Bob Mann: 2007 Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon

Sun May 6, 2007

I ran my fourth marathon in Cincinnati on Sunday May 6, 2007. This was to be another meeting of a group of people whom I had become friends with via the 30s group on CoolRunning.com. The group would be approximately the same size as the group that met up at the New Jersey Marathon last week, where I had participated on a marathon relay team. Joe and Larry were the only two people from this group here in Cincinnati that I had met previously.

Maggie and I flew out Saturday morning, arriving in Northern Kentucky around noontime. We caught a cab from the airport to our hotel in downtown Cincinnati immediately thereafter. For a late lunch, we found the nearest Skyline Chili restaurant, which was a couple blocks from our hotel. 5-way chili might not be the best food the day before marathon, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't spend a weekend in Cincinnati without having it at least once, and Saturday lunch seemed like the most convenient time for it.

The first person Maggie and I met up with was Joe, who was staying in the same hotel we were. Together we walked the short distance to the expo, where we met up with the rest of the 30s gang. We all picked up our race packets and browsed the expo, and then headed over a nearby Italian restaurant for the requisite pre-race pasta dinner.
The restaurant, Campanello's, seemed a little overwhelmed by a group of our size. Including significant others and Larry's kids, we had 22 people. We were put into our own upstairs room that was, shall we say, not the poshest accommodations. But we all made do, and we had a nice dinner.

After dinner, everybody headed back to their hotel rooms in order to get to bed early and get a good night's sleep. The race was to begin at 6:30am, which requires a very early wake-up call. For me, that happened at 4:30am, which gave me enough time to take in some food and water to ensure proper nourishment before the race.Our group met up not long before the race and we posed for some more photos -- not the first time of the weekend, and not the last. Then we all headed towards the start line, and lined up with our desired pace groups. The weather looked to be good for running. Mostly sunny and warm, but not too warm.

Larry, Joe and I had decided to all line up together with the 3:50 pace group. My previous best time was my 4:04:56 in Las Vegas. I knew I could do better than that, but I didn't know how much better. I had improved between 10 and 12 minutes from my first to second marathon, and again from my second to third. So based on that pattern, and based on the times of my longer training runs, I figured I could do 3:53 to 3:55. Thus I figured I'd run with the 3:50 pace group for as long as I could, and then fall back if I needed to fall back. Since I had yet to break 4 hours, my true goal really was just to break that time barrier. But I was certainly aiming to finish in that 3:53 to 3:55 range.

Joe's previous best marathon time was about 3:56, so a 3:50 would be a bit of an improvement for him as well. Still, based on the times of his recent long runs, I figured he'd be able to do a 3:50 easily, and that he'd finish a bit ahead of me. Larry had never run a marathon before. While he's certainly faster than either me or Joe, he was understandably nervous about tackling the 26.2 mile distance for the first time, and was willing to go a little slower than top speed to make sure he could survive the distance. Thus, the three of us would likely not finish the race together, but we'd be close enough to run together for a while.

After the gun, we were inevitably caught in the pack, and our first mile time was 9:28, which put us well behind our desired 3:50 pace. But after a mile, the field had thinned out a bit, and our pace group (led by Pacer Scott) was finally able to pick up the speed. Our next three miles were run in 8:20, 8:16 and 8:08, which now put us ahead of schedule.

The race had started in Cincinnati, right next to Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Bengals. It quickly crossed over a bridge into Kentucky. This marked one of the few times that I had crossed a state line on foot. We ran a couple miles east in Kentucky, then crossed another bridge back into Ohio, and by Mile 4 ran very close to the start line. At about this point, Maggie had made her way across and saw me run past, calling out "Bob Mann!" It's always a boost to have someone you know calling out your name as you run by...

Soon after Mile 5, we began climbing the longest hill of the race course. Our pace slowed somewhat as we climbed the hill, but we still remained nicely ahead of our 3:50 pace. At one point around this time, our pacer had decided that he needed to pull off to the side and... relieve himself, if you will. So he handed the pace stick to Larry, who was now pacing in his first marathon. Quite an honor, I'm sure!

Around Mile 10 or 11, we began a gentle downhill, and Joe decided to pick up the pace. He slowly but surely pulled ahead of Larry and me, and the rest of the 3:50 pace group. He looked strong pulling away from us, and I was sure that was the last I'd see of Joe before the finish.

I continued running with Larry for another 6 or 7 miles until he too decided to speed up. This was right around the time we hit the highway (Columbia Parkway). Running along the highway, this late in the race, had to be the hardest part of the course. At least it was easily the most boring.

I had stuck with Pacer Scott and the 3:50 pace group for the entire race up to this point. While I had assumed I would fall behind them at some point, I was pleased to still be with them. However, around Mile 20 I grabbed a cup of Gatorade at an aid station and got caught in a little traffic. This delayed me enough that I now found myself behind the pace group. And even though I had assumed I would fall behind, I now had the idea in my head that I could stick with them. So I tried to catch back up. Unfortunately, I was tired enough that making up that little bit of ground was not possible at the moment. I was working as hard as I could, and yet the 3:50 group remained a couple dozen feet ahead of me.

I lagged behind them for the next few miles, not gaining ground, but not losing any more ground either. And the good news was that the pace group was still a bit ahead of a 3:50 pace. Finally, as we approached the last mile or so, the pacer slowed down just a bit. Apparently he realized he was ahead of pace, and he was slowing in order to finish closer to that 3:50 goal. This slowing on his part finally allowed me to catch him, right before the 26 mile mark. At this point, it was clear that I was going to finish with a time I'd be happy with, and I just wanted to make sure I finished strong. I gave it what I had left, and pushed for the finish line. As I crossed, I could see that I would be finishing with a chip time of about 3:49. I soon found out that it was 3:48:56, which was exactly 16 minutes faster than my previous best, and was more than a minute faster than what I considered to be my best-case scenario. It was hard not to be ecstatic about that performance!

Almost immediately after crossing the finish line I found Joe. He had finished in 3:44:54, a huge improvement for him as well. And soon thereafter we found Larry, who had finished between us, at 3:47:51, which is a great time for a first marathon! We each grabbed some food and water, and then went off to find the rest of our group, who had all finished the Half Marathon long before. Many PRs were set by our group that day, and thus it was a successful race all around.

After splitting up to go back to the hotels to shower and change, the group met up for lunch and a few brews at a German restaurant across the river in Kentucky. A few people left for home late in the afternoon, and those of us that were left met up again one more time at a brewery in downtown Cincinnati for dinner and a couple more brews.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable weekend. This marathon was definitely more enjoyable than the frustrating one I ran in Las Vegas. The race was even more enjoyable because of my huge 16 minute PR, despite it being the most difficult marathon course I had run. The difficulty was in the hills. While it wasn't exactly mountainous, it was the first marathon I had run that wasn't pancake flat. So to take 16 minutes off my best time on a more difficult course, I can't help but be thrilled.

As always, I had a great time meeting up with people from the 30-Somethings running group. This is a great group of people, and I've had a terrific time each time I've gotten together with them.

My next marathon is the Vermont City Marathon, which is just three weeks away. This will be the first time I've tried to run two marathons this close together. Since I am so happy with the race in Cincinnati, I feel no pressure to be fast in Vermont. I will take this slow and easy and just try to enjoy the run...

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.