I was very glad to hear my son say that he was going to train for The Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. I thought that after his bad experience with the LA Marathon, he would not train for another one. He was really excited about this one though. I think it was the name of the event that attracted him to it. Neither of us had heard of "Flying Pigs". He wanted me to fly out and participate in the event as well. I told him I could not beIcause I needed to recover from the last one. After all, The LA Marathon was my first event after my recovery from ( 2) surgeries. I told him I did not want to push myself so quickly. But, I registered for the Half-Marathon and did not tell him because I wanted to surprise him.
The secret was well kept, and even my daughter who has a hard time keeping a secret, kept it well. Everything was going as planned until a week before the event. I received an email in reference to the upcoming event. This email was expected, because all the event organizers start a count down and email all the registered participants. But, the email for some strange reason wished everyone luck in the upcoming "Flying Pig Kids Event". Of course my son thought he had registered for the wrong event, so he went online to check the status of his registration. When he searched he typed his last name, and (2) names came up.
He then called me and said, "Sorry Mom, I just ruined your surprise". Well the surprise was ruined. My daughter's reaction was, "do you know how hard it was for me to keep that secret?" I started to think that it was only fair for the person who sent that email to pay for my registration, flight and the hotel. After all they were responsible for ruining everything.
The weekend of the event, I had scheduled a Friday morning flight from the Burbank Airport to the Cincinnati/Kentucky Airport. I scheduled an early flight, because I needed to sleep well Friday night, since normally it is very difficult to sleep the night before an event.
I arrived at the airport in Burbank at 5:00 AM, to discover that due to poor weather conditions all flights to and out of the Chicago Airport ( my layover location), had been delayed, because the Airport was closed and would be for most of the morning or the entire day. The delay and wait at both airports were intensive. I arrived at my hotel room at 3:00 AM Saturday. So much for Friday's good night sleep. Between the (3) hour difference and the LONG travel time, I was exhausted, I really did not know how I was going to function for the duration of the event on Sunday. And to top it off I was not able to have my pasta dinner Friday.
I slept a little then had to wake up to pick up my race packet. The packets are not mailed to you. All participants have to pick them up the Friday or Saturday before the event. My son and I went together to pick up the packets. He brought his friend along to try to inspire him to sign up for the next event. After we picked up the packets we had spaghetti for dinner. Then my son dropped me off at my hotel room. He was staying with his friend as he had previously planned.
Since he was not staying with me, I did not get to witness any of his night before event preparation ordeal. I was having issues of my own. I had to get up at 4:00 AM. This is normal on the day of the event, so logically I would have to go to bed by 8:00 PM. But, my body was saying it was 5:00 PM ( note the 3 hour difference mentioned previously). I closed all the shades tightly to make it look and hope it would feel like night. But, I could not fool my body. By this time, I was really scared. I had not slept well Friday because of the long travel time, and now I can't sleep Saturday because of the time adjustment my body had not made. I really did not know how I was going to perform on Sunday.
Sunday came and I woke up to the alarm at 4:00 AM exhausted. Well, I had to do it. After all this planning I could not back out of it now. My son came by to pick me up, so we could drive together to the event. It was pretty chilly and I was sorry I did not bring a trash bag to wear over me. This is something I normally do since I can easily remove and discard it after I start running and warm up. My son was pretty layered though. He had sweat pants a sweat shirt and thermals. We wished each other luck and said, "see you at the finish line".
Along the route I saw a large number of "Flying Pigs", costumes that is. They even had the little pig tails. And when I crossed the finish line, one congratulated me. Another gave me a face towel with a "Flying Pig"on it, another gave me a blanket with you guessed it , "Flying Pigs" on it. One removed the timing chip off my shoe and another placed a medal around my neck. It was all about "The Flying Pigs".
To my surprise, my son cross the finish line with only shorts and a short sleeve T-shirt. And I started to wonder, " What happened to all his clothes"? You see a trash bag you can discard and not worry about. But, sweats and thermals, I'd worry about. It could get to be a bit expensive leaving clothes along the route.
When I asked about the clothes all I got was a talk to the hand signal. Since I did not want to talk to the hand, I let it go. I would try to address the issue again later. As I was hurrying to get to the car, I heard my son say, "Mom", and saw him point to his feet as he limped. I got the hint and slowed down my walking pace. He then asked me if I could drive, because he was in pain and could not. I drove to his friends house where we showered, rested a little and ate lunch.
After the warm shower and nourishment, my son packed up his belongings because he was going back to Columbus since he had work on Monday. Before he headed back, he rested a little at the hotel where I was staying. It was then that I notice something strange. His toe nails looked like claws. He had not cut his toe nails before the race. No wonder he was in pain and was having problems walking. I asked him," How can you run like that?" He asked me for clippers which I did not bring, since I did not want TSA to confiscate them as a possible "weapon". I then proceeded to ask him how was he able to run during training without trimming his nails. He confessed that he had not trained that well. I was really surprised, because I thought he had learned his lesson from the first event.
By now I'm starting to believe that 22 year old young men really believe that they don't need to prepare for anything. They truly believe they can do anything. And they can if they put their mind to it. But, I don't know if the consequences are worth it. If you don't train properly you will have a bad experience instead of inspiring one. Worst yet, you can get injured. It is my advice to be true to the schedule and the training required to complete a Marathon. This will guarantee that you will truly have a positive life changing experience once you cross the finish line.
The secret was well kept, and even my daughter who has a hard time keeping a secret, kept it well. Everything was going as planned until a week before the event. I received an email in reference to the upcoming event. This email was expected, because all the event organizers start a count down and email all the registered participants. But, the email for some strange reason wished everyone luck in the upcoming "Flying Pig Kids Event". Of course my son thought he had registered for the wrong event, so he went online to check the status of his registration. When he searched he typed his last name, and (2) names came up.
He then called me and said, "Sorry Mom, I just ruined your surprise". Well the surprise was ruined. My daughter's reaction was, "do you know how hard it was for me to keep that secret?" I started to think that it was only fair for the person who sent that email to pay for my registration, flight and the hotel. After all they were responsible for ruining everything.
The weekend of the event, I had scheduled a Friday morning flight from the Burbank Airport to the Cincinnati/Kentucky Airport. I scheduled an early flight, because I needed to sleep well Friday night, since normally it is very difficult to sleep the night before an event.
I arrived at the airport in Burbank at 5:00 AM, to discover that due to poor weather conditions all flights to and out of the Chicago Airport ( my layover location), had been delayed, because the Airport was closed and would be for most of the morning or the entire day. The delay and wait at both airports were intensive. I arrived at my hotel room at 3:00 AM Saturday. So much for Friday's good night sleep. Between the (3) hour difference and the LONG travel time, I was exhausted, I really did not know how I was going to function for the duration of the event on Sunday. And to top it off I was not able to have my pasta dinner Friday.
I slept a little then had to wake up to pick up my race packet. The packets are not mailed to you. All participants have to pick them up the Friday or Saturday before the event. My son and I went together to pick up the packets. He brought his friend along to try to inspire him to sign up for the next event. After we picked up the packets we had spaghetti for dinner. Then my son dropped me off at my hotel room. He was staying with his friend as he had previously planned.
Since he was not staying with me, I did not get to witness any of his night before event preparation ordeal. I was having issues of my own. I had to get up at 4:00 AM. This is normal on the day of the event, so logically I would have to go to bed by 8:00 PM. But, my body was saying it was 5:00 PM ( note the 3 hour difference mentioned previously). I closed all the shades tightly to make it look and hope it would feel like night. But, I could not fool my body. By this time, I was really scared. I had not slept well Friday because of the long travel time, and now I can't sleep Saturday because of the time adjustment my body had not made. I really did not know how I was going to perform on Sunday.
Sunday came and I woke up to the alarm at 4:00 AM exhausted. Well, I had to do it. After all this planning I could not back out of it now. My son came by to pick me up, so we could drive together to the event. It was pretty chilly and I was sorry I did not bring a trash bag to wear over me. This is something I normally do since I can easily remove and discard it after I start running and warm up. My son was pretty layered though. He had sweat pants a sweat shirt and thermals. We wished each other luck and said, "see you at the finish line".
Along the route I saw a large number of "Flying Pigs", costumes that is. They even had the little pig tails. And when I crossed the finish line, one congratulated me. Another gave me a face towel with a "Flying Pig"on it, another gave me a blanket with you guessed it , "Flying Pigs" on it. One removed the timing chip off my shoe and another placed a medal around my neck. It was all about "The Flying Pigs".
To my surprise, my son cross the finish line with only shorts and a short sleeve T-shirt. And I started to wonder, " What happened to all his clothes"? You see a trash bag you can discard and not worry about. But, sweats and thermals, I'd worry about. It could get to be a bit expensive leaving clothes along the route.
When I asked about the clothes all I got was a talk to the hand signal. Since I did not want to talk to the hand, I let it go. I would try to address the issue again later. As I was hurrying to get to the car, I heard my son say, "Mom", and saw him point to his feet as he limped. I got the hint and slowed down my walking pace. He then asked me if I could drive, because he was in pain and could not. I drove to his friends house where we showered, rested a little and ate lunch.
After the warm shower and nourishment, my son packed up his belongings because he was going back to Columbus since he had work on Monday. Before he headed back, he rested a little at the hotel where I was staying. It was then that I notice something strange. His toe nails looked like claws. He had not cut his toe nails before the race. No wonder he was in pain and was having problems walking. I asked him," How can you run like that?" He asked me for clippers which I did not bring, since I did not want TSA to confiscate them as a possible "weapon". I then proceeded to ask him how was he able to run during training without trimming his nails. He confessed that he had not trained that well. I was really surprised, because I thought he had learned his lesson from the first event.
By now I'm starting to believe that 22 year old young men really believe that they don't need to prepare for anything. They truly believe they can do anything. And they can if they put their mind to it. But, I don't know if the consequences are worth it. If you don't train properly you will have a bad experience instead of inspiring one. Worst yet, you can get injured. It is my advice to be true to the schedule and the training required to complete a Marathon. This will guarantee that you will truly have a positive life changing experience once you cross the finish line.
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