Maddy Crowley's Staging Area

This was one of the hardest races I’ve run not only for the course, but also for the decision to have runners start in some very severe weather conditions. I don’t think there would have been much difference in starting on time vs delaying it unfortunately, but there was definitely a high risk of being struck by lightning and the pounding rain was absolutely a mental challenge. However, considering that I was already 2/3 of the way through the three-way challenge and had travelled for the race, failure was not an option!
The race production, swag, medals, everything is top tier. I literally couldn’t take all my freebies and gifts home as there wasn’t enough room in my suitcase! I thought the course was tough but showed off the best of Cincinnati (at least what I could see of it through the rain). The hills are no joke, from about mile 5-8 you’re really going to push! However I clocked a mile PR after that on mile 10 with the downhill so you can make up time later. Crowd support was also still incredible despite the weather, and even during the 10K and 5K on Saturday-it’s nice to hear cheering for shorter distances. Logistics are very smooth and easy for the challenges and even on race day with tons of people to navigate.
My cons: corrals were not respected or monitored for any races. Almost to the point of being pointless. My brother ran the half and was placed in a corral for a finish time of under 2:00-he said immediately off the start people were walking and would not move over. Also for how well executed the race is, I still saw the same insane family from last year running with their seven year old as race bandits, which is unacceptable. People have been yanked off courses for less and I would have expected the same from Flying Pig considering the bad press they got last year.
TLDR: If you like hills, puns, more free stuff than you’ll know what to do with, but can handle some questionable race directing, you’ll enjoy Flying Pig.