2009 Flying Pig Half Marathon Race Report
Steph and I ran the Flying Pig yesterday. What a race!! We so enjoyed it again this year. If you ever need a fun, well-organized half, this is it (as is the Richmond Half). So, to get the numbers out of the way:
1:55:09 was my final time. I was 1235 out of 8577 runners. 853 out of 3120 men. 131 out of 471 in my age group. And, I was almost four minutes faster than last year's race. The average finish time for the half was 2:31:11.
Steph's numbers are even more impressive. 2:12:32 was her finish time (with an injury mind you). 3318 out of 8577 runners. 1509 out of 5457 women 288 out of 889 in her age group. She didn't run it last year, so she ROCKED!!
We arrived around 5:15am and waited in the car as it was raining. Thankfully, it was just a drizzle and didn't last for too long. We took trash bags and wore them until right before the race. We took them off before the start and it worked out fine. The rain held off until after we were done with the race. My achilles is still giving me fits and I felt it on this race, but it didn't hamper my performance too much.
As you may know, this particular race is known for its hills. It has lots of them. Not so much in the beginning, but miles 6-10 are nothing but hills. I think the elevation rise is something like 500 feet over those 4 miles. It sucks!!!
Although I have to say, I prefer hills to going down them. The only sore part of my body are my quads. God, I hate downhills. The final 3 miles are almost all downhill. So, the reward for going up, is the damage coming down...hehe.
Steph and I orginally had wanted to run the Pittsburgh Half, but it filled up too quick. I think we'll probably stick witht he Cinci Half. We really like it and we get to spend time with family we have there.
Although I'll probably do a bunch of the local sprint Tri's around Motown, my next official race is in July and it's the Cinci Tri. I'm doing the Olympic (1350m swim, 40K bike, and 10K run). Steph I think is going to do the local half we have here (Decker's Creek). Then Half-IM in Motown, and then Half-IM in Augusta. No more running until the Richmond Half this fall.
BTW, I'd like to give a shout-out to a friend of mine who is running his first marathon this fall in Richmond. If you follow this blog at all, you know we have a bit of a tradition of inviting friends and family to run, walk, crawl, with us at the Richmond race. We do the race, then a family friend and his band plays a bluegrass show for us while we chow down on some good, filling food. It's sooooo much fun. Anyway, Jamie is running the marathon and hopefully he and his family will join us with our celebration.
Matter of fact, if anyone else is interested in joining us, please please let me know. We'd love to have you :)
Woot!!!
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