Crossing the Finish Swine

Flying Pig weekend in Cincinnati is one of my favorites. Without a doubt. The excitement that envelops the Queen City is amazing and that is why the Flying Pig is rated as one of the most fun race events in the world.

So this year marks the 2nd year that Jen and I have run the 10K race of the Flying Pig. And I think it's fair to say that we were both pretty ecstatic! As Jen posted below the weather and course were excellent and the support along the way (Flying Pig weekend is one of the largest volunteer and crowd gatherings in Cincinnati each year) was incredibly motivational.

Jen and I stuck together and ran the first 4 miles (through Downtown, Newport and Covington) at a strong but steady pace. We actually were surprised at each mile marker to see we were still running our best and notching our speed up a few clicks! Around 4.5 (back in Ohio, near the Freedom Center) is where the exhausation started to really creep in. Most of our "training" so far has been running roughly 2-4 miles at a strong pace so we hit the edge here. After circling back near the Ballpark and back into Downtown, we both felt our running grooves kick in and maintained a steady pace through mile 6 (east end of Downtown). As we rounded the corner of Eggleston to Pete Rose Way (the final stretch), Pump It by the Black Eyed Peas queued up on my iPod Shuffle and I took off. Perfect song to push you to the finish swine. :)

Jen followed up close behind - our times were (B) 1:14:50 and (J) 1:16:19 - our personal bests and nearly 10 minutes off our 2008 Flying Pig 10K times! We celebrated with some bananas and water (...and animal cookies) and found our way to a few friends that ran the race to share war stories. That's what is great about Flying Pig weekend - it's fun!