Flying Pigs in the Time of Swine Flu*, Part IV

*With apologies to Mr. Garcia Marquez.

I’m breaking this race report into sections for logistical reasons: it would take me a whole other week to write one long all inclusive post. So I’ll start at the beginning, continue through the middle, and then finish at the end.


The bacon is brought home

The official race finish time was 4:03:30. Fenny was a little off at 4:04:04 because I forgot to turn him off after the finish swine.

I took a breather to gain myself after that sprint to the end, then I shuffled through the water, Gatorade, and delicious food (apples and potatoes chips never tasted so good).

After exiting the finishing chute I was in a mob of people waiting for their runners to come out. Wifey was supposed to meet me by the family meet up area, which I thought would be right outside the finishing chute. But when I looked around, there was no sign of any type of meet up area.

I heard someone say “on the other side of those trees, next to the grandstand” so I walked in that direction, but didn’t find anything. At this point a map would have really helped.

After several minutes of looking around I decided to go back to the info booth, but in that I spotted Wifey, who has been looking for me ever since I crossed the finish line. Apparently she could read my mind and knew that I was never going to find the meeting area. I gave her a big hug and a kiss. She was on the phone with my mom and aunt at the time, so I said hello to all of them and then quickly found someplace to sit.

I changed into a dry t-shirt and a pair of Crocs (gosh those feel great after a race—thanks mom!). After recounting the race to Wifey and her showing me all the pictures she snapped, we got up and starting walking back to the hotel. Outside of The Great American Ballpark I turned around quickly and she snapped this one:



I feel I look like a futuristic Buddha in that picture.

We got to the hotel room and I took a nice long cold bath, then we ate breakfast at First Watch. I really wanted breakfast food and at that time it was the only option within walking distance. Afterward we walked around downtown Cincinnati for a bit and went back to the hotel to take a dip in the pool—oooh that water felt fantastic!

Dinner was at the Montgomery Inn, where Wifey and I went to town on a King size order of ribs:



For dessert? When we got back to the hotel we busted into the Cookies By Design bouquet that my family sent me:



All in all, it was a rough race. I was really happy to run it and get another state off the list. I'm also extremely happy to be a runner in a physical condition where running a Marathon is something I can do on a regular basis. However, being a runner, I feel compelled to nit pick apart this race (hello, a race report in four parts???). So I'll take the lessons I've learned from this race and move forward: learn how to deal with stitches, make sure I'm seeded properly at the start, always stick to the food I know before a race, and learn to focus on positive thoughts as much as possible throughout a race.