This past weekend Chris, her husband Dan, Bryan and I made our way down to Cincinnati for the Flying Pig half marathon. The race was actually on Sunday morning but we decided to head down Friday after work so we could explore some of the city. Everyone from this part of the country is familiar with Cincinnati because you go right through it on I-75 as you make your way down south but let me tell you, if you get the chance you should really consider stopping and checking out what the city has to offer. First of all it’s right along the Ohio River right across from Newport and Covington Kentucky which are both cute little towns. We actually stayed in Newport, right at the base of the footbridge that takes you back across the river to the Cincinnati side which was awesome because once we parked the car we really didn’t need it until we left town Sunday afternoon! Northern Kentucky and southern Ohio have a German history so it was no surprise to see a Hofbrauhaus nearby. It’s modelled after the one in Munich, Germany and let me tell you, the boys where excited! Beer, soft pretzels, sauerkraut and schnitzel…I think they may have been drooling at one point 😉 .
Saturday morning we headed back over the footbridge to Cincinnati.
Our first order of business was to find coffee for everyone (everyone but me that is). We found a bagel shop and figured that would also work towards our carb loading for the race! After that we made our way over to the expo to pick up our race kits. The Flying Pig expo is one of the best we’ve ever been to. One of the race sponsors is Proctor and Gamble and they always have lots of free goodies. As well as the major sponsors, there are lots of local vendors at the expo. A local bake shop, Sweet Girls Cakery, had a booth and they had the cutest cookies…
I had to buy one! The expo is also very well organized. They are quite good at directing you to the packet pickup area. They give everyone a check list so you can be sure that you haven’t missed anything so no wandering around aimlessly, so helpful! For dinner that night we hit up a local Italian restaurant called Sotto. The food is amazing but our absolute favourite is the ricotta donuts for dessert.
We ended up ordering 3 orders of them! They are little balls of yumminess and they’re served warm with 3 dipping sauces; chocolate, salted caramel and pistachio. They are an absolutely fantastic way to carb load before a race!! Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel for an early bedtime because race time was 6:30am.
Sunday morning was beautiful, cool but beautiful. Our hotel was close enough that we could just walk to the starting line so we timed it that we arrived about 5 minutes before the start. We had decided ahead of time to run the race together and not worry about time which was so nice. We took our time and took lots of pictures
This race is so well organized and there’s lots of support along the route. You start down by the river and run over a bridge into Newport Kentucky. You make your way from Newport to Covington and then head back over another bridge back to Cincinnati. Around mile 7 the course takes you uphill for about 3 miles. Hill training before the race is a must, the hills in this section are no joke! But what comes up must come down and just before mile 11 you have a serious downhill! There are so many twists and turns on this course it actually goes by pretty quickly. The finisher’s chute at the end of the race is the best we’ve seen as well. There’s so much food from fruit cups, bananas, cookies, pizza, chips, crackers and peanut butter…the list is endless!
If you’re looking for an awesome destination race for the springtime, consider the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, Ohio. They have a variety of race options over the course of the weekend and there’s so much to do in the area, you won’t be disappointed!
Ever done a destination race? Where was it?
What’s one dessert you just absolutely can’t live without?