The Pig tastes bittersweet... Flying Pig recap

Success!!!!

Failure...

Both on the same day.

The Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon was a little bittersweet for me today.  As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I had two goals for today's race.

First, set a new personal record.  For the one who pays attention to details, you will see on the left hand side of this page, that goal was completed today.  My official Garmin watch time was 2:03:52.  My official Flying Pig time was 2:03:49.  A couple of interesting stats from the Flying Pig folks... out of 10,871 runners in the 1/2 marathon, I finished 2,533rd.  In my age group (30-34), I finished 293rd out of 641.  So, not bad... especially consider the elevation change on this course... more on that in a second.  
 

Second, to break the 2 hour barrier in the 1/2 marathon.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen today.  That was tough to handle.  I worked hard... I trained hard...  I hit every hill in Caldwell that I could find.  But today, it just wasn't there.  A couple of things went into that.  First, I started pretty deep in the field... choosing to start with a buddy near the rear rather than in my pig pen... so I had A LOT more traffic to deal with than I expected.  Second, it poured the rain down... making racing conditions slippery in some places... could have totally done without the rain.  Third, that hill... just check out the elevation change on that Garmin Connect data... was a killer... And I just couldn't recover.  I tried... I really did, but it just wasn't there and I didn't have enough miles to catch up.

Overall, it was a great experience.  This is the first time that I ever ran a 1/2 marathon with some friends.  Todd, Ben and I are pictured above.  That was fun.  (Although I didn't run much with them today...)

The atmosphere of the Flying Pig was great and top notch.  Lots of entertainment along the course.  Lots of helpful people handing out water, Gatorade, etc.  Good event.  Could have used a little better post-race participant area.  (Akron had their marathon and 1/2 finish in a baseball stadium where you could sit and watch folks finish... that was fun... no such luck in Cincy... down the shoot... grab some food... stand around (nowhere near the finish line).)

I wish my wife could have run with me.  She was planning to but has been struggling with a nagging injury... she'll be back... but it was too bad that she didn't get a chance to join me.

Hopefully next time.



Overall, it was a bittersweet.  I loved setting the PR.  In fact, for the last couple of miles, my iPhone was struggling with getting wet... therefore no music playing... it's hanging out downstairs in a bag of rice.  So I had time to think and concentrate.  I was watching the clock... making sure that I was going to set the PR.  But it was disappointed to fall short of breaking the 2 hour mark... But there will be other races.

(I had Jackie snap a picture of me with my two medals... last fall's Akron 1/2 and this weekend's Flying Pig 1/2).

So...
What's next?

So glad you asked.  Tomorrow, I'm heading out to get a couple miles.  Just need to get started again.



And then: The Air Force FULL Marathon on September 17, 2011.  I got to see the medal this weekend in Cincy... wait until you see that one!

Jim



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