When pigs fly

Yesterday I ran in a 4 person marathon relay team in the 9th annual Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon.  I ran the 4th leg of the relay which is a 6.9 mile distance.  I have been training for a few months with my team from the RC Durr YMCA.
I have to say it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  The people lined up on the streets cheering for you was really amazing.  The signs and banners (especially the one my family made at the finish line) were really appreciated.  The weather was perfect.  Generally everyone was in a really good and supportive mood.  It was far less competitive than I thought it would be.  Everyone was there to have a good time and help everyone else out.
I was on the bus to the leg 3 to leg 4 hand off at 6:30 and we left about 20 minutes later.   The finish line was about a half mile away from where the bus left and we drove out what was going to be pretty much the running course back.  The whole way there I was thinking “man, this bus has been driving for a long time!”  I couldn’t believe that I was about to run all the way back from where I started.
Once there, it was a lot more waiting than I had expected.  I was sitting in a parking lot on the corner of Linwood and Eastern for more than 3 hours.  I started 3:37 into the race and finished 1 hour and 10 minutes (exactly) later.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I was really concerned about burning out too early – passing a bunch of people only to have them pass me in the last 2 miles.  So I picked a deliberately slower pace than I trained at.  It turned out to work really well as I never was stressed. Looking back, I wonder if I could have pushed a bit harder, but I finished, got my medal and am still walking today so I can’t complain too much.
For any of you that have the opportunity to run a race of any kind: do it.  It is
an experience you will never forget.