Marathon #3 occurred over the weekend. I ran the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday. After a horrible outing in my last marathon I wanted to run a spring race and get that crappy time off my record as quickly as possible. (That didn't happen, but I'll get to that in my full race recap.) My bestie, Bee, and I decided the Flying Pig would be great because her dad lived a whopping 90 minutes away and would be able to come up and cheer us on at the race.
The hubs might not "get" running, but he sure does "get carbo-loading" so the pre-race festivities began on Friday night with homemade lasagna. The hubs knows that I absolutely detest ricotta cheese, so it's probably the most boring lasagna in the world, but it's perfect for me.
Saturday morning I had a 6:30am flight out of Baltimore which meant the hubs had to wake up at 5am in order to drive me to the airport. Sure I could have driven myself to the airport, but there's nothing nicer than curbside drop-off and spending a few more minutes with two crazed, albeit tired, Boston Terriers.
I wasn't able to get a cheap direct flight out to Cincinnati, however the logistics worked out nicely and I met Bee in Atlanta at the airport and headed over to Cincinnati together. Bee was in North Carolina for a family event and our planes landed in Atlanta within minutes of each other. We met up at the coffee line where I was able to add her medium French Vanilla with whole milk onto my coffee order. Even though we've been friends for close a decade this was the first time we've ever been on a plane together. A fact that was not lost on Bee when I shut down completely during takeoff and landing. This nervous flyer has a routine and I gotta stick with it!
It was too early to check-in at the hotel, so we hit up the expo first and picked through our fill of Flying Pig gear.
This race definitely earns top marks for taking its theme and running with it. There were pigs and pig related things EVERYWHERE!!! The tagline for the race was "piglitically correct" and as someone who works inside the DC Beltway I was highly amused.
If I was still in college I so would have bought this headband! Nothing but ADPi love here!
I think I'm going to have to run a race that gives out a mini barrel as swag just to give it to the hubs.
Of course I stopped by the Marine Corps Marathon booth and chatted up promoter. Let's just say that Bee and I made quite the impression on him and I hope to have a running buddy at this year's race :)
Post-expo we went out for a lunch over in Kentucky at a lovely little English Pub. There were tvs all over and I was able to enjoy both a football match and the Caps game. Life was good!
Finally, we checked into the hotel and were able to take a nap. Then, the craziness started. You see Bee's father and stepmother had driven up from Kentucky to pick us up from the airport and provide on-course emotional support during the race. They brought along one of their running friends, Roy, who was also running the marathon.
I need to add one more vital piece of information: these folks are all horse-riding, loving, Kentucky, crazed people. A day before a big race is not the day to indulge in much alcohol, that's what the post-race party is all about. However, Saturday was a state-holiday for them as a little thing called The Kentucky Derby would be taking place.
Enter Mint Juleps. These guys brought all the ingredients with them up to the hotel and planned a little Derby party. I've never been much of a horse racing person and these guys knew everything. It was intense and I was certainly out of my league.
I lost $8 bucks on that Derby! Stupid Bodemeister! I thought that guy was going to come through for me.
After the Derby was over and Roy was high on his elation at winning $40 we headed over to Arnold's in downtown Cincinnati for dinner.
Gluttony overload! I wanted everything on the dessert menu! But as Roy kept joking, "is that part of your training plan?" I knew I shouldn't indulge too much and possibly upset my stomach.
Up next, the race!
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