Flying Pig Half Marathon Recap

This past weekend I ran my third half marathon (well 4th but I don't count that stupid dnf)! My dad and one of my parent's good friends came along and we drove 12 hours to get there. This is officially the longest time I have ever been in the car and hopefully the longest ever. I don't think I am a fan of road trips. But thankfully I didn't have to drive or pay for a plane ticket to I guess I'm actually really lucky. We left the house at 3:30 AM and got to the expo in Cincinnati almost exactly at 3:30 PM. The expo was really nice but also very overwhelming. I also think I didn't realize how tired I was.

REALLY excited to be out of the car

Anyway, runners got a very nice short sleeve tech shirt (women's specific cuts :) :) ),  a really big lunch bag, and a poster. There was also a lot of free food and lots of fun photo ops. They really milk the pig theme there. I probably would have shopped around more but I was really hungry and tired. We ate a pasta dinner early at a local restaurant and then crashed at the hotel. Luckily, we were staying very close to the race start and could have walked, but there was a shuttle even closer so we took that.

We rolled in to the start about 15 mins before the race started which was awesome because I hate waiting around. I was feeling a little nervous because I hadn't run since Monday. With finals coming up I had very little time to train. In addition, my shin had been bothering me all week so that made me nervous. Luckily, my shin didn't bother me at all, and looking back, I think this could have been totally mental because It hasn't bothered me since.

The race started and went almost immediately over a bridge into Kentucky. This was my first time in Kentucky ever and also my first time in Ohio that wasn't the airport. It's also the farthest West I've ever been. It was very humid out and looked like it was going to rain all day. This made breathing a little difficult. I remember for the first 3 miles I was not happy. My Garmin wouldn't work, I felt like I was moving too slow but I couldn't tell how slow. In addition, I felt like I was working too hard, especially in the beginning. I distinctly remember thinking at the mile 4 marker, "I really don't want to do this right now." I know that negative thinking is my downfall and this was my first half marathon running by myself so I didn't have the luxury of anyone to talk me through this. Luckily, Flying Pig has a LOT of spectators. At mile 4 the crowds really started. I turned off my music and just had the crowd motivate me which really worked! Miles 6-8 were really hilly and I wasn't even upset. Someone handed me an orange wedge and some water and another guy high-fived me right before the crest of the hill. At the top there were a bunch of people from a Lululemon store with the best signs! I totally rebounded from my bad attitude. Mile 6 was slow because I conquered a pretty big hill (read: no hill training for this chick, better change that up) But miles 8-11 were run around a 9:15 pace which I was just fine with. I hung around the marathon pace group for 4:10 for a little while but then the marathon splits from the half at mile 8. There was still crowd support the entire way. I stupidly forgot to eat anything during this run until mile 11. I'm not including the orange I ate because I really just drank the juice. I took a couple sport beans at about mile 11 but I think it was probably too late for that. So begins my first "kinda-sorta-almost-hitting-the-wall" moment. My foot started to cramp up. It was a really weird experience, I couldn't move my toes at all. I pretty much shook it out but at mile 12 I had to stop. My toes wouldn't stop curling down. I didn't take my shoe off or anything but I tried to wiggle my foot around- with mixed results. Finally, this lady walked up to me and told me that I only had a mile to go and I would be able to see the finish line right after I went under the overpass. So I just kept running. I saw the clock and it read 2:11:30. I desperately wanted to get there under 2:12 because that's my previous best and I also knew that it took me a few minutes to even get to the start. My over all time was 2:08! I'm really happy with that time considering everything that happened.

photo credit

My dad also pr-d in the marathon! I waited for him to finish and then we took the shuttle back to our hotel. One 12 hour car ride, a million radio stations, and a trip to WAFFLE HOUSE later, I was back home- at 2:30 AM. Luckily I have the nicest boss in the world and she let me come in to work late. I'm feeling pretty sore today but I went on a nice walk. I will run for the first time tomorrow AM and then Look forward to some shorter races before my triathlon at the end of the summer and my next half in November.

awesome medals! photo credit