Flying Pig Marathon weekend, part 2 (races 2 and 3 of 4, plus other events)

The morning started off with a light rain that dissipated by race time. But given what the forecast was for later in the day, I had a decent amount of stuff put into the bag I dropped off at gear check, to include a dry shirt, my flip-flops, a poncho, and my compact umbrella. Boy, were these all good calls.

When I first saw this lady in the Flying Pig costume, it wasn't from the front, so it was unclear to me if she was actually planning on running the 10k in this outfit. Nope, she was one of two dressed up this way to cheer on the runners at the start/finish swine and hold the finish banner for the winners. 

The plan for the race was to take it reasonably leisurely and finish in about 1 hour, to include any photos I wound up taking on the course. Since the race started at 7am and the 5k was set to start at 9am, that was still leaving a large amount of time in between.

Right as I was moving off from taking this photo of the Roebling suspension bridge and putting my phone away, I noticed my friend Jacque in the pack that was proceeding past that point. (See last month's Boston Marathon and Jan 2023's Dopey Challenge posts to see some of our other exploits.) Quickly enough, I fell in with her and her friend Kelly (whom I've met previously) and continued running the rest of the course with them.

While there isn't a huge amount of stuff to photograph on this course, there was certainly one stand-out landmark that I couldn't pass up (as I didn't expect that I would actually be getting out far enough over the weekend to do so).

A couple of miles later, and we were done. 59:33 -- pretty much what I had set out to do; nice!

I made sure to take all of the post-race food and beverage that was being offered, including two of the Muscle Milk cartons. Despite not partaking of them right then, I knew they would come in handy after the marathon.

Kelly had commented on wondering how she'd meet up with her college-aged son who was also running all of the events to see how he did. Right after she said that, as if on cue, he called out to her, just on the other side of a fence. He did very well (about 36 minutes) and needed to get his result officially listed. I went to the gear check to add the food and beverage into my checked bag and handed it back in for the 5k. Jacque and I soon moved off to the starting area for the 5k (which was only a couple of blocks away), as Kelly needed to pull back a bit on her pace. 

We were standing next to a sizable flag marking the A corral. Gradually, the rain started to get a bit more persistent. Thankfully, I was still wrapped in the heat sheet I had gotten at the end of the 10k. I wasn't planning on getting rid of it. A staffer came by and removed the corral flag (as it was in the middle of the street), but doing so left the base in place -- which was basically a metal stump weighted down by a couple of sand bags. Minutes went by and there was no sign of anyone coming to take the stump. Umm... if they don't move this, someone will kill themselves on it just getting to the start line once the gun goes off.

Finally, at what seemed like far too close a time to the actual start, the guy returned to pick up the metal stump. All was same from tripping and impaling themselves. Phew!

Then we were off! While it was a faster start than we really wanted, we quickly enough shifted a bit to the right to slow down a little without getting in people's way. We were both looking to keep as much energy as possible for the marathon while running a respectable pace for both of the day's races.

Soon, we made the turn to go into a nearly one-mile-long tunnel. Some of the brick/mural-work was really quite neat to look at. However, I didn't pause to take any photos in here.

Shortly thereafter, we were back at the same point of the 10k course where Lincoln stood tall. At that point in time, we both noticed this one man about 20 yards in front of us that was wearing long white UnderArmour boxer-briefs and no shorts. In itself a somewhat odd choice made all the more indelible because apparently he had trusted a fart sometime earlier... yep, there was a "strategically placed" brown spot on his rear. Ugh -- please keep moving away faster than us, man!

A few more twists and turns, and we were at the part of the course that overlap with the finishing kick of the marathon course.

                                            

Just like that, in 27:47, we were done. Again, we went through the same finish-area gauntlet to pick up food, drink, and heat sheet (well, I had held onto mine) and the rain was a bit heavier still. Jacque moved off to the nearby park where some of the other events would be held, while I went to pick up my bag with the intent of meeting back up at the park and then for lunch.

Having picked up my bag, I made my way into a nearby loading dock to take my time to change out of my very wet singlet and into a dry shirt, donning my poncho, taking off my wet sneakers and socks and switching into my flip-flops (knowing full-well that keeping the sneakers on for several more hours in yet heavier rain was going to cause a huge blistering problem), and taking out the umbrella - I made my way to the park. Alas, I didn't meet up with Jacque there, but would manage it later.

Nearing 10am, the next set of events went off but were certainly highly impacted by the rain.

First up was the mascot race. Several local area team and other sporting mascots came out, similar to the presidents race at Nationals home baseball games.

After a bit of milling about near the start line, without much audible notice to most of the spectators, they were off! Standard race of this sort -- run to the end of the short enclosed area, touch the railing, and run back to the start/finish arch for the win.

At the finish, Who Dey ekes out the win while Bearcat seemingly slips and falls down. (Given how much it was raining and how muddy everything was getting, this could have been a totally real fall.) But he has the classiest recovery -- without getting off the ground -- that you could have asked for.

He did the wave! Brilliant, and very funny.

Finally, we had the back-of-the-packers (Piglet, Queen Bee, and Gary) finishing up, arm-in-arm.

The mascots having finished, and the rain coming on still heavier now, several of the mascots helped the organizers set out a large blue tarp for the diaper dash. They weren't going to have infants and toddlers crawling in the mud. Naturally, though, for each young child remaining with one parent at the start line, the other one went to the other side (closer than the red line they had originally painted on the ground, visible above) -- trekking directly across the tarp and bringing with them plenty of dirt and mud, that the kids would then be going through anyway.

Naturally, as one would expect, there was a LOT of crying from the little ones. Why? What would you do if it was chilly (in the low 50s, maybe?) and very rainy? (It was progressively steadier rain, until it became a virtual downpour, though mercifully no lightning in the vicinity.) Almost all of the kids who were placed down on the tarp didn't budge. They basically looked up, crying, at their parents as if to say "Why am I here? I'm cold and wet. Get me inside and dry already!" After a few minutes marveling at this, and how a few of the adults moving about nearly fell on their heads -- and one of which was nearby with a large (yet closed) umbrella with the pointy end facing my way -- I decided I'd had my fill of this cluster and returned to the loading dock to wait out part of the time until the next event.

To my pleasant surprise, a lot of the participants in that next even -- the Flying Fur -- were doing the same thing.

Cute, sweet dogs, all very happy to be petted by anyone who would come near them.

Too soon enough, it was time to head on out so I could find a good spot by the finish line while the competitors moved to the start line. The man who had the two huskies, above, had his work cut out for him. These two dogs were pulling him so hard, it was very difficult for him to keep them under control, despite the fact that their leashes were tied around his waist. Clearly, if he were actually on a sled, they would have been running as if it were the Iditarod!

For some reason, though, they had closed off all of the street-level areas where spectators had been observing the 10k and 5k. Maybe it was because of the rain? Regardless, I made my way up to the carousel that had a wonderful view of the Finish Swine. And soon enough -- what turned out to be about 6 minutes after they started the race (hard to tell, since they never reset the clock), the dogs were running in with their humans close behind them. Truly an impressive sight to behold. However, given how much the rain was coming down, I didn't attempt to take out my phone to take photos or video.

Part-way through, Jacque met up with me, and she was able to take some photos under the shelter of my umbrella.

Not only were there a couple of dachshunds on the course (not captured in photo), but at least seven corgis. All of these are adorable enough to begin with, but to see them working with such fast turnover of their legs to run the mile-long course was really hysterical.

Some people certainly have dedication to their sports team. Here's one pooch who is painted to look like the Bengals' Who Dey (near as I can tell). Wow.

And here is, by far, the most impressive of the competitors. This beagle who only has two legs, with his rear legs replaced by the wheels visible below. He was loving the conditions and being out and about, regardless of how difficult it presumably is for him to get about. "Who's a good dog?!"

Despite the fact that there were still some dogs trickling in, it was close enough to our lunch reservation to head on up for some good Mexican fare. (For lunch, I was willing to risk having an excess of grease -- it would be through my system before marathon morning. Dinner I would never chance it.) We met back up with Kelly and another of Jacque's friends. On my way in the restaurant, I was just a touch too far away from the door when I reached out to grab the handle while simultaneously pulling in my umbrella and bam! I slipped and fell squarely on my rear end. Thankfully, no injury other than slightly to my pride, I was able to get myself up and inside.

We had a leisurely lunch with enjoyable conversation and really good food. (In addition to my chorizo breakfast burrito, there was also chips with both queso and various salsa.) Eventually, it was time to make my way back to the hotel to finally shower, change, and get properly warmed up. After doing so, resting, and watching some TV for a while, it was actually time again to go out for dinner. By that point, the rain wasn't nearly as bad.

Scotti's is over 100 years old, very dark, but with good food and music. Yet again, I seem to have found a really good and busy local restaurant. Shortly after I got my entree, a party of about 8 (which you wouldn't think they'd really be able to accommodate - it is a pretty tiny place) came in and sat right in front of me as pictured below -- based on what I was seeing and overhearing, it looked like the parents of two recently engaged people were finally meeting for the first time.

While I was waiting for the check, the couple seated next to me started chatting with me about the race, etc.

Amusingly enough, they would wind up seeing me only a few minutes later after I departed. For there was no way I wasn't going to get some Graeter's ice cream -- just a couple of blocks away.

Buckeye Blitz and Midnight Snack -- pretty darn good. And as I was sitting eating my cone, the couple from Scotti's entered to get their own dessert, complimenting me on knowing that I had to get this ice cream.

On my way back to the hotel, I made a few other stops.

First, just outside of Graeter's, is Fountain Square. Mercifully, there were no turkeys falling from the sky.

As a Williams College alum, my trip to Cincy would be most incomplete if I didn't take a photo of the statue of our only Williams alum U.S. President.

At the opposite end of the park, the first U.S. president to die in office.

Plenty of time left to set myself (and my gear bag) up for the marathon the next morning and just relax for a few more hours before conking out (as best possible, of course).