Flying Pig Marathon – Race Report
or “Who Knew That Swine Flew?”
Late Friday morning Gayle and I headed North to Cincinnati.
We stopped and ate lunch and rolled into town about 5:30. It was not a bad drive from Nashville.
After checking into the hotel we headed off to find some place to eat supper downtown.
Woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful day. We ate breakfast in the hotel and then headed across the street to the expo. I had promised to get the girls T-shirts that read, “ I’ll run a marathon when pigs fly”.
This race has the best swag of any that I have run. They gave us technical shirts, posters and a messenger bag, not bad.
Once we finished at the expo, we headed off to get our bearings in the city. We scoped out a place on the race course, about mile 5, that was two blocks from the hotel, where Gayle could go to take photos. Then we headed to find the start and finish lines.
About mid-afternoon, Michele rolled into town and the three of us headed out to preview the course. We picked it up about mile 5. The two parts I really wanted to see was “the climb” and “the finish”.
The forecast for race day was a concern. The weather folks were calling for light rain at the start and getting heaver as the morning progresses.
Met Michele in the lobby at 5:30 and we headed to the start. It was raining lightly so we wore trash bags to keep dry.
We made our way to the 3:50 pacer in the coral. Even though she said she was going to run negative splits. She took off at the gun.
It was rather crowded for the first several miles as we crossed three bridges in a trip over to Kentucky and back. By mile five the pacer was long gone but we did see Gayle.
We started the climb at mile 6 and kept a reasonable pace to the top.
From there the course was rolling hills with several long ups and downs but by mile 15 we were running 8:47 miles with an average pace of 8:47. I was feeling good but knew it was too early to celebrate.
At mile 18, I told Michele to take off to get her BQ.
By mile 20, my pace had slowed. The hills had worked their magic and this pig was having trouble flying.
Mile 22 and 23 were tough but by mile 24 I was able to pick up the pace some.
I finally shuffled across the “finish swine” at 4:24:11.
Luckily, it stopped raining about mile 4, and the heavy rain never materialized.
The elevation chart on the web site is deceptive. They have smoothed it out. My Garmin makes it look more like the roller coaster that it is.
All in all it was a good race. Gayle and I got to get away and it was great to see and run with Michele.
Here are my splits in all the gory details.
| Mile | Pace (min/mile) | Speed (mph) | Elevation Gain |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| actual | +/- avg | actual | +/- avg | ||
| 1 | 9′ 13 | -0′ 47 | 6.5 | +0.5 | – ft |
| 2 | 8′ 42 | -1′ 18 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 3 | 8′ 40 | -1′ 20 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 4 | 8′ 25 | -1′ 35 | 7.1 | +1.1 | – ft |
| 5 | 8′ 48 | -1′ 12 | 6.8 | +0.8 | – ft |
| 6 | 8′ 40 | -1′ 20 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 7 | 9′ 13 | -0′ 47 | 6.5 | +0.5 | – ft |
| 8 | 9′ 03 | -0′ 57 | 6.6 | +0.6 | – ft |
| 9 | 8′ 42 | -1′ 18 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 10 | 8′ 35 | -1′ 25 | 7.0 | +1.0 | – ft |
| 11 | 8′ 37 | -1′ 23 | 7.0 | +1.0 | – ft |
| 12 | 8′ 42 | -1′ 18 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 13 | 8′ 42 | -1′ 18 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 14 | 8′ 44 | -1′ 16 | 6.9 | +0.9 | – ft |
| 15 | 8′ 48 | -1′ 12 | 6.8 | +0.8 | – ft |
| 16 | 9′ 01 | -0′ 59 | 6.7 | +0.7 | – ft |
| 17 | 8′ 55 | -1′ 05 | 6.7 | +0.7 | – ft |
| 18 | 9′ 16 | -0′ 44 | 6.5 | +0.5 | – ft |
| 19 | 9′ 26 | -0′ 34 | 6.4 | +0.4 | – ft |
| 20 | 9′ 45 | -0′ 15 | 6.2 | +0.2 | – ft |
| 21 | 11′ 07 | +1′ 07 | 5.4 | -0.6 | – ft |
| 22 | 11′ 19 | +1′ 19 | 5.3 | -0.7 | – ft |
| 23 | 13′ 40 | +3′ 40 | 4.4 | -1.6 | – ft |
| 24 | 15′ 57 | +5′ 57 | 3.8 | -2.2 | – ft |
| 25 | 14′ 53 | +4′ 53 | 4.0 | -2.0 | – ft |
| 26 | 14′ 01 | +4′ 01 | 4.3 | -1.7 | – ft |
| end | 10′ 31 | +0′ 31 | 5.7 | -0.3 | – ft |
| Versus average of 10′ 00 min/mile | |||||
May 4th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Since I started running seriously again, I’ve thought this was the most creative name for a race. Looks like a really nasty hill from about mile 4 to mile 9 or so. That’ll kill legs in a hurry!
May 5th, 2009 at 6:46 am
I like all the pig/swine references. Too funny!!
When is your next marathon?
May 5th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Congrats on the Pig!! Yes, lots of swag..but the course is a real stinker. I remember walking it in after mile 17 that day in 2000. Glad you had a fun time…in Porkopolis!!
May 7th, 2009 at 6:28 am
great report, the graphic of the course puts it all in perspective.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Wow, what a race, David. Looks like things really got sour in a hurry for you at mile 21.
The Pig is on my tentative list for 2010…your graph is sobering, though.
Hope you are feeling better now and starting to think about your next plans.
June 6th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Your pace chart certainly shows where the wings fell off. I love the Finish Swine.
Overall it seems like you had a great race experience.