Race Recap: Flying Pig

Marathon Number 11 ✔️

Last week I completed my 11th marathon, Flying Pig in Cincinnati. This race was beyond incredible! The entire weekend was incredible, the support, the swag, the course, just all of it AMAZING!

The Race

I went into this race knowing that is was going to be a challenging one, because of the hills, and I truly made it my goal to just enjoy the experience. It has been years since I have done such a large race (there were over 20,000 for just the marathon) and my plan was to have a 26.2 mile party.

Pre-Race

We got into Cincinnati late on Friday evening and just relaxed once we got there. It is a long hour drive from Wisconsin, not ideal but flights were super expensive. The next morning I just wanted to get moving so we found this super cute cafe near the race start line (so that I could scope out for the next morning) and got stuck there for a while because it started absolutely pouring. It was actually not bad because the cafe was absolutely packed with people doing the Saturday races so we were already getting into the race vibe.
From there we went to the expo and my oh my it has been a minute since I’ve been to such a large expo. I forget how crazy big races are. The expo was so well organized, like everything else for the race, and I actually enjoyed getting this big race experience after so many years.

The swag! Over the weeks leading up to the race I just kept getting more and more emails about the bonus swag I was getting for registering early (I had no clue this was a thing) and wowza! I got the typical race shirt, flying pig poster, and a nice duffle bag. I walked out arms loaded from the expo. After stopping at the store for the usual pre-race pasta ingredients it was back to the Airbnb to relax and get everything set for the morning.

This race was slated to be about 80 degrees and after my experience in Nashville I wanted to be ready to go for this heat. My race kit included my sunflower shorts (CVG MASSISVE shoutout!), light-breezy shirt, a hat, Hoka Mach 5’s, and for nutrition I had electrolytes, Maurten, UCAN Edge, and SIS Beta. The night before I had everything set out ready to go so I didn’t have to think about anything in the morning

Race Day!

Up before the sun! The race started at 6:30am so I was up bright and early to get myself set. We drove to downtown and parking was super easy (SpotHero all weekend) and walked to where the race started. For big races like this don’t get too worked up about knowing where everything is because all you need to do is follow the crowd. By 5:30 am there was already so much energy buzzing at the start line. I like to plan to get to races early enough to use the bathrooms at least twice, small bladder plus race nerves. The start line was very well organized and plenty of room to hang out before the race. A little bit before 6:30 I left my partner and headed to my corral. I was already feeling warm so I knew I was going to really have to watch my hydration and keep myself cool throughout the whole race. At 6:30 on the dot they started the countdown and we were off! The amount of joy and energy that surged through my body as we all crossed the start line is a feeling I absolutely live for.

I knew going into this race that it was a hilly challenging course, so I trained for it and planned my race strategy around tackling the hills. My plan was to take miles 1-14 at a marathon pace plus like 10 seconds so the goal was about a 9min/mile (the reality turned out different see my splits further down in this post). This plan ended up being very smart and let me pick it up later in the race. So miles like 1-6 were great, occasional hills but I had it under control. Due to the heat I was making sure to drink water at every other station (water stations every mile) and dump water on my head at each station. This ended up really helping me to stay cool.

*Heat tips that learned from my fall race and implemented here: (1) Load up on electrolytes the week before, I was having at least one electrolyte drink a day (2) Wear light clothing and a hat, the sun really drains you so keeping your face covered is huge also I wore an incredibly lightweight top that felt like nothing (3) Include electrolytes in your nutrition, whether you have the gels with added sodium or electrolyte tablets you will need to consume electrolytes nearly as much as you consume your nutrition (4) Dump water on your head as much as possible, one water to drip one to dump

Mile 7-ish was the biggest, longest, most challenging hill and I just took it in stride and didn’t push it. My best advice for the hills is don’t rush. You can make up time later but don’t burn up your legs. Read the signs (“It’s a hill, get over it!”), enjoy the crowd cheering you to the top and take it one step at a time.

Once you hit mile 14-ish you are pretty much done with the hills. There are a few other rollers but the big ones are out of the way. At this point I started picking up my pace and was aiming for a sub-8:50 each mile. I was absolutely crushing it! I was so on it, my legs felt good, I was in good spirits, it was all coming together. While I didn’t intend to aim for a PR, I was surprised at around mile 17/18 to look at my watch and see I was on track for a PR by a few minutes too. Then mile 21 happened.

I was feeling good and thought I should probably take in some nutrition to get me to the end. Normally in races by this point I choose Clif Bloks or Sport Beans, something that I can take just a little bit of at a time. Now today I chose a UCAN Edge, I have used these in training but never this late. Edge is a slightly different type of gel with a combination of ingredients meant to sustain you for 75 min of activity versus the usual about 30-45. I knew the minute I started taking it that I didn’t need it but I kept going. At 22 I got the worst of the side stiches. Right through my right side and I couldn’t breathe. I tried to just push through but it hurt so much. I can sometimes breathe through these but this one wasn’t going anywhere. I decided that I needed to move to a run walk if I was going to make it. So I would walk about 30 seconds then run until the pain was too much. Because of the way I walked into this race, looking to just have fun and not super concerned with time, I actually wasn’t angry or frustrated. I took it as simply a new thing I learned, stick to my Bloks or smaller carb sources later in the race. The last half mile I basically talked myself into running it through to the end and that finish was beyond incredible.

I was so surprised to see my time, I hadn’t slowed down too terribly at the end. Finish time was 4:02! What a freaking party that race was and I loved every single minute of it!

The Crowd, The Party!

This aspect deserves its own shout out. Ok the crowd support at this race was beyond incredible. When deciding what spring race to do the one thing that kept popping up about Flying Pig was that it’s a 26.2 mile party and let me tell you it absolutely was! Not a minute of the course was unsupported.

Race volunteers - Thank you thank you thank you! This was one of the best supported, staffed and organized races I have ever been at. The water stations were every mile and they knew what to do. Whether as a part of the race or just people being wonderful, every mile had some sort of nutrition. There was oranges, cookies, shots (find me after the race), gummies, and so much more.

I feel like I cannot say enough about the beyond incredible crowd for this race. The whole entire thing was a party. At every mile some sign, person, cheer, dog, had me absolutely beaming.

The Training

My number one focus for this race was on my training leading up to the race and not on the race itself. I have an ever bigger goal and that is to qualify for Boston in the fall. This is a lofty goal and I know it will take a lot to get myself there, so I took this race as an opportunity to challenge myself and just grow. In training my focus was strength. I ran hills, speed work, did a lost of at pace work, and incorporated strength training. All these things go me to a successful race day (besides my side stitch). This race is the best I have physically felt in a race up to this point. I was able to actually control my pace and pull back or turn it on as needed. I was in control, I wasn’t just following my exhaustion. My legs felt strong and capable all the way through the race. The best feeling was crossing the finish line and knowing I could have done more. I attribute all of that to the training I put in.

Final Notes

Go sign up for Flying Pig! Seriously you don’t want to miss this one.