Flying Pig '11 Race Report

I went. I got wet. I waited.... and waited... and waited....
Finish time: 2:45, new PR.
Short version.

For those of you that would enjoy MY (and son's) picture and all of the entertaining details, please continue reading.

Forecast: Rain, Thunderstorms
Temp: Balmy 66 degrees

After 'setting' my alarm to go off last night at 4:30 am, I woke up on my own at 2:49, with an unsettled feeling. Thankfully my hubby had set his alarm as well, since mine was set to go off on MONDAY! grrr.

I stress out, it's genetic.

Last night, I had everything set out. Pants, socks, shoes, gu, sport beans, watch, shirt... you get the picture.

A 'pre race' tradition is to have oatmeal, a banana and peanut butter 2 or 3 hours before the race. No Banana or Peanut butter was in the house for this year. So it was only oatmeal for breakfast. Breaking the tradition made me nervous.

Contact malfunction. Stress number#1.

I left the house 30 minutes later than I wanted. Stress number #2.

Construction traffic. We opted for a longer route to the starting line to avoid such. Stress number #3 (it took me HOURS to get my race packet yesterday, which was only 17 miles away, due to traffic)

Unknown directions. I was ill prepared. I had never done this race before. I was not familiar with the downtown streets of Cincinnati so I didn't know where my husband should be dropping me off. In the race packet they would use landmarks to describe some locations, but I don't know the area that well. We ended up 'winging' it. I saw a mass group, I left the truck and joined them. No clue where they were heading. Stress number #4

It was sprinkling. I had checked my phone's radar before leaving the car. A nice clump of yellow/green was headed this way. Thunderstorms were fore casted. Stress number #5.

Port-a-potty's... lines... and water bottles. No explanation necessary.
Stress number #6.

I was in a sea of 30,000 people. That is what they announced anyway.
I knew about 7 doing the race that day. I love seeing people I know and being able to cheer them on. Heck, I love to cheer for people I don't know. The best part of racing, in my opinion.

They had us in corral's, or pig pen's as they affectionately called them. Upon signing up for the race, they asked us a prediction for our finishing time. My previous finishing times were 2:17 and 2:32.
The faster people were in corral's A, B, C. I was put into D. After my lack of training properly, I decided it was just better off if I would start in E. I would rather pass people than to have people pass me.

I was scanning the crowd for Geek Girl, and shortly after the race began, I had thought I wasn't going to be seeing her. Too many people. Impossible.

It took about 10 minutes to cross the start line, I began my watch and just slowly started out. I knew I was not going to be able break any records and it was going to be a long race, so I started slow.
We hadn't even gotten off the first road and I glance to my left about 20 feet away I see 'the tatoo'. Shortly after completing her first Ironman (which happened to be in Kentucky) Geek Girl got herself the tat. Well, well, well! Looky here!! There she was! We began running and chatting. Yes, it was THAT kind of a run. Easy and nice. Walking up hills, and fidgeting with stuff. For the first 8 miles we ran together. She was using the Galloway method. Run 5 minutes, walk 1. Loved that. I wish I had the discipline to do that on my own. I get too bored doing that myself, but with her it was GREAT!

We kept in pace with Wonder Woman and Mr. Incredible. No really! I wish I had pictures. I hear there was to tube of toothpaste, complete with a toothbrush. I saw a gorilla with a sign for the runners saying 'Run Humans Run!'. Lots of pigs and piglets. Lots of pink stuff.

I was lucky, because after mile 10 it was all down hill! Oh, yeah... I made up some serious time there. AND since I had run/walked the first 8 miles the last 5 were great!! I had much energy and I was passing people all over!

Even though I had tanked my training and had my 'worst run' time, it was still pretty great experience, um, once the race began... for me. I feel bad for the girl at mile 10 that was on the side of the road crying in pain. And the girl at mile 12, so pale sitting on the side of the road, I SERIOUSLY thought she was a statue 'cause she was so pale, until she moved. She did not look good at all, I have never (even working in health care for 13 years) seen any one that pale. I hope they both are ok tonight.

We met Geek Girl and her hubby, Sweet Baboo at Skyline Chili for a post race celebration and then they were off to Nashville to fly home in the morning. I would love to head to New Mexico again, this time 'race' with them in there town.

Just before splitting up, she asked what I had hoped to finish with. I had said between 2:30 and 3:00. She said if you pick it up you should be able to finish under 3 hours. Which I seriously was in the middle. 2:44:59 (according the the Flying Pig website)

Once, finished, I had a quandary. I had no cell phone and seriously, thousands upon thousands of people. How was I supposed to find the hubby? I walked a bit. I REALLY didn't want to ask a complete stranger to borrow their phone, but after a while I got colder and tired. So I called. And waited. And waited. And waited... finally called again and we connected.

After eating, nap time and eating again and treating (Dairy Queen) it is now time to go to bed again. Ah. My favorite part of race day.

Nite y'all!!