2008 Flying Pig Marathon
On Sunday May 4, 2008, Chris Heupel and I were in Cincinnati, OH for the 10th running of the Flying Pig Marathon. The early forecast for rain had changed and the morning was a beautiful 42 degrees with clear skies and calm winds.
As we approached the start line, we heard announcements about a three-alarm fire on the course. Race officials decided to delay the race start by 15 minutes to give them time to either clear the course or find a suitable route around the fire.
The race start was a little frustrating. There were large start corrals (3:30-4:15) with no control and a narrow street. We ended up waiting outside of the corral on the sidewalk for the crowd to begin moving and then made our way into the flow of runners. I spent the first two miles running an obstacle course made up of walkers, slower runners and spectators. I managed to hit my goal pace, but suspect I added some distance by zigzagging back and forth as my Garmin was already reading 2/10 long at mile 3.
My big concern for the race was managing my pace and physical exertions up the 2.5 mile hill that begins at mile 5. I couldn't lose too much time, but didn't want to start building lactic acid that early in the race. Having trained for hills during the winter and spring, I was well prepared and managed the long hill well. I easily made up my lost time on the down side and was back to my 8:10 pace by mile 10.
Near mile 22 I noticed the emergency vehicles still on the course and found we were being rerouted. The question in my mind was: is the course going to be longer or shorter? I got my answer when I passed the next few mile markers and my Garmin was off by an additional quarter mile. Now the question was: will they move the finish mat to compensate.
I maintained my 8:10 pace through mile 22 and then the "empty tank" feeling came. My pace slowed. I had one egel left and quickly downed it and took some extra water at the next aid station. After a short walk break, I went through my mental checklist and pushed again. By mile 23 I was running strong again and managed an 8:30 pace for the next few miles. As I passed the mile 25 marker, I leaned forward and gave it all I had left and managed to finish with an 8:15 pace.
My official time was 3:40:49 -- my goal was to be at or under 3:40 -- close enough (and a new PR). But what distance did we actually run? My Garmin read 26.81 miles – much longer than past marathons. When they re-measured the new course, the detour added an additional .2514 miles to the course, so the official distance was 26.45 miles. According to their calculations, my adjusted time for a standard 26.2 mile course is 3:38:43 -- even better.
Overall the course was very scenic, had water stations at every mile and good crowd support. The finish line area was well organized and had plenty of food and beverage choices. Of course, the medal is pretty cool too :)
After struggling through 2007 with no PRs and a few bad races (e.g. Chicago), I have new PRs with my first two marathons in 2008 and now am only 18 minutes from qualifying for Boston. I'm very excited about 2008 and am looking forward to Chicago this fall (it can’t happen two years in a row, right?)