Saturday morning, 7:30. 29 degrees.
The icy streets around Edgewood and Fort Mitchell were filled with runners. The roads around Fort Thomas and Florence were filled with runners. The sidewalks in Covington, Newport, and across the Ohio River in Cincinnati were filled with runners.
It’s that time of year. The holidays are over, and the icy chill is setting in. It’s more than a month before pitchers and catchers report.
But for the runners of Northern Kentucky, spring training already has begun.
For most of us, that means training for Greater Cincinnati’s premier running event, the Flying Pig Marathon, set this year for May 1. Some are considering Run the Bluegrass, a half-marathon run around Keeneland that will be held a month earlier, on April 2. The Kentucky Derby Marathon is being held in Louisville on April 30.
It’s an unusual situation to have the Flying Pig and the Derby marathons back-to-back on the same weekend — and several people are considering doing both.
Over at Pain By Numbers, Jim White has issued a challenge to its members:
“We’re calling this the PBN Challenge,” he posted on Facebook. “The Derby Marathon is Saturday, April 30, and the very next day is our very own Flying Pig Marathon! Who dares to do back-to-back marathons?”
For now, training has begun. Some are training alone or in small groups. Others are part of a growing trend in the area — large groups, usually attached to area running stores, that set out two or three times a week for long Saturday runs or weekday interval training. These groups include the Tri State Running Co., the Queen City Running Club, the Buckeye Running Co., the House of Run and Tri, and Fleet Feet Sports.
“I have trained on my own in the past and with Tri State last year,” said John Engel of Covington. “I find it much harder to get back into running mode when I don’t have a group to run with.”
Tricia Helton of Cincinnati said she needs help from others when she returns to the roads after the hectic holiday season.
“I am training with Tri State for the (Flying) Pig Half (Marathon),” she said. “I have been slacking on my training over the holidays. I have been running for about four years, but the last year-and-a-half have not been consistent.”
As we ran along Dixie Highway on Saturday morning, a fellow runner asked me what we do when it gets really cold, like close to zero. I shrugged and replied, “put on more clothes?”
We got the chance to find out a few days later.
Monday morning, 7:30. Five degrees above zero.
Several of us had planned an early morning run on the holiday, but the temperature forced us to wait a while. Several hours later, with the mercury climbing all the way to the 9-degree mark, I set out alone. I wore two of everything — socks, tights, shirts, gloves. I wore a hoodie and a balaclava.
It was for an easy three-mile run. It was cold, but sunny, so it was bearable.
But as our training starts in the ice and cold January and February, it soon moves into the more bearable, if unpredictable, spring of March and April. That’s when the city’s second big running event, the Heart Mini, which draws some 25,000 entrants, takes off on March 13 this year.
The Mini, which has several races, including a 15K (9.3 miles) and a half-marathon (13.1 miles), is used by many as warmup for the Pig — the Mini’s longer events are long and hilly, and are run under race conditions.
For some, the Mini has more meaning.
Steve Schwalbach of Fort Thomas runs for Alzheimer’s research. He ran through Kentucky one year, down through Ohio last year, and he plans to cross Florida this spring to raise funds for and awareness of the disease that killed his mother, Jackie.
But long before he started running ultramarathons across states, he ran the Heart Mini as his long race.
Let’s allow him to pick up the story:
“It was the first long race I ever did,” he told me. “I was 15 to 20 years younger than (the people I ran with), and they always took me under their wings. So it’s always had special meaning.
“As you know, my mother had Alzheimer’s. During my warmup (last year), I stopped and said a prayer and wished her to go to heaven. She had suffered long enough with this disease. I shed a few tears and got back to my warmup. A few miles later, I was standing on the starting line. The gun goes off. I start running just a normal race.
“As I am running the race, I’m thinking of my mother — to the best of my knowledge (the Heart Mini) was the last race I can remember her seeing me finish, back in the ‘90s. After I finish, I grab my medal, grab a water, and walk over to grab my bag. I get my phone out of the bag. This is probably what most people do, text or call their loves ones to tell them they finished.
“Well, as I look at my phone, I see I received a text from my brother. My mother had passed on during the race.
“That’s why the Heart Mini is special. This year, I will not be there. That’s the week I am running across Florida to honor her and bring awareness to Alzheimer’s.”
Paul Long writes weekly for the NKyTribune about running and runners. For his daily running stories, follow him at dailymile.com or on Twitter @Pogue57