Flying Pig (half) quick report

[chitownbelle]

I ran the Flying Pig half marathon in Cincinnati yesterday and just wanted to say it was such a great race!!  Despite the hills, my goodness those hills, I wanted to recommend it for anyone considering a spring half or full!!  The flying pig theme in general is adorable, it's on the cheaper side of registration fees, you get a lot of swag, and the post-race goodies are bountiful.  It was very well organized.  I can only speak for 13.1, since the full course split from ours at mile 9, but the course and spectators were awesome.  Mile 6 was worse than the Queensboro bridge (of NYC) and mile 23 of Twin Cities combined, felt never ending, but the last 3 miles are completely downhill.....weeeeee!  <---and then ouch...my shins and quads will pay for it later.

I went into it with a very relaxed training cycle...got my mileage in for the most part but used a very easy training plan and never pushed myself...just wanted to have a relaxed and fun race.  Had no time goal (PR is 1:51:51, so was pointless to try I thought).  Shot for 9:30 pace and with the downhills in the end, ended up with a chip time of 2:01:03 (9:15 pace), and Garmin said I ran 13.34mi.  (13.1mi on Garmin was 1:59:22, so I'll tell myself I ran sub-2, haha).  If only I hadn't stopped and taken that orange from a spectator....ah, hindsight.  All week it was predicted to storm during the race, but mother nature was on our side and it stopped raining 30min before the race and it turned out to be a beautiful, 60 degree sunny morning.  

Seriously such a cute race.  Would def. consider it again for a destination (5 hr drive for me) race.

[cinco]

Congrats! It sounds like a great race!

[itsme]

Congratulations!!!

[CallingAllAngels]

I thought about you yesterday! Glad you liked it. I would love to do this race again!

[labbie]

Congratulations! This sounds like a great race.

[libbygrl109]

Congrats!

[jene]

Congratulations! This sounds like a great race!

[coconutbug]

Congrats! Sounds like a fun race!

[kylerules]

awesome job!

[clseale]

Yay! I'm glad you had a great race. Congrats!

[stephm0188]

Yeah! Awesome report! I was so glad the weather held off for you guys. How was the support from spectators?

I'm debating between the 3way next year or full.

[fuckyourcouch]

Congrats! This race sounds so intense. Great job!

[skwcm80]

Congrats on a great race! I did the relay yesterday and I was in awe of the folks who ran and the half & full.

[hannahb]

Glad you had fun!

[bluedaisyus]

That race is so intimidating to me! I'm glad the weather held out, I had some friends running it too.

[chitownbelle]

May 2, 2016 18:52:39 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Yeah! Awesome report! I was so glad the weather held off for you guys. How was the support from spectators?

I'm debating between the 3way next year or full.

Spectator support was great!  For the half anyway, not sure about the miles where the full breaks off and then meets back up!  It's a huge event for the city I guess....I'd never been to Ohio...friends moved to Cinci in the fall so we went and stayed with them and my friend ran the race too, 15 weeks pregnant :-)
I'd definitely run it again.  I didn't know about the 3-way, but it sounds like a fun goal to tackle!  Our toddlers were supposed to do the Piglet run Saturday, but since it was raining and we were running late and there was no close parking, we left them in the car with our husbands and just went and got their shirts and bibs...and we got medals for them, even though they didn't do the actual race, haha.

Tons of cute pig related posters...lots of "I like pig butts and i cannot lie..."

[chitownbelle]

May 2, 2016 19:06:28 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

Congrats on a great race! I did the relay yesterday and I was in awe of the folks who ran and the half & full.

Sweet!  Which leg did you do?!  

[skwcm80]

May 2, 2016 19:33:16 GMT -5 chitownbelle said:

May 2, 2016 19:06:28 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

Congrats on a great race! I did the relay yesterday and I was in awe of the folks who ran and the half & full.

Sweet!  Which leg did you do?!  

Leg 2. Those 5 miles were more than enough.

[jamalynn]

Yay! Congrats! Glad you had a good time.

[chitownbelle]

May 2, 2016 19:51:02 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

May 2, 2016 19:33:16 GMT -5 chitownbelle said:

Sweet!  Which leg did you do?!  

Leg 2. Those 5 miles were more than enough.

I can't pretend I know which legs were which miles ;-)
There was a relay point btw miles 6-7, was that the first hand off?  How hilly is the marathon part of the course?  Hope you had fun!  What was the final time of your team?  
Did you see the 3 guys running with the kid in the stroller by chance?  Team Diego?  Running for Duchene's...they were so awesome and inspiring, got me so choked up!!

[gt7301b]

Congrats!!

[wanderlustmom]

Congrats!!!! You had a great time on a tough course. I did it last year and was happy with my 2:09. Man the hills were super hard. But I loved it. Great crowd support, scenic views and nice downhill finish.

[cole]

Congrats!!

[osulori]

Congratulations! I love that your time was 2:01:03...the Pig half was my first one back in 2009, and my time was 2:01:02

[rnrun]

Congratulations on running a great race!

[skwcm80]

May 2, 2016 19:59:08 GMT -5 chitownbelle said:

May 2, 2016 19:51:02 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

Leg 2. Those 5 miles were more than enough.

I can't pretend I know which legs were which miles ;-)
There was a relay point btw miles 6-7, was that the first hand off?  How hilly is the marathon part of the course?  Hope you had fun!  What was the final time of your team?  
Did you see the 3 guys running with the kid in the stroller by chance?  Team Diego?  Running for Duchene's...they were so awesome and inspiring, got me so choked up!!

I was at the first hand off in Eden park. I ran from just about 7 to 13 of the marathon course. Our final time was 4:10.  We've all decided to do it again next year.
I saw them when I was waiting for the bus to the finish. That was so awesome. 

[kams]

Awesome, congrats!! This makes me want to put this on my to-do list!

[mysticmuffin]

Congrats on a great race!

[bostonmichelle]

Congratulations!!! This sounds like an awesome race!

[mrshandy]

Congrats!! Glad you had a fun race!