2013.05.05 Flying Pig Marathon

Woke up at 5am Sunday morning, and did my typical pre-race shower (I know it seems counter-intuitive to take a shower prior to one of these, but i feel as though it wakes me up and gets me in the right mindset).  Mom, Gina and Tyler also woke up and dressed to head down to Cincinnati - it was about 55-60 degrees and overcast - we had light showers off and on during the race.

Got down to Cincy and parked the truck a few blocks from the start line, grabbed a few photos with Gina and Tyler, and then started walking to Paul Brown Stadium.  Granted it has been 4 years since I ran this race, but I was really impressed with the Corrals - the first year i ran it you just sort of plugged yourself in wherever, this year they were watching corrals and making sure people didn't jump them.  Additionally, there were a TON of people - more than i remembered from Previous years.

I happened to look at my HR monitor during the anthem, and it was up at 118 - I thought to myself this is not where I want to be prior to actually starting the run.  I hadn't managed to make my corral when the gun went off - i was still fighting the mass of people.

They had done a moment of silence for Boston prior to the start, and after the gun went off, Sweet Caroline was the first song playing over the loudspeaker.  Dirty water was the second they played - I had been watching the Bruins game the night before the race, and the guy who got both his legs blown off was part of the pre-game ceremonies - I actually got a little choked up, because frankly, I am extremely lucky to be able to even attempt to log 26 miles on my own two legs - every time I run one of these I am reminded of how lucky i really am (and that's part of the reason people wearing earphones drive me nuts in these things - I get it for training, but earphones close you off and you don't fully take in the entire experience).

A rainbow had also appeared during the start, I didn't see it, but my mom did, and i saw several photos of it following the race - again - shows how lucky we are to be attempting these things.

Mile 1 - 11:11
Jumped into a portajohn to take a leak during mile 1.

Mile 2 - 10:21
Mile 2 takes you into Kentucky, you could see the other runners streaming along further up on the course from the Bridge over the river.

Mile 3 - 10:30
Mile 4 - 10:34
Saw Mom, Gina and Tyler after crossing back into Ohio.  I had also passed some porta-johns, was experiencing some stomach discomfort, and figured at some point i would need to visit them again, but it was not an "Urgent" need yet.
We also passed the Jail this year(I think it may be closed).  The first year I ran the pig we ran by the Jail, and the inmates were out for their excercise, this year there was nobody in the yard, and the signs weren't there - but the razor wire still was.  I've always found it interesting the various iterations of the course each time I run it.

Mile 5 - 11:35
Stomach had pushed into more of an Urgent need - there were lines for the Johns, and then i heard there was no TP, so I lost a minute or so as I initially waited - but then moved on, since no TP would have equaled a BAD DECISION.

Mile 6 - 12:58
Between Miles 5 and 6 I found an open john, and took care of the "Urgent" need.

Mile 7 - 11:07
Mile 8 - 11:03
These miles take you up the big hills of the race.  There is also the best view of the race in these miles - you can see for miles down the Ohio River, and the water stop was manned by Sycamore Aviators - thought it was awesome to see the old high school represented at the pig this year.

Mile 9 - 10:15
Somewhere in here i was starting to notice how much different it felt to be running a pace that was closer to 4:40 than the 4:00 I had run in previous years. In those years, i was driving for a certain pace, and it was a "hard" run, if I pooched a split, i was unhappy, etc...this day I was just in it to survive, and so whether i ran a 4, 5 or 6 hour Marathon it didn't matter to me (secretly i was hoping not to run a Personal Worst, but other than that, I was just in it to survive.)

Mile 10 - 10:26
Mile 11 - 9:50
This mile i had started talking to a few people.  One guy was wearing his Marathon Maniacs T-shirt, and I got talking to him about it - when i told him about my 2 Marathons in a week, he told me I had already qualified and i should reach out the maniacs to get signed up.  In retrospect, I wish I had looked into it earlier, because my Maniac number is in the 7000's, and if I had signed up in 2007 it would have been a lot lower.
I also talked to a woman who was running her first marathon, and had followed the Higdon Novice program to the letter-  I told her she was SOLID - and was going to finish, she had done her work, and would be rewarded.  On the other hand, I had not done the work and it was going to hurt at some point- I just didn't know when yet....
I also found myself running with a guy from New Jersey who was in town to visit a friend, and had signed up for the four way on a whim.  He was scheduled to run a 24 hour race in a month or so, and was talking to me about ultras - told him my pipe dream is to one day get into them.  I actually would see him at several points in the race, and he made for great company on the run.

Mile 12 - 10:19
Somewhere in these miles i saw the Sycamore Sports Medicine mobile (when i was there the "Perry Mobile" was one of those John Deere Gators) - now the "Perry Mobile" is like an old ambulance - It was pretty awesome to see both Sycamore well represented, and Perry was actually working the station - so i briefly said hi - totally awesome to see him.

Mile 13 - 10:41
Apparently Mom and Gina saw my back around the halfway mark, but i didn't see them.

Mile 14 - 11:00
Mile 15 - 10:58
Mile 16 - 11:54
I think 16 is where you come thru Mariemont - I started running out of gas here.  I did see the shark guy who runs this thing wearing a full body shark costume - he's one that i've seen running this race a few times.  I did get to see Mom, Gina and Tyler Twice thru this stretch so that was cool.

Mile 17 - 11:32
Mile 18 - 13:29
I was bonking here.  The tip off to me is when I start losing track of what mile I am on, as well as my math skills begin to erode.  i was thinking to myself at this point - Mile 18, 6 Miles to go, even at 15 minute miles i can break a 5 hour marathon.  Something seemed wrong with that math, but it took me about 5 minutes to figure out I still had 8 miles to go, not 6.  Bonking this marathon was not nearly as hard a bonk as when I ran my first one - I don't know if it is because i was pushing thru and trying to make a time then, whereas here i just started incorporating walk breaks, or just because I can recognize the signs at this point and have been thru it before.  The Cincinnati Jimmy Buffet Club was manning a water break somewhere in here - they were the best station on the course in my opinion.

Also, the woman wearing the same pig hat as me that I had seen yesterday ran by me here....

Mile 19 - 11:51
Mile 20 - 13:09
The first Gu station was manned by the Big Blue alumni club.  I thought that was cruel, giving them that station.  I went thru without taking any Gu's partially because I don't think it would have helped, I hadn't used them in training, but also just because.

Mile 21 - 12:27
Mile 22 - 13:36
At mile 22 I had a great "Dad" moment.  Tyler came running towards me as i was running along, and I took some photos with him.  Great reminder of what is important in life.

Mile 23 - 15:23

Second Gu station was manned by the Penn State Alumni club...Again, i realize when it comes to Ohio State I am one of the "Truck Drivers", but couldn't they choose schools from different conferences??  I would have taken one from Louisville, Northern Kentucky, or Kentucky, but did it really have to be Big Ten Schools?

Mile 24 - 13:32
----------And then the Garmin Died.

Funny how things play out.  If i would have been running on track for my previous personal worst, the Garmin would have died as i was crossing the finish line or so.  It is also funny to me that i had never even considered the possibility that my garmin would have died, and then to have the guy yesterday talk about battery life - it was foreshadowed that my garmin was going to die...

I ran like i had trained - I didn't put the work in that I needed to. A 13 mile LSD run is not enough to execute a marathon well.  The result of that is running a 20 minute Positive split - which is about as bad as i have run in my "career" (if you can call my running a career).  I did have fun though - and i now remember what i enjoy about these things so much.  They are a challenge, whether you are in awesome shape, poor shape, or somewhere in between - there's always improvement that can be made.  It was neat to run number 10 in front of Tyler and Gina, and i'm looking forward to getting the streak back going again - getting a few knocked out a  year.  Also looking forward to attempting an ultra sometime in the next year or two.

Cincinnati loves their marathon and it is the best organized marathon I have run - this years iteration was no exception.  There was much more security out there than in previous years, and following what happened in Boston, I was not surprised - and although there was a lot more security out there, they did a good job of not impacting the race or fan experience.  I will say that if you are ever on the fence about what marathon to run and Cincinnati is in the mix, you owe it to yourself to give Cincy a try - it truly is a World Class Marathon as far as the runner and spectator experience.

Results From the Flying Pig Website:
6.8 - 1:16:56
Half - 2:22:05
19.7 - 3:41:46
Last Mile (25.2-26.2) -13:27
Finish - 5:09:13

Final 5:09:13 - Personal worst by 25 +/- Minutes

Four way total - 6:42:43
Placed 110/156

As an interesting aside, there is an Arnulfo Quimare who placed 4th in the 4-way challenge with a total time of 4:10:13 - google tells me he is the Arnulfo that was featured prominently in Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall - wish i would have come across him at some point - would love to have a conversation with him.

2013.05.04 Flying Pig 5K

After finishing the 10K, I had roughly an hour before the 5K was going to start.  I grabbed one of those foil blankets, and wrapped it around my legs, and went back up and sat on one of the benches outside the Great American Ballpark.

It was great people watching, i actually struck up a conversation with the gentleman facing me - he was wearing a Garmin Forerunner 110 - I had never seen the watch before and i asked him about it.  He was running the 4-way as well - and he said he liked it a lot. One thing he did say got me thinking though - he mentioned that he had run a 5 and some change marathon and he didn't have any battery issues - I had never even thought of the possibility of the battery in my forerunner dying - I hadn't brought my charger with me....Knowing it was too late now i figured i'd just roll with it and see what happens.

I also noticed one other woman wearing the same Pig Hat i was wearing, she had run the 10K as well, so I assumed that she was running the 4-way.

I noticed that while i felt good when i was moving, stopping brought back the sciatica and pain in my left "cheek".  The 45 minutes or so sitting on the bench hadn't helped - and when i stood up, i had to stretch out again.

Eventually 10am came and the race went off.  I had never run this 5K course, but i did know that the back half of it mirrored the 10K course, because I had seen the 2 mile marker on my earlier run.

Mile 1 - 9:59
Mile 2 - 9:33

I actually started feeling really good after the second mile.  I never really ever reached a feeling of being "tired" during this race - I just felt as though i was plugging along, on a LSD (Long Slow Distance) run of sorts.

Mile 3 - 9:14
Chute - 1:00

Final - 29:47

Again, not the fastest 5K I've ever run, but I kept it respectable and survived.  I headed back to my parents house on the Northeast side of Cincy, and grabbed 44 pounds of ice for my ice bath.  I figured it couldn't hurt to flush my legs, I was going to need every bit of luck i could get for tomorrow.

2013.05.04 - Flying Pig 10K

Waking up Saturday morning i was pleased that my knee did not hurt terribly badly.  I had been taking it very easy, skipped playing golf as was the plan before the knee happened, and had been on a steady diet of Naproxen and Ibuprofren  Unfortunately, my sciatica had fired up however, and my rear end was killing me.  The good news is, once i start get running, usually the sciatica seems to calm down, its just when i stop it starts to hurt again.

I got my shower in, and headed down to Cincinnati about 630, arriving downtown about an hour before the 10K was scheduled to go off.

Found a parking garage within five blocks of the start line, and walked down to the start.  My plan was to go slow and slower.  I wasn't in this race to win any land speed records, simply just to finish and not kill myself before the 5K in 2 hours and the Marathon in 22 hours.

This was my first time running any of the Saturday races at the pig, and I do have to say, it was pretty enjoyable.  Cincinnati does a really good job with their races, each one i ran this year was a lot of fun and well supported.

I milled around the Great American Ballpark for the hour until about five minutes before the race went off, and then found myself a spot in the back of the corral.
Mile 1 - 11:08

This was a zoo, and i also stopped to use a porta john on this mile.

Mile 2 - 9:45
Mile 3 - 9:45

Looking back on this, i'm surprised how consistent miles 2 and 3 were, especially because i decided i was going to run and take photos as i was running.  Taking photos was a pain in the butt, not something i would enjoy doing in a longer race like a half or full, but for the 10K it was a good way to keep me engaged.

Mile 4 - 9:41
Mile 5 - 9:27
Mile 6 - 9:27

Again, really surprised how consistent i was in miles 5 and 6.  It makes sense, a number of years ago i ran a "Guess your finishing time" race in Norfolk, which involves not wearing a timing device, when you came to the finish line the clock was turned around, and the winner is chosen by the differential between your finish time and your guessed finish time.  I finished third in this race, with a differential of 4 seconds.  When i'm well trained, I have found i have a great ability to pace myself, but i would hardly call myself well trained for any of these races.

Chute - 1:57

Total - 1:01:11

Certainly not the quickest 10K i've ever run, but i survived and didn't go too hard. I felt pretty confident going into the 5K after this run.

2013.05.03 - Flying Pig Marathon Weekend

On Veterans Day, 2002, I was 235 pounds(heaviest i had ever been), and I set myself a goal of running a marathon in 2003. I decided that my first marathon was going to be the Flying Pig in Cincinnati.  I trained through the cold Boston winter, finished that marathon and was hooked.

Fast Forward to 2013, I'm 235 pounds, have run 9 full marathons, but haven't run a full since 2009.  I decide to sign up for the pig in January, and learn they have a new category, the Skyline 4-way challenge. It totals 35.5 miles over the two days, and having a pipe dream of running ultras one day, this appealed to me. 

The plan was to drive in Thursday afternoon, hit packet pickup on Friday, and then participate in the races Saturday and Sunday.

My training for this marathon was somewhere between minimal to okay(probably closer to minimal).  I initially set out to follow the Hal Higdon Novice plan, but as has always been an issue with my training, I tend to not follow them to the letter.  I've always been a low-mileage kind of guy, which partially makes me wonder what could happen if I followed a plan to the letter, but the demands of work and family always seem to get in the way.  Looking back at my Garmin readings, it appears as though i started running in earnest in November - the last two months of the year i ran 9 times that were logged (although i know i had a few runs in there that i didn't have my garmin on).  I planned my Higdon program to start in January to finish up with the start of the pig in May.

The Good:
I was reminded why i enjoy running so much.  Once I get running, I generally can push through any discomfort.  The biggest roadblock I have is the thought of how much effort it takes to begin with.  I tend to figure if i can't go for 3 miles, then it is not worth the effort of changing my clothes, etc. to begin with.  This training cycle, I was much more aware of this failing, and did many more 2 mile runs (although frankly, 2 mile runs don't get you to marathon shape)

The Bad:
Longest run was 13 miles.  I went into this marathon knowing it was going to be painful, and it was....I didn't lose any weight this training cycle either.  In 2003 I started running, and managed to get back down to 220 for the marathon, for this race, i was 235 pounds.  In retrospect, I was much more disciplined in 2003 about running, for this marathon I was convinced i would finish, I just wasn't sure how long it would take me.

The Scary:
The 2 weeks leading up to the marathon were very demanding.  The week of the 22nd, i was constantly moving, and a family obligation took me out of town that weekend (arriving in town late, and waking up extremely early).  Week of the 29th was also brutal, involved a trip to Charlotte for a 7am meeting on Wednesday, the day before i was planning on leaving for Cincinnati. Meetings continued all day, with me leaving Charlotte about 7pm.  Traditionally i would start slowing down on Wednesday to allow me to get enough rest.  Thursday morning i woke up and my knee was stiff and painful to the point that i wasn't able to put full weight on it when getting out of bed (a byproduct of slipping at the gas station on my way home from Charlotte, I believe).  A trip to the chiropractor that morning gave me the confidence that i hadn't totally screwed things up with my knee, but I was not sure how it was going to feel the weekend of the race.  Finally, when driving to Cincinnati, I managed to get caught in the traffic from a major wreck on the West Virginia turnpike, turning an 8 hour trip into a 12 hour trip.  Everything really seemed to line up against me leading up to the race.

Friday:
Friday I attended the expo.  In previous years I wouldn't attend the expo until Saturday, but my participation in the 4-way necessitated Friday attendance, because my first race was 8am Saturday.  My mom and I went down to the convention center right when it opened, and I was really surprised as to how crowded it was. As in previous years, it was extremely large. I was disappointed that the old race t-shirts had been picked pretty clean, that has always been one of my favorite booths at the race.  I also didn't see any killer deals on shoes that i had seen there in the past.  Still a great expo though.

Laying down in bed that night, i was thankful I'd managed to survive to the race weekend, I was now simply curious if I would survive the races.