goofyinohio
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2006
- Messages
- 1,299
My first Half Marathon took me to Cincinnati for the Flying Pig Half Marathon. I live about an hour and a half from there and thanks to Denny's (Dennyha)Recommendation this was my first attempt at a Half. My Wife and Daughters came with me and we stayed Downtown at a Ramada. We spent Saturday night over to Newport on the Levee. There are a tonof places to eat here, but we chose Jax grill in Gameworks. Call me cheap, but the other places we looked at we would have paid the same price for one person we paid for all of us to eat at Jax. Anyway if you have the chance to go here the view of downtown Cincy and the Ohio River is beautiful. They do have a band playing not to mention an entertainer that was doing Magic.
The expo seemed huge to me and very well organized. I didn't forget my chip this time.
Disney seemed to be about half the size of this one, but maybe it was just my imagination.
Anyway the race weather was perfect for a runner. It was 45-50 at the start. It wasn't perfect for me as I like around 65, but it was still a beautiful morning. Not a cloud in the sky. So we get to the start and wait and wait...and wait. The race was delayed about 20 minutes because of a fire we came to find out and the had to reroute the Marathon/Half Marathon to get us started.
The race for me started out pretty good. I lined up in the 2:30-2:45 group for the half or so I thought. I was quickly for the first couple miles dodging walkers. Anyway within the first mile you start out behind Paul Brown Stadium then up by Great American Ballpark and then you start to head up the first Bridge and across the Ohio River. I was a little freaked out, but I managed. My time for my first mile was good at 10:56. We were headed into Kentucky now and did a couple miles through there before heading across the other Bridge over the Ohio River and Back into Ohio. I missed the mile 2 marker so my time for mile 2 and 3 was 20:59.
I dove over by the train tracks to do my first potty break and back on the road I went. Nothing much through here at all. Mile 4 including my stop was 10:45.
Mile 5 brought my one and only sighting of my family. This was right by our hotel and had a very nice view of downtown Cincy. I ran across everyone to get to them and give them a kiss and take a picture. Mile 5 took me 10:59.
Mile 6 took me through Downtown and up 7th street. There were a ton of people through here and really throughout the course. I didn't see any holes anywhere and everyone was chearing. With there Pig noses on, Ringing their bells and holding their signs. Thanks to all the supporters by the way. You guys were awesome. Mile 6 took me 10:55.
I at this point realized dude you are drinking too much water and gatorade. I have always trained at a certain time to take a drink and on long runs to do my sport beans at a certain time. When I start racing it's like I throw all this out the window. So I went hey "GOOFY" how about you stop drinking so much and stick with the plan.
Anywho Mile 7 is where it's really starts getting difficult. You really start going up hill for the next 3 miles, but the scenery is so worth it. Somepoint during this trek up the Hills I think it's close to mile 7 you can overlook some water which I think was the Ohio River and see part of Downtown. Really pretty through there. Mile 7 took me 11:27, Mile 8 11:14 and Mile 9 10:25.
Mile 10 was my last rest room break and took me 11:37. After mile 9 is where the Marathon and the Half Marathon split. It was very organized with Huge signs.
DOWNHILL - WOO HOO. Mile 11 was downhill as was most of the rest of the course. I kept thinking you only have a 5k to go. So I did. Mile 11 took me 9:32. I felt like I was flying and at the same time holding myself back. Mile 12 took me 10:20 (There was an out and back through here) Mile 11 and part of 12 were pretty much going down the hills close to where we had just come up and Mile 13 took me 10:40. Again it was a great view coming down the hill because you could see most of Cincy. A very pretty city.
I finished in 2:20:54. I put down 2:45 for my projected finish time. That's what my split was at Disney for the full so I figured it would be between 2:30-2:45. What was weird to me is the course was much more challenging again to me and I thought I pushed myself better and am proud of myself for that. I do realize that not that many finished behind me and in particular in my age group and sex, but oh well. I'm still proud of myself. My family was also proud of me and it was my oldest daughters first time seeing an event like this and she was amazed. She was really proud. They had a sign for me that made me feel great.
The supporters were all over the place and were awesome. The staff was also very helpful. I thought it was a challenging course, but again Disney is my only point of reference here on a long race (Marathon and TOT 13k.)
Sorry to be so long Winded. Hope you enjoyed my report and I can't wait to hear about the Minnie from everyone.
The expo seemed huge to me and very well organized. I didn't forget my chip this time.
Disney seemed to be about half the size of this one, but maybe it was just my imagination.Anyway the race weather was perfect for a runner. It was 45-50 at the start. It wasn't perfect for me as I like around 65, but it was still a beautiful morning. Not a cloud in the sky. So we get to the start and wait and wait...and wait. The race was delayed about 20 minutes because of a fire we came to find out and the had to reroute the Marathon/Half Marathon to get us started.
The race for me started out pretty good. I lined up in the 2:30-2:45 group for the half or so I thought. I was quickly for the first couple miles dodging walkers. Anyway within the first mile you start out behind Paul Brown Stadium then up by Great American Ballpark and then you start to head up the first Bridge and across the Ohio River. I was a little freaked out, but I managed. My time for my first mile was good at 10:56. We were headed into Kentucky now and did a couple miles through there before heading across the other Bridge over the Ohio River and Back into Ohio. I missed the mile 2 marker so my time for mile 2 and 3 was 20:59.
I dove over by the train tracks to do my first potty break and back on the road I went. Nothing much through here at all. Mile 4 including my stop was 10:45.
Mile 5 brought my one and only sighting of my family. This was right by our hotel and had a very nice view of downtown Cincy. I ran across everyone to get to them and give them a kiss and take a picture. Mile 5 took me 10:59.
Mile 6 took me through Downtown and up 7th street. There were a ton of people through here and really throughout the course. I didn't see any holes anywhere and everyone was chearing. With there Pig noses on, Ringing their bells and holding their signs. Thanks to all the supporters by the way. You guys were awesome. Mile 6 took me 10:55.
I at this point realized dude you are drinking too much water and gatorade. I have always trained at a certain time to take a drink and on long runs to do my sport beans at a certain time. When I start racing it's like I throw all this out the window. So I went hey "GOOFY" how about you stop drinking so much and stick with the plan.
Anywho Mile 7 is where it's really starts getting difficult. You really start going up hill for the next 3 miles, but the scenery is so worth it. Somepoint during this trek up the Hills I think it's close to mile 7 you can overlook some water which I think was the Ohio River and see part of Downtown. Really pretty through there. Mile 7 took me 11:27, Mile 8 11:14 and Mile 9 10:25.
Mile 10 was my last rest room break and took me 11:37. After mile 9 is where the Marathon and the Half Marathon split. It was very organized with Huge signs.
DOWNHILL - WOO HOO. Mile 11 was downhill as was most of the rest of the course. I kept thinking you only have a 5k to go. So I did. Mile 11 took me 9:32. I felt like I was flying and at the same time holding myself back. Mile 12 took me 10:20 (There was an out and back through here) Mile 11 and part of 12 were pretty much going down the hills close to where we had just come up and Mile 13 took me 10:40. Again it was a great view coming down the hill because you could see most of Cincy. A very pretty city.
I finished in 2:20:54. I put down 2:45 for my projected finish time. That's what my split was at Disney for the full so I figured it would be between 2:30-2:45. What was weird to me is the course was much more challenging again to me and I thought I pushed myself better and am proud of myself for that. I do realize that not that many finished behind me and in particular in my age group and sex, but oh well. I'm still proud of myself. My family was also proud of me and it was my oldest daughters first time seeing an event like this and she was amazed. She was really proud. They had a sign for me that made me feel great.
The supporters were all over the place and were awesome. The staff was also very helpful. I thought it was a challenging course, but again Disney is my only point of reference here on a long race (Marathon and TOT 13k.)
Sorry to be so long Winded. Hope you enjoyed my report and I can't wait to hear about the Minnie from everyone.
I, too, ran the Pig (half) this morning. If I ever come out of hibernation here on the boards, I'm going to try to post a race report. I've been REALLY bad about getting on here to say hi to all my teammates. 
I've done the Pig a couple of times and really love it -- great medal, great premiums, and lots going on for the runners. (Love the idea of the recognition of the runners at the Reds game on Monday, but I've never been able to stay). Sounds like you had a good run and awesome family support -- and a fun time together.
My fellow 
) but I am visualizing all those hills in my head and hats off to you!
