Flying Pig Marathon

Is it just me or is this year flying by?  Back in January when I did the Goofy, I kept questioning my sanity for signing up for another marathon before I had even finished that event.  I even considered dropping to the half, not going to DC for the Nike, and just backing it off a little.  I was in a dark place after that race and I wasn't sure my spring training would go as I wanted.  But it did.

I started working on speed doing the mid-week workouts with our training group and I focused on the shorter distance (the half) because I had a half goal first - the Xenia Half.  It paid off in spades for me at that race but I never really switched to doing marathon speed workouts because I decided I was in a good place.  And I wasn't wrong.

True to form, I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing the race course or coming up with plans to follow during the race.  I planned an outfit.  I planned who I was staying with and who I was traveling with.  I decided I'd be happy to finish in under my last PR - 5:10:44.  I honestly didn't give the race too much thought.  I did make sure there were hill workouts in my routine while training for the race but I didn't stress over it.  I avoided conversations with people about the race - especially when people would say "I will be surprised if you had a PR on a course like that."  

We decided to stay outside of Cincinnati at Biv's uncle's house which turned out to be a great choice given it was Cinco De Mayo weekend but it meant a 4AM wake up call then drive into the city.  Thankfully I had my clothes laid out the night before.

Getting up wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined and with the morning ritual complete, we were on the road and in the parking lot at Paul Brown Stadium way faster than anticipated!  Thankfully they had bathrooms in the stadium we could use and the lines weren't too long.  We headed over to the start line looking for our friends from home and were able to find a few to jump in for a photo with.

Mandy, Amy, me & Lynne

They were lined up in front of the 4:15 pacers which was a bit loftier than my goal so we snuck back a bit, waited in line for the bathroom and ran into my fellow Relay Around Columbus teammate before the race:

Me & Steph W

We had just enough time to snap that picture and then start shuffling to the start.  I'll admit - I was totally impressed with how fast we went across the start - we were about 8 minutes behind the clock.  Amy & I stayed together for about the first 2 miles but then it got hard to stay together with the crowds, etc.  We went across a few bridges into Kentucky and I could feel them moving.  My legs felt springy after we finished up with those bridges.  I am beginning to wonder if I am just extra sensitive.  I'll admit - I was in my head a LOT with almost every part of this race and I am still not really sure why.

When we crossed back over to Cincinnati, we headed through downtown where I saw Steph's husband and found a friend for a few miles.  My legs were still feeling a little springy and I let him go after the first hill even though we were at about a 10/mile pace.  I wish I hadn't - he was doing an easy race for him and planned to come in around 4:45.  Had I known that was his goal, I would have stayed with him longer.  The race was hilly and pretty well crowded until about the 9ish mile mark when the halves divided off from us and turned back.  This is where I got in my head the worst - my first marathon when the halves left us, they were finishing 13.1.  My brain decided I had finished 13.1.  I looked at my watch and realized we hadn't but thankfully I saw a familiar face spectating around the corner who I high-fived and got back in the game.

This part felt like to me a gradual climb but it wasn't too bad.  I was doing well, enjoying the scenery and I started to high-five everyone I saw.  The connection with the spectators was helping me keep my mind off what I was doing and made the miles click by.  The course support wasn't quite what I expected considering how the Flying Pig was hyped up by previous participants but I was grateful I had my headphones with me to keep me occupied.  The water stops were frequent and a lot of the spectators had oranges, bananas and other goodies for us.  I didn't partake in anything but the water bottles that they were handing out.  Around mile 20, I rewarded myself with my Nutter Butter bites but they were hard to chew and walk.  I remembered we had stopped during training to eat them so I tucked them back in my SparkleSkirt and ate them after I crossed.

The last few miles of the race felt tough.  I had spent most of the race in front of the 4:45 pacers without knowing it and they caught up to me but I had to let them go.  That was tough because 4:45 was a real stretch goal for me.  The rain had started and it got a little chillier.  There were suddenly more spectators which definitely helped.  I saw a few people from MIT standing on the sidelines and I cheered at them instead of the other way around!  I think I caught them off guard because despite how my brain said I was doing, I was rocking this race! My goal had been to finish in under 5:10:44 and I did!  My final time was 4:57:30!!!

Original results from the race showed me as the first place walker overall but when I went back to check tonight for this post, it turns out there was another awesome walker who placed ahead of me so I am now the 2nd place walker overall.  I'll take it!  His time was 4:17 which is just amazing!  Totally impressed!!  Other than the awesome medal, there aren't awards for the walkers but I am just happy knowing I placed in the event!  Maybe they'll heed my words on the evaluation form and create walker awards instead of just having a category.

By far the heaviest medal I own

Have you ever thought you ever gone back to look at race results and noticed your position changed? Was it for the better?

Did you race last weekend or for that matter, this weekend?

That time I worked a water stop

The first race I ever spectated was the NYC Marathon back in 2007.  I wasn't all that interested back then - more concerned about hanging with my friends and enjoying my visit with them.

Mile 24 and we were people watching

Clowning around with Ellen & Lou

I had no clue that we should be shouting "Go Runners" or "Looking Good!"  Just was there to have fun and enjoy my friends' company and head to brunch.  Sure it was memorable but inspiration?  Nah, I was too busy having fun.  My inspiration came in 2009 when I watched a colleague complete her first marathon.

Fast forward to 2013 and I've done 16 half marathons & 3 full marathons.  Wow.  How did that happen?  But I haven't spectated one race.  This year, since my full was on Sunday, I opted to spectate at the Capital City Half Marathon by running a water stop at mile 4.5.  At first, I was a bit nervous  - the volunteer coordinator said I had to find 25 people to work the stop with me.  Gasp!  How was I going to do that when most everyone I know was going to be running or walking the event?!  Word of mouth quickly spread and the promised handsome reward from Cap City made it easy to find people!  In fact, when I lost a few, I ended up with more.  The entire event went smoothly and we were done well before expected!

Being on the sidelines was awesome!  I think I saw everyone I knew out there!  When one of my runners from this season of MIT came by, I shouted "Felecia - do you need me?"  When she said yes, I jumped in & actually ran with her to the 5 mile marker.  I saw another friend shortly after and jumped in with her too for a bit.  An awesome leg loosener for the Pig the next day!

Being able to shout out the names of participants and waggle a cowbell at them was worth every minute.  We saw the last walkers coming through and I knew one of them personally.  The smile on her face when everyone was shouting her name made the entire time out there worth it.  I can't wait to spectate again!

The best part?  I talked Biv into helping and he said he'd do it again.  Now if we could just convince him to sign up for his first race!

Have you ever worked a water stop?

Do you remember the first time you spectated a race?

Nike Women's Half

I have had a bunch of awesome stuff happen in the last 10 days and I want to discuss it in order so here is the first bit of awesome.

In my first post on Washington, DC, I admitted how much I loved the city!  Since this was the inaugural year of the Nike Women's Half Marathon, I'll admit that there wasn't a lot I loved about it.

The best part was going on a trip with a group of people to enjoy a race!

In the corral

They had a corral system in place but they had a HUGE corral in the 10-11:59 minute per mile pace group.  So much so we had to stand on the sidewalk to wait to get in.  They gave us pace bands insisting we'd need them to get into the corral but no one checked them.

I think they could have spaced out the paces by corrals a little bit better.  Do I know the real solution?  No, but that's why I am not a race director.

Source

We knew going in that we wouldn't get our groove on at all until after mile 2 so I wasn't surprised when we didn't.  I was disappointed I lost my friend Amanda some time during that as well.  Then again, with crowds like this race, how could you expect to keep in line with a friend?  After I lost her, I settled into my pace and weaved around people probably more than I should have.  There were a lot of parts that narrowed so it'd get crowded again and it was almost as bad as Disney but I still plugged away.

The miles were going by very quickly and I even texted with one of my friends during the race.  My plan was to keep this at an easy pace and power up any hill that was coming up in preparation for the Flying Pig.  I definitely was successful at that.  I was grateful we had taken the foot tour of the monuments because from the road, you couldn't see much.

Somewhere around 6-7

There weren't a lot of bands along the course but there were awesome drumming groups and local high school students performing.  We went out and back through a tunnel and both ways we got to enjoy a band.  Loud but really cool!  As we were heading back, we went right towards the capital.

A little dark but you get the idea.

We got to pass people heading to the finish & I got to cheer on one of our runners who was PRing her behind off!  That was pretty awesome especially since we were at a race where we just knew each other.

Heading to the finish

I finished faster than intended - 2:18 and some change but I was pleased.  I needed some convincing that the ORRRC half finish wasn't a fluke.

Once we crossed the finish, we had to have our bibs scanned and then we could walk up and get our Tiffany bling!

From there, they had some food and stuff out but I really couldn't get to it.  I had heard that Shalane Flanagan was going to be at the race and they announced that they were about to give out the awards for the winners of the event!  I headed over to the main stage since our group had said something about rendezvous at the VIP tent and I got lucky enough to see not only Shalane but also Joan Benoit!

Bottom right is the winner!

I was shocked at how close I could get to them!  Then I snuck around back of the stage and Shalane was standing there taking a photo with someone else.  Then she was gone!  I missed my opportunity by seconds!

Overall, I'd have to say the Nike Women's series is a one & done for me.  I like the concept of the event but I was let down by the Expo (or lack there of), the corral system and the course aide.  I forgot to mention the aide stations were only on one side of the course & very difficult to get to.  I only took aide once near the end.

One thing I wasn't disappointed by was my Tiffany bling.  The necklace is a great length and you can flip it to either side.  I ran into someone in the hotel on the way back to our room and asked what she thought of it.  Her complaint was it was more advertising for Nike and she'd never wear it.  Uh, duh.  Why would you do this if that's NOT what you were expecting???

Have you ever seen such awesome female athletes in person?

Would you have the same reaction to the Tiffany bling my hotel friend did?