I ran the Pikes Peak Ascent in 2017 with a great group of friends that were veterans of the event and even one doubler in the crew. You really need to evaluate your fitness before signing up for this race. It is very friendly but the time cut offs are harsh. You'll want to check out the website to see what the cut offs are for your year and make sure you have the goods to take on this challenge.

I still proudly wear my shirt in public from the race to brag about finishing it. ;) My year was a sustainable bamboo shirt that has stood many washings and dryings with no respect give to the shirt by my kiddos at all. I also still proudly display my medal with the other gazillion I have.

Aid on course is great but this is a mountain event so stock up on the nutrition you use on a daily basis and be ready for a multitude of conditions. Mountain storms roll in fast and furious with no favoritism.

It's Pikes Peak people the views are awesome and worth the trek.

Expo is basic but plenty of goodies and event swag to get you through the race fueled and lookn' like the real deal even if you're faking it. ;)

You're gonna walk to the start line of this race to if you're even thinking about doing this race book your room in Manitou Springs way before sign up day to insure this doesn't suck. I actually get a room a few miles from the start to use for my warm up.

This race goes off without a hitch. RD's for this race are top notch and will keep you up to date with the latest details each and every step along the way. Don't be a diva it's a trail race! Stay laid back and you'll get along fine. Again, this is Pikes Peak!!! You wanna complain about something try pulling this off on your own. Aint not gonna happen.

Be mindful of your fitness and treat this race with all the respect it deserves. If you have never been to a high altitude race don't make this your first one. Get to a mountain and hang out for a day or so to see if you can even tolerate being in elevation let alone testing your endurance limits simultaneously. If you can tolerate altitude..... do...this...race. It is awesome.

This is a MUST DO RACE!! Flying Pig will forever hold a place in my heart. It is the first race I attempted and broke the 4 hour barrier. Everything about this race is on point. We stayed at some lovely accommodations and thoroughly enjoyed the quaint downtown area on the Kentucky side of the River. The Expo was fantastic with many large sponsors giving out goodies. The Race Poster was so cool and it is very easy to navigate Cincinnati as well.

Race day was just a tad chaotic for us as this was our first race of this size and magnitude. Once we found our corral everything settled down nicely from there. This is a very well organized event with massive amounts of aid support and so much great fan spectating along the course. The aid stations compete for prizes and holy wow do they go above and beyond to win you over. :)

This course is pretty great. There is a bit of a climb around mile 8 the year I ran it and maybe a few other grade changes of note but over all the course is so lovely and the locals that come out and line the course are just fantastic to get you back to the start / finish with so many race supporters welcoming you into the finish area. The medal was just fantastic and my 70 year old dad even won an age group award in the half marathon to top off the event for our family.

Highly recommend this race to any 50 state competitor as THE Ohio marathon to do.