Flying Pig recap Part 2

So where’d we leave off?  Oh yeah, carbo loading the night before…

Mom and I went to bed around 10:30 only to be awoken around 11 to the sounds of fireworks.  Guess the Reds won!

Onto breakfast

The three B's: banana, butter (peanut), and bagel

I have this same combo before every race.  It it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

After breakfast we headed down to Paul Brown Stadium where the start was.  This year they did something different and broke us up into corrals.  Guess what corral we were in… Corral E!  I call it fate.

Corral E, for Emily

Corral E, the place to be

Corral E, for excellent

I could go on, but feel as though I shouldn’t

The weatherman was calling for rain and I was praying he was wrong.  Well, he wasn’t.  It rained on and off for most of the race.  Boo, but as I said those ponchos were the best $2.95 ever spent.

Miles 1 – 3

During this portion of the race we walk past Great American, go over the bridge to Kentucky, walk through Kentucky and back into Ohio.  It was here where we heard a really awful Soundgarden cover band.  Sorry high schoolers, I appreciate that you got up super early to perform for us, but it was just not all that great.

Heading back into Ohio

View of Cincy from Kentucky

Miles 4 – 6

This portion of the race takes you through downtown Cincy.  It was also were it pretty much stopped raining. Yay!  Ponchos off!

It also takes you right by the Butternut Bread factory.  Um, evil much.  It was also around mile 4 that I saw a celebrity, yes a celebrity.  I saw one of the Policewomen of Cincinnati!  She was patrolling one of the intersections.

She was just as made up in person as she is on T.V.  Mom wanted to turn around and go back to say something, but I said no!  Sorry, slave driver I know.  Mile four also brought me to my first GU.  I didn’t really feel like I needed it, but I didn’t want to get so far to where I really needed it.  Mile six brings us to the hills, oh the hills!  Remember this post?  I purposefully did a lot of hills in Middletown during Easter to prepare myself for the hills in Eden Park.  Ugh, it’s never enough.

Miles 7 – 8 or the hills of death

Up and up we go.  Just when you thought you went up enough, there is more up to go.  There’s not  a whole lot I can say about this portion except that whoever designed the race course is a masochist.  Who puts hills, big hills, right in the middle of a half marathon?

Up

and up

and up...

the last "up" of the hill

Seriously, it’s a lot of up.  Mom was a trooper and put on a brave face.

See, brave face

This was right after I told her she missed her “break” to rest.  Oops.

Miles 9 – 11

These miles are “downhill” in more ways than one.  At around mile nine the race course splits off and the marathoners go to the right and more into different suburbs of Cincy and the half marathoners go back into downtown.  It’s also downhill because, well, you are going down the hills instead of up.  Right around mile 10 it started to rain again.  Boo!  Ponchos back on!  This section goes through a not so great part of Cincy, but it usually has the best water stop people.  One of my favorites was the Walnut Hills football team.  They were so motivating.  They had great things to say like, “You are awesome!” , “You’re doing a great job!”  Stuff like that.  It might sound corny, but by this point you need to hear those types of things.  Somewhere around this time, my feet started to hurt.  No blisters or anything like that, but they were just done walking.

Going downhill

Mile 11- 13.1

At the top of this hill we got stopped by another mother daughter team.  The switch was they also had grandma involved.  I thought that was awesome!  At mile 11 another favorite water stop is formed.  It was the Avondale Running Club.  They had a DJ who was shouting words of encouragement.  He was saying, “See I told you you could do it.  I told you!”  ”You are amazing, you’re doing it!”  It was great.  Love them!  At this point in the race we are so close to being finished that I just kind of wanted to run to the finish.  I could not run to the finish but that’s what my brain was telling me to do.   Sadly, this is a pretty dead area of the race.  By the time mom and I get to this area all the musical acts have left and there isn’t anyone really cheering you on.  It’s rough, but mom and I pulled through!

We made it!  The Finish Swine!  Mom and I finished officially in 3:26.  Not too shabby.  I am super proud of us and think we did a great job!  This was our eighth Flying Pig.  Mom and I have walked in every Half Marathon the Flying Pig has had.  Go us!