Friday, May 7, 2010

Flying Pig Marathon Part 2 and 3

Flying Pig Marathon
Part 2 - Expo and Pump N Run, Saturday May 1, 2010

After breakfast at Superman's house (his trail name from hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2008) I met the rest of the group from Seattle at the expo around 2pm, went through the expo for a 3rd time. After wandering around, I went to get weighed in for the pump-n-run for the lifting portion of it. I had to bench press 60% of my weight and arm curl 40%, I ended up with 14 reps for bench and 10 for the curl, ending up with a silver medal for a combined 20-29 reps. Interesting diversion and a way to encourage runners to work on upper body strength as well.

Dinner was delicious Italian food at Pompilios in Newport, KY, just across the river from downtown Cincy. It took us an hour to get seated and got our table just as the delayed Kentucky Derby was starting, we were watching at a nearby pub while we waited. We were also staying nearby in Bellevue, KY so this was a quick drive.


Part 3 - The Marathon Sunday, May 2, 2010

Awake at 5am for the 6:30am start. The hotel had put out the continental breakfast an hour early to accommodate the runners which was very nice. A thunder storm with heavy ran rolled through around 3am or so and it was still raining when we got up. It was warmer outside than inside the hotel lobby, we would be wet but warm. We had some difficulty finding our way to the start and several of us in the car were getting nervous, we got there with 15 minutes to spare. The rain decided to downpour 5 minutes before the start, soaking any last dry parts on our bodies, half of the crowd had garbage bags on.

I felt OK for most of the race, stopped at several port a potties anticipating needing to use them, not wanting to get caught in between them. However, I did not need one until mid race, so I lost about 15 minutes with the frequent stops. After actually using the port a potty I started to feel a little peppier, and actually ended up feeling better for the second half and ran a negative split. I had some weird spasms in my right calf during the loooong hill from mile 5.5 to 8 which made me start to plan to bail on the race at the half marathon turn around, but once the climb finished it started feeling better so I continued on. The rain was off and on all race long. Tons of great spectators along the route and VERY frequent aid stations. Nice course, but I feel like I zoned out for most of the race. But I got my pig medal and learned a bit more about the US of A along the way.

Marathon #7, State #6.

To celebrate, I am going to do a giveaway of one black Flying Pig Marathon Asics duffel bag, I somehow ended up with two of them. To win, post a comment with 1 random fact about the town/city/area that you live in. I will randomly choose the winner and post the winner on Saturday May 15. Entries limited to those living in the US of A due to shipping costs.

7 comments:

  1. I love your comments on the Flying Pig. A comment on where I live - The Vestal XX - June 19th - is turning into a two day event. Kathrine Switzer will be at a pasta dinner on June 18th as keynote.

    On top of that, Broome County has six Herschel carousels.

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  2. Thanks so much for the follow!! Liked your post on the flying pig.
    Let me think, a random fact...

    Junction City has no good Mexican restaurants to eat at. Nada. And no starbucks either. Boo. So my random fact? There are no good places to eat or drink in Junction City. Don't move here. Ever. :D

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  3. Ooohhh.. pig medal. I'm jealous. I love pigs.

    Random fact: Luling, small town of 11k people. There are 4 Chinese food restaurants. That's 1 restaurant for every 3k people. But I've never met anyone Chinese in Luling.

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  4. Yay! Love AZ facts!! [phoenix, az]


    The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies

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  5. i thought i was already a follower of your blog..hmm. guess not, i am now tho. i booked my flight to Alaska this past weekend so its official now! we will qualify for marathon maniacs after alaska. thats cool that you are a member now, congrats!

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  6. Hi, Rebecca!

    Great race! The Pig was my first marathon. Fond memories- awesome medal! I just saw where Marathon & Beyond rated it among the 25 top best marathon medals.

    I live in Asheville, NC.Lots of well-known facts to quote about Asheville, but did you know...According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of Friday the 13th?

    Have a great day, Rebecca:)

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  7. a friend of mine ran the half last year and loved it. Sorry the weather wasn't great but happy for you and your negative split!

    i guess one random fact about NYC is that the island of manhattan has actually grown. the buildings on the southern tip are actually built on a landfill. Weird.

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