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Local Runner Hopes To Conquer All 5 Flying Pig Races

Bill Rinehart
/
WVXU
Race officials say it takes about 30 minutes for every contestant to cross the start line.

There are five races that are officially a part of Flying Pig weekend in Cincinnati: a one-mile, a 5K, a 10K, the half and of course, the full marathon. One man wants to be the first person to run all five.

Bryce Carlson is no stranger to physical feats. He's the first American to row across the North Atlantic Ocean solo. "I think each one of us at any given moment has an opportunity to identify something we'd like to be better at, or something we'd like to become," he says. "We can take on a challenge that, through the process of becoming ready for that challenge, we can become that person we would like to be; get better at that skill we'd like to get better at."

The Seven Hills science teacher says the idea to run all five races came out of the desire to squeeze as much fun out of the weekend as he can.

As far as race officials know, no one has run all five races during Cincinnati's Flying Pig weekend.

"The half marathon and marathon combined represent another novel challenge - one is that the accumulated distance is hard, but the two races start at the same time," Carlson says. "I'll have to run the half marathon first and then begin the full marathon." Carlson says he's arranged with race organizers so that the end time of his half-marathon will count as the start time for the full-marathon.

Carlson says he'll try to take it easy for Friday night's mile, and Saturday's 5K and 10K. He's been training for running the half marathon followed by the full. Carlson says training consists of running every week, with one long run each week.

"As one gets closer and closer to the marathon date that long run distance gets longer and longer, up to maybe 20 or 22 miles two or three weeks before the marathon itself," he says. "But for me, my long runs got up to about the 43-mile long run."

Carlson says he's focused on finishing Sunday, not on setting a specific pace for the marathon.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.