I am a Cincinnati local- was born and raised in Cincinnati and attend the University of Cincinnati, and I am so proud to call the Flying Pig my hometown marathon. From the very beginning of the weekend, the Flying Pig displays it's world class features with a great expo at the Duke Energy Center, a spaghetti dinner on Friday night, and the kick off of the three and four way with cheese with the one mile run. It feels like the whole city rallies around this race between Saturday and Sunday with the 5K and 10K starting Saturday morning. Sunday morning is a very early start to the half and full marathon, and was fairly chilly when I ran, as Cincinnati weather can be 20 degrees or 70 degrees in May. The miles are well marked and there are both water and Gatorade options every mile. My favorite part of the marathon is there are people cheering you on almost the entire time- I would estimate the streets are lined with people for 22 of the 26.2 miles. After the race there is fantastic food options for runners and the medals are great. I highly recommend going to Skyline Chili after the race to get a full dose of Cincinnati.

I love the Flying Pig and think they strive for and achieve excellence in just about everything that happens the whole weekend. This was my first ever marathon so while I did not know what to expect, I was blown away by how massive the expo is and how well the city came out and cheered runners on. I recommend running this to every person I talk to that is even slightly interested in running a marathon