Flying Pig Marathon

Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. Was in the upper 50s with a light sprinkle at start time, stayed overcast, warmed into the 60s, little wind, and really no rain to speak of, so ideal weather, though some people were complaining about the humidity. We hit some traffic coming into the parking area, and it took a wile to get parked, but we still had time to drop off our gear bag and take care of business and such. Corrals were not all that well marked for the 'slow' people, but I was able to find the 4:45 pace group guy so figured it would be pretty good starting around there. 

Official time of 4:19:07, average pace of 9:54, average heart rate of 160, best mile of 8:54, which was mile 6, shortly before the main climb of the Marathon. The garmin distance was 26.47, which is fairly typical. The start was a lot of zig zagging around people, and the second half seemed to be more or less on track distance wise as things thinned out. Three times I hit the lap button to get back in sync with the mile markers. I had to take a bathroom break shortly after the mile 18 marker, and was able to hop into an open bathroom, but the break took about 5 minutes total. Even with the break I was able to get under my goal time of 4:22, though before the break I was looking at about a 4:15 time, resting for 5 minutes might have helped me maintain my pace to the finish line.

Splits (not counting the short splits to sync back up with the mile markers were miles 1-6 of 10:09, 9:34, 9:34, 8:54, 9:34 and 8:58. Started climbing up the main hill and mile 7-13 were 10:27, 10:14, 9:15, 9:13, 9:12, 9:44 and 9:30. Miles 14-20 were 9:25, 9:31, 9:53, 9:28, 9:50, 14:00 and 9:27. The final miles were 9:30, 9:36, 9:49, 10:03, 10:05, 9:58 and 2:01 for the final .23 miles for a 8:50 pace. My heart rate crept up the final miles, but even then it wasn't too bad, 163 average for the final full mile, and 166 for the final quarter mile.

Offical splits were 6.8 miles at 1:06:44 (9:49 pace), 12.0 miles at 1:56:23 (9:42 pace), 13.1 miles at 2:06:39 (9:40 pace), 19.7 miles at 3:14:32 (9:52 pace) and 25.2 miles at 4:09:05 (9:53 pace). The marathon went quickly, there were enough other runners on the course it never seemed to drag. I finished 1876 out of 4026 overall, 1333 out of 2389 for the men. One of these days I'll finish in the top half of the men and/or my age group (:

Post race refreshments were so so, nothing great. I grabbed my gear and then stretched out in the park where music was being played and almost dozed off for a bit. I then headed over to the finish area and waited for Judy. Very good time.