Racing Horses and Flying Pigs, Oh My!

Since the Ironman last August and the birth of Lily following shortly after; training and racing has taken a backseat. Of course, the elbow break and surgery also had an impact (pun intended). However, I had still been getting workouts in without much structure through the holidays.

In January, I started training for the Flying Pig Marathon  in May through a training group at our local Fleet Feet store. I was actually volunteering as a pace group leader, so was helping train others with less running experience to prepare for the full or half Pig. My pace group was slower than my typical training paces, so I tried to get a good deal of individual training in as well. Between the two, I was consistently logging more mileage than I had ever previously. This inspired me to look for a new goal just after the Pig was complete…a 50k trail race. This post will be the race reports for both the Flying Pig Marathon and the Dances with Dirt Gnaw Bone trail race.

The Flying Pig Marathon has been on my must-do race list since I moved to Cincinnati. The only reason I passed on it before this year was timing…it always falls on the same weekend as the Kentucky Derby. This year, with me working with a training group, I had more incentive to participate. However, since I wasn’t doing a lot of speed training leading into the race, I went in with no goals. My plan was to run a comfortable pace and enjoy the experience. This was only partly successful.

A few days before the race we still ventured down to Louisville to be a part of the Derby festivities.  We arrived in Louisville on Thursday evening so that we’d be ready to head to the track on Friday morning to spectate at the Kentucky Oaks.  This would be Susan’s (and Lily’s) first opportunity to experience the Oaks, which is a much more family-oriented Derby weekend experience.  Similar to the “run for the roses” (the nickname of the Derby), the Oaks is the “run for the lilies” so our little lady fit in great!  It’s also a breast cancer awareness event so there’s lots of pink to go around.  Lily did great and won several races (we let her touch the program to pick her horses).  She actually came out ahead!  The day went well but it was a bit cold so we left before the big race and watched the actual Oaks race back home at my parents’ house.  And needless to say, her hat got her LOTS of compliments.

Saturday morning I woke up to see off the group that was going down to the track and wasn’t feeling so hot. I had a mild fever and felt fatigued. My temperature was a little elevated too, so once the crowd was gone I rested for a bit before getting ready to have family at my parents for the race and dinner. I continued to feel rough throughout the day including the return trip to Cincinnati that evening (which Susan drove so I could sleep). I was committed to at least going to the start line Sunday morning to see off my training group. Whether I would run or not would be a last second decision.

After a very short night, I was up at 4:30 to catch my ride to the start. I was feeling better (or so I told myself) so assumed I’d be running. While waiting with the training group for pre-race photos, I started to crash again a little bit but tried to keep a good attitude to not affect the other nervous runners. After pictures, our group walked to the start line by the Bengals football stadium together before splitting into separate corrals. I filed into the 4:00 marathon corral and continued debated whether or not to run. Of course, when the gun sounded…off I went.

The first 4 miles or so, you travel along the Cincinnati waterfront, cross into Northern Kentucky, and then turn back and run along the river on the Kentucky side. I don’t remember much from this section other than it being crowded. I was in a bit of a daze and my first mile was slower, but felt pretty difficult considering.
As we crossed back to Ohio I had convinced myself I would run the Marathon route until Hyde Park (around mile 11) and then drop out when I met Susan who would be spectating there. I remained convinced of this through the two miles that cover the west portion of downtown before running east to west through the middle of the city. The stretch through downtown started bringing me back to life. It was straight and flat like a runway, but was lined with crowds almost the entire way. Just as we left downtown I took a quick bathroom pit stop, and from there I felt almost 100%.

The next 5 miles to Hyde Park, the scenery improved as well as we climbed into Eden Park and northeast toward Hyde Park square. Since I wasn’t running full speed, I had my phone and was texting with Susan to make sure I didn’t miss her and Lily. When I found them I was feeling good so decided to push on. I did stop to chat for a minute before continuing.

I remained in this comfort zone for the next 6 miles or so, through the furthest point from the finish in Mariemont and started to fade, as I naturally would do on a run this long, as I approached mile 20. The entire finished stretch is on Eastern Ave which becomes River Rd. It’s not as scenic as it sounds and there are stretches where you can see the skyline around the bend in the river…it appears ages away. Almost this entire stretch is exposed to sun and wind as well, so despite being pancake flat it is a tough finish run. I didn’t feel good in the final miles but I still had the legs and gas in the tank. Since I was ahead of the 4 hour pace I decided I’d make that my goal (to keep all my open marathons under 4 hours), but I took a couple walking breaks as well…I wasn’t terribly motivated.

The crowds picked up again just before the finish and that gave me a little boost to kick it across the line. As soon as I stopped and started walking I started to feel off again, so I didn’t spend much time other than to gather some food and fluids before walking off to find Susan and go home.

It was after I got home and the next two days when I really felt rough. Turns out I was harboring the flu (influenza) so the marathon was almost certainly a poor decision. I tried to rest all week in hopes of still being able the run the 50k the following Saturday. Thursday night I started to feel normal again and decided to test my legs. My run lasted about 2 miles and I finished feeling gassed…not a good sign…