Very slow going at the start, took maybe four miles before I could go any faster than the crowd dictated. From Paul Brown Stadium, past Great American Ballpark, then right over the Ohio River toward Kentucky and onto the first of three bridges. These bridges had fairly gentle slopes, the third bridge had probably the longest climb of the three. At this point I'm just letting the crowd and my body set the pace, trying to stay hard/comfortable and not trample any walkers.

Back on the Ohio side, we pass a Butternut Bakery with great fresh-baked bread smells. I follow the lead of several other guys and go between a line of bread trucks to water their wheels. From there, the course takes a right onto 7th Street, goes back through downtown, then up a slight upramp onto Gilbert Street at Mile 6. Garmin has 6.12 miles at this point, I've adjusted the splits accordingly:

Mile Time
1 10:08.5
2 09:38.5
3 09:33.5
4 09:15.5
5 09:36.5
6 09:15.5

At mile 6 the climbing begins, 280 feet of gain over 2.5 miles, 2% average grade that looks like Mount Everest to this flatlander, so I try to crank back on the pace to maintain a consistent effort. The climb almost-but-not-quite peaks at a nice scenic river overlook in Eden Park. It's still a half mile later before you reach the high point of the course in front of a convent. By now my legs are hurting, earliest I can remember in a marathon.

7 09:51.0
8 09:33.0
9 09:26.0

After the climb, the course takes a right on Madison, and the (lucky) half marathoners turn off and head back to the finish. Just after that we pass a nursing home where they had wheeled out about a dozen or so residents to sit out in the drizzle and cold to cheer us on. This was the start of my favorite portion of the course, which I describe as a group of urban villages strung together: O'Bryonville, Hyde Park, Madisonville, Mariemont, Farifax. Seems like each of these neighborhoods had their own personality, downtown districts and tons of spectators.

10 09:05.0
11 09:14.0
12 09:23.0
13 09:41.0
14 09:05.0
15 09:26.0
16 09:22.0
17 09:22.0
18 09:35.0

Do have to comment that at this point the local water, which tasted nasty from the start, was starting to get to me, as was the gatorade which had the consistency of pancake syrup. Every water stop I'd grab a cup of gatorade, water it down with the nasty water and drink. Also during mile 19, digestive system was acting up, forcing a portapotty break. No line, back on the road fairly quickly.

Saw a sign, "Strong and Steady," that became my mantra. Swear I never heard it before in that race but heard it from at least three spectators over the last six miles.

This Columbia/Eastern stretch is described as the most boring as it's wooded and fairly flat, not as many spectators.Pretty uneventful for me as I plodded along.

19 11:39.0
20 09:18.0
21 09:20.0
22 09:33.0

After Mile 22 you hit Riverside Drive, a three-mile stretch along the Ohio, mixed neighborhoods that lead back to downtown. Here I started to fatigue, walked through the waterstops but maintained my pace in between.Still hurt like I did back at Mile 9, but no more than that.

23 09:51.0
24 09:40.0
25 09:37.0
26 09:36.0
0.37 03:13.0 (8:37 pace)

Riverside turns to Pete Rose Way about a mile from the finish swine. They put a timing mat out there and (I found out later)give awards for the fastest last mile. My mile time was a blazing 9:21. True to its nature, the course is hilly right up to the end. It's a long straight stretch to the finish but you can't see it until you're a block away because you're running uphill. Crowds were great and noisy over that last mile or so.


Train more on hills, pick a flatter course, lose more weight so I don't have as much bear butt to carry uphill.

Given the challenge of the course, I'm happy with the results, only 17 minutes slower than PR and had a lot of fun. Oh, and finished my first marathon in 30 months, 15th in 14 states.

Not quite equal splits, but close. The second half took 2:06 longer than the first half, most of that was in the Mile 19 portapotty ;^). Comes out to 49.73%/50.27%.

Walked through a longish "Recovery Area" where they had plenty to drink, then chips, oranges and bananas, yogurt and other goodies. Got toward the end and felt my legs going out, so grabbed a couple of ding-dongs and a water and collapsed in a folding chair. After about fifteen minutes, I got enough strength back to call Angel, found she was trucking in from Mile 20, so I decided to hang aroung the finish line and wait. Called Dylan, he eventually called me back as he was sleeping in the car.

Left recovery and went to the "Victory Party" where they had a decent band playing. Walked around, looked at the booths that were set up there, browsed the finisher's gear, and eventually found a bench where I guess I took a little nap.

Checked on Angel's progress when I got up, found she was only a couple miles away, so made my way to the finish swine. Legs felt much better and I was able to easily navigate several flights of stairs up and down to get there. After she finished, we walked together through the recovery area, then at least two miles to the car. From there we went straight to Chipotle.


Hills.


Pros:
Good, well-organized race, over 15,000 runners (4,030 marathoners, 8,587 in the half, and 2,472 in the relay), events went off on time, plenty of enthusiastic volunteers and spectators, waterstops and entertainment every mile.

Cons:
Too crowded at the start, nasty-tasting water, waterstops need specific instructions on how to mix the Gatorade concentrate.And kind of hilly.

All in all, a great race. Highly recommended.

Oh, and Dylan won his age group in the Pump-and-Run!