Flying Pig 10k

 You know, I rely do try to keep up with the blogging about my running and racing, but the dogs are making it pretty damn near impossible. And the ipad is actually harder to write on than the damn netbook. Who would have thought? Even with the bluetooth keyboard, it is hard.

One of the things I am really not liking is what a pain it is to switch between the blogging app and the web. And I need to go to the web to look up thing like what the route was like and what actually are the names f those bridges that we ran across.

Anyway, I ran the Flying Pig 10k on the day before the Pig. After a couple weeks of therapy with Dr. Donna, I thought I was up to it.

I have to admit, I was more than a little jealous of all the people doing the Four Way. That's what they call it when you do the 10k, the 5k (an hour later!) and then the marathon the next day. I seriously want to do it next year. Heck, it will be good training for the double I want to do next summer.

Anyway, I got down there about an hour before the race. I parked in the lot under the Westin. It was just a couple blocks to the start down in The Banks area. The weather was pleasant enough. Geez, I don't even really remember any more what it was like. Not as hot as it is today, that's for sure

I went for a little warmup jog part way across the pedestrian bridge. Not too many people warming up, considering the size of the crowd. I don't recognize anybody! I don't know exactly how many people but there were a couple thousand maybe.

The race starts on Pete Rose Way (and can I just say that I love that Second St. is still called that?) and finishes in Yeatman's Cove.

I was kind of hoping for some pace signs but didn't see any so I just tried to put myself with people who looked about my speed. I guessed right because a few of those people were right there with me at the end.

It took me about 33 seconds to cross the start line. I wanted to run 9s, but my pace was up and down with the hills. There were a few walkers to maneuver around in the early going but really not too bad. The first mile took us around the corner and pretty quickly headed over the Taylor Southgate Bridge to Newport. Mile 1 is near the bottom of the bridge. Then you do a loop of Newport before heading across the Licking River to Covington, a bit past the two mile marker.

Just past the three mile mark, from Covington, you cross back over the Ohio River via the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Mile 4 is around the corner on the other side of the bridge. You run up Third St., , then there is about another mile around downtown----mostly a tour of the Eggleston parking lots this time--- before coming back down Pete Rose Way to the finish.

Here's a link to the race map.

So it was not a super hilly race. There were a few little inclines in the downtown section moving away from the river, and then there were the two bridge crossings which are also not very steep.

I can't remember a whole lot about this race. I felt okay and there was nothing too remarkable about it. I was glad to be out there doing it, but wishing I could do more.

My splits were 9:22, 8:55, 9:25 9:14, 9:13, 8:46 and 1:38 for the last .2, for a finish time of 56:34/9:08 average pace. This was significantly slower than what I was able to run back in March, but the hip held up and that was the main thing. I was 11 of 196 in my age group, 248 of 2184 women, and 641 of I do not know how many people in the race.

I did not linger too long at the finish, because I needed to get home for breakfast with Tommy and the Chesteks. Next year when I do the 4-Way (notice how I say that as if it were a certainty) I will have about an hour to kill in between the 10k and the 5k. I guess the strategy will be to refuel with food that is very easy to digest, and then truly just jog the 5k. Probably won't push it too hard in the 10k either, if I want to recover for the marathon the next day!