Cincinnati, Ohio
State #2
Weather - Hot and Humid
Saturday, May 5
I drove down to Cincinnati with my Mom and it took us a good 4.5/5 hours to get there. Our plan was to meet Pat and Bri at the expo so, we went straight there. We ended up getting there before them so we checked out the expo. It was AWESOME! I thought Detroit's was a big expo but no, this was huge! I had a few things I wanted to buy and they had everything. My favorite buys: Flying Pig SportyBands and a Spibelt.
After we saw Pat and Bri, we had to eat! So we left them and went to Rockbottom. We ordered a pretzel appetizer and we each had a burger. I had mine with a side of Mac n' Cheese. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this restaurant was to my hungry stomach! I'm sad there's not a Rockbottom in Michigan.*Stressed Out Moment #1: Finding the Start Line
After we lunched, we went hunting for the start line. There's nothing I hate more than stressing out about finding the start line or being late to a race. So, me being my paranoid self made sure I knew exactly where I was going for race day. We obviously weren't familiar with downtown Cinci so it took us a long time to find the start line. We ended up just stalking some people who looked like runners and they led us right to the start!
*Stressed Out Moment #2: Street Closures
Since we did everything we needed to get done in Cinci, we crossed the bridge into Kentucky and made our way to our hotel. It was there that I experienced my second SOM. I was going through the packet of information I received and started to freak out over street closures. How were we going to get over the bridge? How are we going to park? Thank God my Mom was there and figured out we need to leave our hotel no later than 4:45 a.m.
*Stressed Out Moment #3: Parking
I forgot to mention that after we got lunch and found the start line we went back to the expo to ask about parking. The info guy told me parking was going to be a nightmare and that most lots are filled up by 4:30 a.m. UGH! Where are we going to park?! Should we just walk? I hate bridges. I'm not walking over a bridge. I refuse. Fine. Maybe I'll walk over the bridge. We drove.
Sunday, May 6: Race Day
Rant of the day: If you know the majority of your hotel guests are running the Flying Pig don't you think you should offer breakfast at an earlier time? Nope, not the Marriott. If you ordered room service it would be there at 6 a.m. Great time since the race starts at 6:30 a.m. It would have been a nice gesture to the hotel guests to offer a race morning breakfast. Oh well.
4:45 a.m. Mom is doing her hair. I feel a SOM coming on. I diffuse it.
5 a.m. We are ready to leave so we call down to valet and valet is nowhere to be found. WTF?! I call the front desk and they call him on his cell. We ride the elevator down to the valet with the valet guy. OMG.
5:10 a.m. Finally leaving! We get to our first choice parking lot and it's practically empty. PRACTICALLY EMPTY! Remember when the guy told me it was going to be full by 4:30 a.m. It was 5:10 a.m.! What the heck! Positive note: We were parked in a really good spot. Right in the middle of the start and finish line. Not too close, not too far. Perfect. Plus, it was only $5 and that's cheap for event parking.
Mom took a little snooze in the car while I ate a granola bar and a muffin. Glorious.
6 a.m. Off to find a bathroom. There were real bathrooms in the stadium so headed up there to use them. Took me no joke, 15-20 minutes just to get into the bathroom. The line was horrendous. I always get jealous of the men's line when I have to stand in a ginormous line like this one.
6:20 a.m. Time to find my corral or as they call it my "pig pen." Mom went to find a spot by the start line and I started my hike to corral "F." I was supposed to meet Bri and Pat at Corral F but they were in Corral E. So, I wished them good luck and we went our separate ways.
6:30 a.m. Race starts!
6:50 a.m. It took me 20 minutes to get to the start line. It was very cool though. So many spectators, I loved it!
Race Day: Course
It was a nice course. Definitely a lot to see! There were a ton of spectators throughout the entire race! The only places they weren't at were the bridges. But they were there before and after. I have never seen so many people come out for a race. It was truly a community event. Although I was listening to my iPod, I could hardly ever hear my music since there was so much encouragement from the sidelines. Kudos to Flying Pig on making this event such a great experience for spectators and runners.
Another thing I would like to point out is that there were hydration stations at every mile marker. Since it was 65 degrees at 6:30 a.m. it got a whole lot hotter by 9 a.m. Therefore, it was greatly appreciated. I don't believe the organizers of the Flying Pig were ready for how hot it was going to be. By the time I got to mile 6, which was about an hour and a half clock time, they ran out of cups so the volunteers were pouring water into the runners hands. Other than that, every hydration station was stacked and ready to go.
Race Day: Lesson Learned
Like the flying pig organizers, I wasn't prepared for it being so hot either. I packed every piece of running gear I had. I ended up wearing a tank top, shorts and compression shorts. What I did NOT pack or invest in was Body Glide. I was chafing so bad I was bleeding from mile 3-9. The medics were passing out Vaseline at mile 9. Thank GOD! I have never had so much pain in my entire life. My pace went from 9:30/10 from mile 1-3 to 10/11 for miles 3-6 and then all the way down to 11/12 for miles 6-9. After I lathered up the Vaseline on my legs, I was running better but by then the damage was done.
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| Finish Swine! |
Official 6.8 - 1:20.54
Official Pace - 11:50
Garmin Time -
Garmin Distance -
Garmin Pace -
Enjoy these pictures from the Expo and Course!
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| Getting ready to cross the Start! |
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| Crossing over into Kentucky |
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| View along the course |
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| view along the course |
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| Bri, Pat and I in the recovery area |
