The Flying Pig Marathon had it all: an interesting (yet hilly) course, great volunteers, a cute name, fun theme, good swag, and nice bling at the "Finish Swine." Of course, you can't do The Pig in regular old running attire....so I decided to jazz up my race day ensemble with a pink hula skirt, hot pink shirt, and pink body glitter.
My strategy was to start strong and finish slow and steady. I know, I know--you're supposed to start slow and finish fast, but I worried that I would slow down toward the end regardless of how slow I went in the beginning.
It was the hilliest marathon I've done yet somehow I managed to PR (that was a shocker). The worst hill was about 3 miles long and everyone was dreading it. But I think all those annoying hills in my neighborhood really paid off because it wasn't that bad. Coach Melissa told me before the race to just keep my cadence up on the hills, so I focused on that going uphill and tried to make up time on the downhills.
Melissa also had me bump up my nutrition during the race so I would be taking in more calories. I had to force myself to eat toward the end, but I think that made a big difference.
Now about the PR: my previous PR of 5:27:55 was last year at Shamrock. The 'Rock was flat, the Pig was hilly, so I figured I would be lucky to come in under 5:30. But somehow I managed to push it on the hills and take very few walk breaks. Finish time: 5:22:07.
I've now set a new PR 5 marathons in a row-- I should probably quit while I'm ahead!
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