Two weeks ago I talked to Coach Matt about Flying Pig. This was just supposed to be a fun tour of Cincy for the 20th anniversary of the race and a way to race this weekend even though I wasn't running the Indy Mini. But I've been running well lately so I wasn't sure how to run the race...would I be happy with just beating my prior best time on the course (2:54:39)? Would 2:45 be "good enough"? Could I run it faster than that? After we talked I had a plan and went into the race planning to take what the day gave me and run 2:30-2:45. Here's the week leading up and the race report...
Monday - Sean pulled back my swim distances and focused on speed since I've been frustrated in the pool. I swam 2,600 yards and I think I called it "less awful."
Tuesday - Race week gear check run. I chose the hilly option since my race course was hilly. It was flaming hot relative to the weather we've had and even carrying water I was sure I was going to burst into flames. Good run though and I got in a solid 6.5 miles.
Wednesday - A distracted swim but there were glimmers of hope in a few of the sets when I could stay focused, a total of 2,500 yards. In the early evening I went to Eagle Creek to ride 15 miles relatively easy (I did ride hills but didn't kill them). It was even more flaming hot than Tuesday and I was glad I wasn't running.
Thursday - Indoor ride because of thunderstorms. Switching between outdoor and indoor is hard and technology was not my friend. I got something resembling my workout in, later than I wanted and without pretty data.
Friday - 2,200 yard swim out at the Fort after work. This one I felt like I was starting to maybe enjoy swimming again.
Saturday - While everyone and their cat ran the Mini marathon I rode the City Loop with David and Swati. We had a solid 22.5 mile ride and then I got ready to head to Cincy for the expo.
Sunday - FLYING PIG!
I love the Flying Pig. They do such a good job with this race. Trena, Sara, and I had fun at the expo and then Trena and I headed to dinner at a farm to table restaurant. Then in for an early night. 5 AM wakeup on race day. We were staying only a few blocks from the start so it's an easy stroll (and downhill) to the festivities. It IS a haul around to Pig Pen G where I was starting and everything is a mass of humanity with no place to warm up run (sorry coach). I barely made it in by 6:30 when the gun went off, but it was 7:00 before we started anyway - gun is for Pig Pen A. I actually ended up starting at the back of F, but I was near the 2:30/5:00 pace group. When I crossed the start line the flames went off and shocked me a bit.
The first few miles are crossing into Kentucky and running through Newport and Covington, both are nice towns. Then you cross back. There's a total of three bridges. The last one is funny when there's a train on the parallel rail bridge, but that didn't happen this year. Shortly after three miles I caught up with Dawn running her first full marathon.
Dawn and I talked and ran through the hills until the marathon and half course split. It seemed to be good for both of us that we ran together through the hills. I had flipped my watch over to heart rate to focus more on managing effort than any sort of notion of pace. I was doing well and staying on top of hydration, salt, and nutrition.
After the split there's one more sneaky uphill, but then the steep downhill. It's fun, but also part of what makes your legs hurt later. Around mile 11 is where the course flattens back out and heads back into downtown. I was clicking off some decent splits and happy. The sun was also trying to come out and it was getting a few degrees warmer.
There were some changes to the start and finish this year and it became obvious near the end when the landmarks weren't lining up with the distance. It was hard to tell how far you were from the finish and when to GO. I was running hard, but starting to be ready to be done. I crossed the finish line knowing I hadn't broken 2:30, but had come close. It was 2:30:15. Yeah, I probably left 16 seconds somewhere on the course. But this was the fastest I had run the Pig by 24 minutes! Excellent fitness test.
(I'll add a picture if one becomes available)
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