This past weekend I drove (yes, drove… 8 hours one way!) to Cincinnati, Ohio for the famed Flying Pig Marathon. I opted to drive over flying because it was going to take almost as long to fly there from Richmond as it would to drive there (not an easy airport to get to!), but cost close to $400, versus a few tanks of gas. Plus, driving let me see parts of the country I hadn’t seen before. 
I got there Friday evening and checked into my hotel and went looking for dinner. 
While I know there were tons of restaurants to try, I headed to Panera to try to keep my costs low (are you sensing a theme here?). I soon plopped into bed, exhausted from the past few weeks.
The next day, I started my day off with a quick swim (my first triathlon is in August!) in the hotel’s teensy saltwater pool: 
Once little kids came in, I jumped out and showered before going to the race expo and exploring the city.
The expo was pretty small to me, but I’m used to the massive ones we have in Virginia. Lots of flying pigs… Apparently that’s a thing year round here. 
I’m as creeped out as you are. 😳
The expo as seemed a big disorganized – they had bibs sorted by names, but not matching the signs they had posted, and then got mad at me for being in the wrong line. People were also kind of pushy. So much for nice Midwesterners… I found the shirt boring, the poster useless, but I might use the backpack as a gym bag.
I then went off to explore the city a little more and figure out how long it would take me to walk to the starting area the next day. It was pretty, but quite warm, and I soon found myself overrun by runners from the 5K and 10K that was held that day. 
I also found an observation tower where you could view the city from 49 floors up!
I knew from past experience not to wear myself out walking all day because I would suffer during the race, but I also didn’t want to regret not doing something just because of the race. I tried to balance fun with rest, and eventually turned in early since my alarm was set for 3:30am (the race started at 6:30am).
Coming soon… My race recap!
marathonrunningmedic 