The Flying Pig was my second marathon in 8 days, as I ran the Country Music Marathon the Saturday before. I have been asked a lot of questions about why I would want to do this, especially because of the training I was doing prior to these runs (i.e. lack of specific marathon training).
I want to answer some of those questions, but I would like to address those in a separate post. I’ll title it; Things I learned by running two marathons in 8 days: And how these lessons can help you. (I’ll write that post soon and come back here and link to it.)
Right now, I want to focus on the Flying Pig Marathon itself. The course, the race organization, how I ran and how much I enjoyed it.
The basic statistics for my run are here: Flying Pig Marathon Stats
The Flying Pig Marathon Course:
There is no doubt that the marathon course is not the easiest course that I’ve run. I ran the marathon back in 2003 and remember it being challenging. This past weekend it did not disappoint. The one change since the last time I ran it was that the Kentucky loop was at the very beginning of the race, opposed to being at the end. This is a welcomed change because running over the bridges at the beginning on fresh legs was much easier than I remember running them on tired and weary legs towards the finish. Even though they weren’t demanding on my legs, they posed a challenge for me to keep my heart rate down where I wanted it - so I had to incorporate a lot of self-restraint during that section.
As you run back into Ohio, the course doesn’t get forgiving. The hills keep coming in a continuous pattern, and once you get to mile six, you have a pretty steady uphill run for approximately 2 miles. This early into the run, it is essential to not get too excited (or discouraged) by the hill. It’s way too early to spend all your extra energy.
Looking at the elevation chart they have of the course, you would think that after the half way point, you would be gradually running downhill the rest of the race. While there are not as many climbs as the first half, the second half still has it’s challenges and is by no means a flat or fast finish.
The two things that I really love about this course is the scenery. Having just run the Country Music Marathon, I can make a pretty decent comparison to it (and similarly to the Rock N Roll in Arizona), and personally I think the Flying Pig is the most scenic and appealing course of the group. The other great thing about the course was the crowd support. If you listen to the podcast, I will mention a couple spots during the course where it just feels like miles that people are stretched out on both sides of the run. I don’t remember getting too lonely at any particular time during the run (opposed to the Derby Festival Marathon), even though a few periods were more sparse than others.
Overall, I have to rank the marathon as difficult to run, but worth the work. (Hard to believe that my marathon PR is still on this course?).
Oh yeah - I forgot to mention - They have the best swag of any marathon by far. They gave out towels, medals, posters, t-shirts (all typical) but they also gave out a very nice Flying Pig duffle bag. This is something they’ve given out both years I’ve run it.
How I ran the race:
I was very happy with how the race turned out, especially considering how I went into the race. The hard thing for me to accept at times is not being on top-of-my-game. What I mean by this is that I am not so competitive with myself that I can’t run a race to have fun and just enjoy the event; but when I have a day like Sunday, I have a lot of - “if I only did x” - thoughts.
There will be a lot of discussion about strategy, training and all the other performance variables in a marathon program in the “lessons I learned” post. But there is one thing that I’d like to highlight here, which will be worthy of repeating many times:
A walk - run strategy is a very effective methodology and race strategy for most runners doing a marathon, and essential (in my opinion) for first time marathoners.
I realize that this is a concept that I have talked a lot about in the past (like.. here, here, here), but it is so useful that it is worth discussing on a regular basis. Because it is useful doesn’t mean it is an easy methodology to implement; in fact I have found it is the most difficult teaching lesson for 85% of the runners that ask me for help. They often feel defeated when they resort to a run/walk pattern, they are sometimes told they are not “true runners” (kid you not!).
That is the great thing about this journey of endurance. We get to learn about our bodies and what they can do physically, our minds and what it can handle, our egos and what it controls and our spirits and where they will take us.
My run walk strategy for the Flying Pig was pretty simple - walk 20 seconds at every aid station. This was changed early into the marathon because I was having a difficult time managing my heart rate (ego) and pushed that 20 second walk to 30 seconds. There were times early on that I felt like the aid stations were very close together and was walking too often, but I stuck to the program I decided on prior to the race.
Towards the end of the race, I moved back to a 20 second walk and skipped the final aid station around mile 25 (was shooting for 3:20 at this point).
It was a very satisfying experience. To put myself in a race that I’ve done before, in a condition that wouldn’t allow me to have a personal best, and then be able to mediate all the negative thinking, push my ego to the back seat while I tried to develop a better understanding of how my mind interacts with my body, to take the time and enjoy the crowd, to view the scenery - and then for a few miles - allow my body to experience pain.
It was a great experience. I have often wondered what I will do when I get to an age that it becomes unlikely that I will be able to set new personal records or race longer races - Will I continue to race?
After this weekend, I think I can say yes. And while that answer will come one day, I have found the better (and more self-rewarding) competitions are between my ego, body, mind and spirit. Not with a training partner or a clock.
Taking that lesson into all of my races will be a challenge, I am sure.
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The Flying Pig was my second marathon in 8 days, as I ran the Country Music Marathon the Saturday before. I have been asked a lot of questions about why I would want to do this, especially because of the training I was doing prior to these runs (i.e. lack of specific marathon training).
I want to answer some of those questions, but I would like to address those in a separate post. I’ll title it; Things I learned by running two marathons in 8 days: And how these lessons can help you. (I’ll write that post soon and come back here and link to it.)
Right now, I want to focus on the Flying Pig Marathon itself. The course, the race organization, how I ran and how much I enjoyed it.
The basic statistics for my run are here: Flying Pig Marathon Stats
The Flying Pig Marathon Course:
There is no doubt that the marathon course is not the easiest course that I’ve run. I ran the marathon back in 2003 and remember it being challenging. This past weekend it did not disappoint. The one change since the last time I ran it was that the Kentucky loop was at the very beginning of the race, opposed to being at the end. This is a welcomed change because running over the bridges at the beginning on fresh legs was much easier than I remember running them on tired and weary legs towards the finish. Even though they weren’t demanding on my legs, they posed a challenge for me to keep my heart rate down where I wanted it - so I had to incorporate a lot of self-restraint during that section.
As you run back into Ohio, the course doesn’t get forgiving. The hills keep coming in a continuous pattern, and once you get to mile six, you have a pretty steady uphill run for approximately 2 miles. This early into the run, it is essential to not get too excited (or discouraged) by the hill. It’s way too early to spend all your extra energy.
Looking at the elevation chart they have of the course, you would think that after the half way point, you would be gradually running downhill the rest of the race. While there are not as many climbs as the first half, the second half still has it’s challenges and is by no means a flat or fast finish.
The two things that I really love about this course is the scenery. Having just run the Country Music Marathon, I can make a pretty decent comparison to it (and similarly to the Rock N Roll in Arizona), and personally I think the Flying Pig is the most scenic and appealing course of the group. The other great thing about the course was the crowd support. If you listen to the podcast, I will mention a couple spots during the course where it just feels like miles that people are stretched out on both sides of the run. I don’t remember getting too lonely at any particular time during the run (opposed to the Derby Festival Marathon), even though a few periods were more sparse than others.
Overall, I have to rank the marathon as difficult to run, but worth the work. (Hard to believe that my marathon PR is still on this course?).
Oh yeah - I forgot to mention - They have the best swag of any marathon by far. They gave out towels, medals, posters, t-shirts (all typical) but they also gave out a very nice Flying Pig duffle bag. This is something they’ve given out both years I’ve run it.
How I ran the race:
I was very happy with how the race turned out, especially considering how I went into the race. The hard thing for me to accept at times is not being on top-of-my-game. What I mean by this is that I am not so competitive with myself that I can’t run a race to have fun and just enjoy the event; but when I have a day like Sunday, I have a lot of - “if I only did x” - thoughts.
There will be a lot of discussion about strategy, training and all the other performance variables in a marathon program in the “lessons I learned” post. But there is one thing that I’d like to highlight here, which will be worthy of repeating many times:
A walk - run strategy is a very effective methodology and race strategy for most runners doing a marathon, and essential (in my opinion) for first time marathoners.
I realize that this is a concept that I have talked a lot about in the past (like.. here, here, here), but it is so useful that it is worth discussing on a regular basis. Because it is useful doesn’t mean it is an easy methodology to implement; in fact I have found it is the most difficult teaching lesson for 85% of the runners that ask me for help. They often feel defeated when they resort to a run/walk pattern, they are sometimes told they are not “true runners” (kid you not!).
That is the great thing about this journey of endurance. We get to learn about our bodies and what they can do physically, our minds and what it can handle, our egos and what it controls and our spirits and where they will take us.
My run walk strategy for the Flying Pig was pretty simple - walk 20 seconds at every aid station. This was changed early into the marathon because I was having a difficult time managing my heart rate (ego) and pushed that 20 second walk to 30 seconds. There were times early on that I felt like the aid stations were very close together and was walking too often, but I stuck to the program I decided on prior to the race.
Towards the end of the race, I moved back to a 20 second walk and skipped the final aid station around mile 25 (was shooting for 3:20 at this point).
It was a very satisfying experience. To put myself in a race that I’ve done before, in a condition that wouldn’t allow me to have a personal best, and then be able to mediate all the negative thinking, push my ego to the back seat while I tried to develop a better understanding of how my mind interacts with my body, to take the time and enjoy the crowd, to view the scenery - and then for a few miles - allow my body to experience pain.
It was a great experience. I have often wondered what I will do when I get to an age that it becomes unlikely that I will be able to set new personal records or race longer races - Will I continue to race?
After this weekend, I think I can say yes. And while that answer will come one day, I have found the better (and more self-rewarding) competitions are between my ego, body, mind and spirit. Not with a training partner or a clock.
Taking that lesson into all of my races will be a challenge, I am sure.