Amanda Mowat's Staging Area

This was my 8th time running a Sunday race for Flying Pig and my second time for the full marathon. The race organization is top notch and the city support is incredible between the volunteers and course support. This year was unique with the less-than-ideal weather (torrential downpour thunderstorm miles 2-6). The crowds still showed up for support! Somehow despite the unfavorable weather I was able to pull off a 2 minute PR with a 1 minute negative split in the second half. I will always recommend the flying pig marathon to anyone who is looking for a great race.

This year was my 4th flying pig – first time running the full marathon (previous years were half marathon & 3-way challenge). As usual the weekend was a blast and I always recommend this race to anyone looking for a well-organized spring race.

Expo is huge, has a lot of vendors and freebies. You pick up your packet(s) at the front and the shirts and other race premiums are in the back. In between there are 4 rows of vendors including a huge booth for official merchandise.

Saturday races were excellent. The 10k seemed to be a mass start (I started corral C) but I didn’t have too many issues with congestion. The course support was excellent with so many volunteers and the community coming out and cheering on runners (this applies to all races!). The 5k I walked this year so I started corral F. They instituted a bit of a waved start (3 send-offs) and I started at the back of the second wave that let out. A lot of fellow walkers around and it was so nice to see so many families participating. The course change was nice so it wasn’t like running the second half of the 10k again. The after party was nice and we got pancakes from First Watch.

Sunday marathon: Oh boy! I have ran the half 3 times previously and I was really excited (and a bit scared) to run the full. Start area was huge (it was a little difficult to find the gear check buses) and the speaker in my corral (H) didn’t get turned on until halfway through the national anthem so I missed whatever pre-race announcements were said. With a 6:30 gun time I made it across the start line at 7am (my latest start yet for the pig). The race exceeded all of my expectations. Course support was amazing – so many volunteers out helping and cheering on the runners! The course was well-marked and easy to navigate. The only area which I felt was lacking a bit was the finish line party. It was hard to find where the jacket pickup and the 4-way premiums pickup was located (the very back of the park). I had to ask an official where the 4-way pickup was since it was hidden and there wasn’t a sign. I would move the finish line premiums closer to the entrance of the finish line party to make them easier to find. Also missing this year was the PR bell! I did manage a PR for the marathon (this was my second marathon) and I was looking forward to ringing the bell. The finish party was in a new location this year so I hope they can take a look at the layout if they have to use this park again in the future.

This was my first year running the 3-way challenge and my third time running the Flying Pig Half Marathon. I keep coming back to this race because it is so well run and so much fun. I hope to eventually run the full marathon.

Expo:
I went to the expo around lunch time on Friday. It was quite busy at that time but you were still able to move around the vendor booths. The expo is huge with a lot of different vendors to browse. The packets were at the entrance (I personally had 4 packets with the 3-way challenge and the Little Kings Mile) with the shirts and other items at the back of the expo. With the 3-way challenge you received a plaque to hang the medals from the races, a race shirt for each race (5k and 10k shirts cotton and half marathon tech tee), a backpack, a poster, and a 13.1 magnet. Great amenities and plenty of freebies from the vendors (particularly P&G) at the expo.

10k
This was my first year running any of the Saturday races. The 10k was the first race and I went in deciding to go for a PR. The 10k started similar to the half marathon going across to Kentucky and running through Covington and then back to Ohio to finish. I loved the course. It has 3 water stops with Gatorade (I didn’t take the first stop) and had 3 food stops (cookies, pretzels, and candied oranges). I don’t take food while running but it was nice to see all of the volunteers along the course. Plenty of crowd support and the hills on the bridges kept the course challenging. I did get my PR by a minute so that makes it much sweeter. Finish area had a few snacks as well as water and Gatorade.

5k
The 5k race route was very similar to the last half of the 10k and it is common in these 5k and 10k double events to share courses. I ran the 5k with my dad so I took it at a slower pace than I typically race a 5k. We started in corral D which was middle of the pack. The 5k definitely had a lot more families running and a lot more walkers. It definitely had more of a family fun run atmosphere than the 10k earlier. The last 2 miles of the course were the same as the 10k and included 1 water/Gatorade stop and 2 food stations (pretzels and candied oranges). Finish area had fewer snacks than the 10k but still had your fluids (I know my mom wished there were bananas though). I had fun but I definitely enjoyed the 10k race more.

Half Marathon
The race that keeps bringing me back! We took advantage of the free carpool parking offered by the race which parked us close to the start area. Gear check was easy, just find the bus with your bib number and there were a lot of port-a-johns by the gear check with short lines. I’ve learned my lesson not to use the restroom in the corral since those lines are super long. There is a ton of energy at the start from the other runners. The course is hilly. With running on Saturday my quads were feeling the hill on miles 7-9. There were plenty of water/Gatorade stops (I believe there were 11 on the half marathon) and lots of snack stops along the course. Plenty of crowd support (cheers to the guy motivating us to “get the F up the hill”!) and a large enough race where you are always running around other people. The last 3 miles of the half are downhill and flat making a great end to the race. I did my best time this year for this race.

Overall I will definitely be returning to the Flying Pig. I will definitely consider doing the 3-way challenge again and I hope to do the full marathon some day (I am planning to run my first marathon in October!).