  The deciding factor was when Olive did her 10K, finished and said "don't wear the hot shorts".
Top: 2xu tank and a Brooks sports bra, no issues
Bottoms: Nike guys running shorts (because again, if Courtney Dauwalter can, I can too).  I found out the next day these did chafe along the wasteline/draw string area, but not totally painfully.
Feet: Smartwool socks which felt like they were giving me a blister but did not, and Altra trail shoes.  (Update there definitely was a blister/chaffing on the top of my little toe.  It relates to the seam in the toe of the socks, not at all the fault of the shoes.  I've never had Smart Wool do that to me before.) I told my coach it's what I trained in almost all winter.  Every other pair of shoes I trained in didn't feel right for such a long run, so I just did the wrong thing and wore my trail shoes in a road race.
Other: Pink visor.  Nathan Running vest.  The vest did not chafe but the water bottle was at a weird angle, so I had to kind of wrap the straw around one shoulder strap so it would stop hitting me in the face.

Transportation to start line: Thank goodness for Olive and Mom.  We drove, they parked. Runners: Parking takes a long time, get there before 5:30am.

Route: The first 8 miles are the same as the half marathon.  The hardest part for me was to be climbing up that hill and hear all of the half marathoners talk about being "half way there" and I'm all WTF, I am not!.
At the split, the full goes off into some wonderful neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Fairfax, and Mariemont.  (You've got to admire the race director for dealing with two cities/counties in Kentucky and three cities in Ohio.  Logistics anyone?) Special bonus for the locals to get to run on Columbia Parkway.  That was fun and I was super glad it wasn't sunny.
The full has more climbing than the half marathon, almost double the climbing.  Though still, the hardest climb is shared by both courses. I found this route super challenging.  I was thankful for every time I drove over, parked at the lock and dam and ran hills along the river in the ice and snow this winter.

Plan/Goals: My plan was to run 4 minutes and walk 1 minute the whole way, and start off at least over 13:00/mile.  I'd been told by many people this is a negative split course if you do it right. Officially for my coach, my A goal was to catch and pass the 12:30 pacer, B goal was to catch and stay with the 12:30 pacer and C goal was to finish. 
If I'm being honest, my A goals was really to finish and feel good.  The paces were just a guide.  In the end, I'm glad I totally abandon my original plan, becuase I did finish and felt better with other people than I did in the dark alone times of Eden Park.

Execution: Short story: I ran a hard positive split.  The plan when somewhat out the window but I decided not to care. I was not truly suffering until the last mile and I finished with an hour to spare.
Long story: Miles 1-5 I was really right on track, using the up hills to rest and the down hills to my advantage.
The climb/Eden Park: This was my dark time.  I realized the half marathon people were over half way and I still had 75% of the race left to run, I felt like I was standing still on the climb, it was bad. This is the hardest climb of the race.
Obryonville: I started to feel better here, and by that I mean "I started to go downhill".  There were lots of cheering squads.
Hyde Park: I had lots of support and continued to enjoy the down hills here.
Madisonville: Is actually a very short part of the course.  Why are there so many hills there?  This is where I met Kathleen.  She's 67, retired teacher, likes tennis, trains on a treadmill... She was run/walk a 30/30 and I wound up staying with her on her plan 'till about mile 21.  I was a bit slower than any of my goal paces but I didn't care because I had company.  We worked well together and the miles ticked along nicely. As I said in my training "It was easier in my mind".  Kathleen and I had gone back and forth with another person named Nancy, and we picked her up for reals around mile 19. 
Lower east side: At about mile 21, Nancy and I went on ahead and stayed together 'till about mile 26.  Nancy turned 26 last August and has a goal of running 26 marathons in her 26th year of life.  This was number 19. Also, she was dressed as Captain America.  The lower east side was long in some places, and short in others, if that makes sense.  It's still a long way from the finish.
Back into downtown: It was here that I liberated a beer.  I needed a drink because the course now runs through where the old finish was, and I had to keep going another 0.2 miles or so.  Head trip. I was still moving, running from one cone to the next, and I was able to chase Nancy into the finish line and high five the pig. 

Nutrition: The plan was to start with a Larabar, then switch to chews, and to drink every couple of miles.  Around Mariemont, that plan went out the window and I did whatever I wanted.  I was actually okay at taking my salt tabs and I think that helped me get through the race as well.  This course has soooo much food on it.  Like, you could forget everything you owned except your clothes, show up to the start line and be fine.  There's so much water, gatorade, cookies, Swedish fish, tissues, popsicles, and alcohol.  Did I mention the alcohol?

Results:I finished in about 6 hours.  That's my slowest marathon ever, but ultimately I was happy with it.  I did really change my race strategy when I started staying with Kathleen but I didn't care.  I wanted to get to the end and not suffer, and that's what happened.  My reasons for wanting to run this race, and this course, and this year, had very little to do with an actual finish time and much more to do with the feeling of finishing.  I'm feeling good.

From today, I learned: I needed a better mental game for the earlier miles in Eden Park.  That was dark times.  I should've started with a lot more walking, and added in more running as time went on.  And I was right to run the downhills becuase those were crazy fun.  Also, the smartwool sock issue.  My little toe is angry right now.

SWAG: At the finish line, there's a medal, all of the water, a bag of snacks, pizza, mylar blanket, and then outside the chute there's beer for the runners. There are also tents selling food for purchase, and some tents giving stuff away to anyone, not just runners.

Remember for next time: At the end of this race I said I'd never run another marathon.  Note to my future self: You can register for another marathon when your MAF pace is under an 11:00/mile.  Also, it's Tuesday and I can still barely walk.

Bonus: Team Walk and Team Car were the bonus of this race.  The cheering support was amazing and really helped me break up the race in my head.  Since I didn't get an "I'll run this marathon when pigs fly" shirt, Olive made me a sign that said "I survived marathon training in the polar vortex".  Apparently a lot of people wanted a picture with that sign!

Race Review

Registration: The story of how I got registered for this marathon is: I'd actually applied to be an ambassador. (You post on your blog and instagram about training and the race and tag Flying Pig in it all.) I was trying to convince them how awesome it would be to have an out of town 'ambassador' training in the cold with ice-eyebrow pictures for their instagram.  They had too many applications, but gave everyone who'd applied a wicked discount code. And boom, Liz is running a marathon. I registered online last August.  Little did I know just how real those ice eyebrows would become.

Packet Pickup: I have a love/hate relationship with the expo.  
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.

Start Line: This is different than years past when I've run the half marathon. The race now starts on Elm and goes onto Second ave immediately.
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.  

Course:
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.

Fan Support: There are offical support stations and unofficial support.  
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. 

Finish: The Finish Line, and the chute are significantly improved from past years. (The race no longer finishes underneath the Coliseum in the pit of darkness and despair.)  The race finishes on a wide street,.  It's super easy for spectators to get right up near the finish and cheer their athletes on. The chute is now the best configured I've seen. There was no crowding inside it or trying to get out.  It dumps runners right into the finisher party (though sadly the beer tent was still a very long walk).  I liked the mix of free food and stuff you could buy.  

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.

Flying Pig 3 Way Challenge

Registration: Registration for all 3 races is online. I somehow managed to screw up my registration and signed up for a 4th race.  Which brings us to...

Race expo: The volunteers were really helpful in getting me switched from the "Three Way with Extra Cheese" option to the regular "Three Way" option which is what I thought I signed up for.  Olive pointed out this Expo is much bigger than Twin Cities, and I think she's right. I tried on a pair of Salming shoes (I'm a size 7) and almost tried on a pair of the On Shoes.
My favorite part of the Expo is that Goodwill had a Pop-up store.  If it was there, it was $3. So I got a throw away pair of pants and Olive got a throw away shirt.  I'm going to write TCM and tell them they need to do this too. 

SWAG: Flying Pig brings it with the SWAG.  I got a shirt for each race, a poster (I could've had 3), and a super nice backpack for the half marathon.  I also got a coupon for a coney and $5 gift certificate to Skyline which were used before I left town.  After the races, I got an extra medal for the challenge and an extra long sleeve shirt which is pretty nice.  And I got a free beer at the end (in addition to the one I'm holding as I cross the finish line).

Transportation to and from the race: For all the races, we parked in the Stadium Garage, and it was the best spot ever.

Start Line: All 3 races had corrals to some degree or other.  The 10K was a mass start, but was organized by corral, and it was fine. The 5K had corrals and 3 waves to the start which made it supposedly less crowded on the course.  Corrals for the 10K were used  The half marathon had the most organized corrals and several waves to the start.

Course: All 3 courses are quite challenging.  They all have bridges which are bigger than you'd think.  The half marathon has a significant climb all it's own.  The half marathon also has a very steep descent. Practicing the down is just as important as practicing the up!

Pace Team: I did not run with a pace team this year.  I have run with them in the past.  They are the teams from the local running store in town.

Fan Support: Just the bomb! All three races feel like small town races, but the half marathon in particular.  It runs through a bunch of different areas both high and low income areas of town.  Everyone comes out like it is their job.  There's also a ton of "squeal teams" that cheer along the course, including some of the cheer leading squads from the local schools.  My heart just felt bigger and bigger the more I ran because of all the support.

Finish: All of the races share the same finish.  It is a false flat.  Note to self, there's a little up and then a little down, But it does end on a down.  At the half marathon people hand out beer about .2 miles from the finish, so in my finisher pictures I'm literally holding a beer this time.

Race Recommended For:
10K: Olive loves the 10K for the scenery.  I think it's a very challenging course.  It's also very well supported.  It's great for fist timers and experienced runners.
5K: This is a well organized and well supported race.  It has tons of school groups and great for families and kids old enough to go 3 miles. As a mid-back of the pack runner, I find it quite crowded.  I wouldn't run it if it weren't part of the race series.  That said, it's a great first 5K because of the crowd support.
Half Marathon: First timers because of the pace crews and support.  Experienced runners because the course is crazy challenging.  Anyone from Cincinnati because it is the home town race.  Everyone will be there.  Go out and enjoy it.
3-Way Challenge: I loved this becuase it made me feel like part of the whole weekend.  This is good for out of town people or locals who want a whole bunch of racing in one weekend.