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We tried to hit up Johnny's on a Saturday around 1pm and we could barley stand inside the fairly small dining room, it was that crowded. So we changed plans that afternoon and hit up the shop the next afternoon when it was a little less crowded. After standing in line for a few minutes and staring up at the big white board filled with Po-Boy options, we decided to split a "Johnny's special" - roast beef, grilled ham, swiss & american cheese, lettuce, tomato, and pickle - all piled up on some french bread.
While waiting for our sandwich, I loved all the people watching. Tons of people were bringing out their phones to grab a photo of these huge sandwiches that they were about to consume. The dining room is small, but I did notice some people where headed to the back of the building so I'm guessing there was some more seating back there.
Johnny's is 1 or 2 blocks north of the Riverwalk along the Mississippi River, so JJ had a great suggestion to get our po-boy to go and head over for a picnic along the river. I once saw a show on the travel channel where some guy was talking about po-boys saying that the way to tell if it's a good one is when the juices run down your arm when you take a bit out of it and let me tell you Johnny's did not disappoint - it was totally awesome! 
We all stayed together for the first mile or so and it was quite a rush to be among the thousands of runners all lined up in downtown Cincinnati. In the sea of all those people, I got separated from my group of girls, but ended up hooking up with another training group member named Adam. He and I ran together for miles 2-6 and that was great. Having someone new to talk with along the race was a really great way to get those first few miles under my belt without freaking out too much about those miles that were still to come. At mile 6.5 the course headed into a beautiful park in Cincy called Eden Park and that was were the relay switch occurred. So, I follow the path to switch out with JJ so he could start his portion of the 4-person relay run and then I continued on the half marathon course. Being able to share about 1/2 mile running with him was a really cool part of the day. Having him support me in so many ways and seeing him along this journey really helped me push on through the middle miles along the route.
One of the Running Spot coaches spotted me with about .2 miles to go and I did my best to hold together the emotions I was feeling. I gave him a huge "high 5" and smiled from ear to ear - I had done it! With Coach Micheal's encouragement, he told me to pick out someone in front of me and beat that person across the finish line - so that's what I did - set my eyes on a gal in a gray t-shirt and pounded my legs so hard that I blew past her as I crossed the finish line.
Me and JJ at Mile 7
My awesome friends who came out to cheer me on at Mile 11
Once life settles down a little I plan on posting about how everything went and some more indepth details about the day. Like I said, it was really great - eventhough it rained the first 5 miles or so, I really embraced the morning and took in all the excitement and emotions that came along with completing this goal I'd set out to finish. I can not thank everyone enough for all the support these last few months and especially the days leading up to the big run. I received tons of shout outs on Facebook and also got many text messages from loved ones cheering me on and all of those mean so much to me. Looking forward to recaping things and getting another blog post up soon with the details and hopefully some of the office race day photos!
I'm feeling pretty good about things - I've gotten tons of shout outs and good luck wishes through Facebook and text messages, so it's so helpful to have lots of people cheering for me as I embark on this adventure. A few of my peeps are supposed to be out spectating along the course, so that will be fun to look for them along the run. Got all my clothes ready for the early wake up call, so now it's time for bed for some good solid sleep.
Thanks again to all my blog readers for your support over these last few months during my training run posts. I'll be thinking of all those who are behind me while I'm out on the course in the morning!
Once through Marshall's campus, I head out one of the main roads in Huntington and made my way to Ritter Park which is part of the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District. 
I am familiar with this park because it is where my friend holds the annual Lexi Black walk for SLOS (check out the link for more info) so I knew there was a 1 mile walking path around the park and there are also tons of beautiful houses and side streets to explore in that particular area too. Checking out these houses and enjoying the view of the park made the time pass quickly along the run.
After a few times around the park, I headed out back to the main road that would take me back to Marshall's campus. I did run into some "shady streets" as I made my way back to the other side of town and some of the roads I had marked on my routed ended up being alley ways, so I choose not to run those and ended up running about 8.5 miles total instead of the full 10. All in all, it was a great morning for a run, especially in a new place. Using the USATF website to map out a run is a great way to explore new areas if you are traveling and want to get in a walk or run. Just be flexible if things don't exactly match up and study your route on the map and turn by turn directions several times before heading out to pound the pavement in a new town.
After the run, I headed back to my friend's house, made some coffee and spent the day enjoying the company of two lovey little girls and also loved spending some good quality time with my best friend since 4th grade - hard to believe we've been friends for over 20 years - where does the time go?!!
As seen in my email in-box today...
Dear Lenna,
Congratulations! You are now registered for the 2011 Cincinnati Flying Pig Half Marathon...
I've made it official by paying for my registration, so it's no turning back now. This weekend was a drop down week with shorter runs for Tuesday and Saturday. Next weekend, we're back up to 10 miles, which I'll be running on my own and not with the group since I'll be out of town visiting a friend and her new baby girl (Yay!). It will be quite challenging to motivate myself to get out there alone and keep going for 10 miles, so I'll be looking for some new tunes to load up on my iPod to jam out to along that upcoming long run.
That's about it for now - thanks for all the support as I embark on completing my goal of participating in a half marathon!
Alas, I pushed ahead and got moving across the first bridge - The Purple People Bridge - this is a pedestrian only bridge, so it's a nice smooth concrete surface to run along. The bridge goes between Newport, KY and the east side of Cincinnati's downtown area, near the some popular park areas called Sawyer Point and Yeatman's Cove. On most of our runs, this is usually the first bridge we cross, so it's always challenging to start on a hill, but overall I don't find this bridge too tough to handle. 
Up next, the Taylor-Southgate Bridge - this is the bridge that I find gives me the most trouble. It's 850 meters, which is similar to the others, but for some reason it kicks my butt every time I cross it. And today, we had to cross it twice (gasp) - on the way out and on the way back - but I made it, thankfully. One awesome moment from today's run while on the bridge was that the sun was coming up right beyond the bridge, so it was a bit easier to focus on the beauty of that image rather than the pain my legs were feeling while running the bridge.
The fourth bridge of today's run was the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge (the far left bridge in the photo). This one is pretty challenging, however I really like this bridge because of the views it gives you of downtown Cincinnati. It runs between Covington and downtown Cincy and it's right next to the home of the Bengals, Paul Brown Stadium, so when it's football season, you might be able to catch the players out on the practice field.
