This race was done with a huge group of people from my running group. About 20 of us were there because one of the group's b-day was race day and she wanted a celebration. There were a number of others from the group at the race too, so Orlando was well represented in Cincinnati!
All of us were a bit apprehensive about the race because the race profile showed a really, really hilly course and we don't have hills in Orlando. As such, I had no real goal other than not dying and if I didn't die, hopefully keep it under 2:00 hrs.
Because of the huge number of people at the race (the HM and marathon start together, so there were about 20,000 people at the start), corrals based upon expected finish time are used. There is about 2 minutes between each corral start. I was in corral C with Hilary and Lora, so we ran the first mile or so together.

It was so crowded that it forced me to keep my pace in check to start, but it also meant that I lost sight of Hilary and Lora. Turns out I picked up the pace and they held off a bit.

The race starts in Cincinnati and quickly goes over a bridge into Kentucky. It is in Kentucky for about 2 miles before crossing a second bridge back into Cincy. A highlight of the race is the wonderful people from a retirement complex in Kentucky. They were in front of their building holding signs, cheering and offering encouragement. One woman had a flying pig hat on; the cap had wings for the flying pig that flapped as she pulled a string! It was great and everyone said they were the favorites.
Back in Cincinnati we ran in an industrial area before heading into downtown. During this time (about mile 4 or so) I ran into Amy. She was running the marathon, but using this race as a training run for an upcoming 100 miler. That is the only reason I caught and passed her. She looked like she was out for a stroll in the park (she still finished in just over 4 hours).
Throughout downtown (and really the whole way), the course was lined with people cheering, holding signs and otherwise having a great time. Because of this, the miles seemed to go by must faster than normal.
That is until mile 6 when the big climb began. Up til that point I didn't think the hills were bad at all and thought my trail HM that caused me to run through 5 miles of sugar sand had really been good training. Then that hill came. And kept coming. Just when I thought it was over, it rose again. I knew I was losing time and was getting a bit discouraged. Thankfully, the support out there was tremendous and helped keep me from getting too down.
About 3/4 of the way through, the 4 hr marathon pace group passed me. WTF! I thought i was well ahead of that pace! In fact, I passed the 2 hr HM pace group around mile 2 and didn't see them. So, I was hoping the 4 hr group was just ahead of pace and I was not about to be passed by the 2 hr group. I did my best to keep the 4 hr group close to me.

Finally we came to the spot where the two groups split off and the HM starts it net downhill. I was soooo happy to stop climbing. Once I recovered a bit from the climb, I was able to pick up my pace and felt that a 1:54-55 was a real possibility. I tried to run every downhill strongly and keep an even pace on the flats and remaining uphills. At one point we passed the runners just starting out on the uphill from hell. I was so happy to be running down!
Finally we were back in downtown Cincinnati and I knew the race was almost over and I was going to be close to 1:55. I was a bit concerned however b/c the mile markers on course were different from my Garmin. And the gap was getting bigger. I hoped the course markings were wrong.
After I was within a mile of the finish I realized I was not going hit 1:55 because things were off. When my watch showed 13.1 I was at the 1:55 mark, unfortunately, I was not at the finish! That came about .28 miles later. So, my official race time is 1:57.
I spoke to lots of people and they all had the race long by similar amounts. I know the course is certified, so I expect the issue is that the course and the large field makes it next to impossible to run the tangents or close to them. I really thought I was keeping things as tight as possible, but there were some areas where we were all over very wide roads, so I know we were off. I just didn't realize it would be that far off.
So, I am a bit disappointed with my time, yet I also met the 2 goals I set for myself: don't die and keep it under 2. So, I am conflicted about the results :)
After the finish, there is a long "chute" you traverse picking up space blankets, your medal, water and then a longer area of just table after table of lots of different kinds of food from cookies of various types, to fruit and soup and power bars etc. I can't eat after a race, so I passed all of this by, expect right at the last minute I grabbed a couple of Grandmas chocolate chocolate chip cookies to take on the plane.
Then I went to bag check, got my bag (which also held Susan's clothes) and went to wait for Susan and Amanda at our discussed meeting place.




Try to get some hill training in and run better lines!

just walking around getting from the finish to meeting point.


me


I was talked into doing this race and wasn't too sure I wanted to do it; I'm glad I did. It was well organized, the crowd support was the best I've ever seen, I had a great time with my friends and I didn't die on the course!