The Flying Pig Marathon 2025: race notes

I appreciated reading one runner’s review of the Flying Pig Marathon before I ran, so I thought I’d record race notes of my own. Alas, I didn’t get around to writing anything up while the race was fresh in my mind, but here’s a pre-race thought stream on hills, at least.

Cincinnati’s course is actually hillier than Boston. ~1,200ft elevation gain compared to ~800ft. I haven’t run Boston, but actually NYC is just as hilly in terms of elevation gain. It’s just that Boston’s is concentrated in Heartbreak Hill around mile 20 when you’re more likely to be bonking whereas New York’s comes mostly from the five bridges you cross. Boston also has more descent. My first marathon—Charlottesville in 2021, which had an alternate course that year for COVID—is actually still my hilliest even after Cincy. The Flying Pig has rolling hills throughout and one big climb around miles 6-9. I did a dress rehearsal run of the first 12 miles a few weeks before the race to see how that hilly stretch would feel. Cincinnati is quite a hilly city on the outskirts of Appalachia, which I think is surprising to those unfamiliar (I would have assumed midwestern flatness before moving here, too). I like running hills. I lived and ran often for four years in hilly Charlottesville. I’ve hiked and run a good bit around the mountains of New Hampshire. And I currently live in a particularly hilly neighborhood in Cincinnati where elevation is unavoidable.