Enter your goal time. Get hill-adjusted, mile-by-mile splits built from the 2026 official course data — including the 181-foot Gilbert Avenue climb at Mile 7, and the long descent back to the Ohio River.
The Flying Pig Marathon's net elevation change is essentially zero — finish within a few feet of where you started. On paper, Cincinnati's spring marathon should be a reasonable race to run by effort. In practice, the net number hides more than 440 feet of actual climbing, most of it concentrated in a single wall between Miles 6 and 9, followed by an equally dramatic descent that punishes quads as much as the climb exhausted the lungs.
Mile 7 is the race. A single 181-foot climb up Gilbert Avenue out of Over-the-Rhine — a relentless grade through Eden Park into Walnut Hills that sits at exactly the point in the race where runners are settling into goal pace. It's the steepest mile on the course by a wide margin, and the climb doesn't end at the top: Mile 8 adds another 52 feet, and Mile 9 another 60, so you're still climbing through the point where most runners expect to be cruising. Cumulative climb at the peak: 323 feet above the Ohio River.
This calculator helps you solve that problem by giving you an exact, step-by-step plan built on the official 2026 GPX. Enter your goal time, set your uphill sensitivity, and get a target pace for every mile from Paul Brown Stadium to Mariemont and back — accounting for every foot of elevation change on the course, and closing exactly to your goal time.
Enter your goal time and effort level. Your personalized mile-by-mile splits appear instantly.
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| Mile | Elev | Effort | vs Goal Pace | Target Pace (min/mi) |
Pace Bank | Elapsed |
|---|
Elevation data derived from the official 2026 Flying Pig Marathon GPX (Ride With GPS route 54268095). Uphill penalty applied above +0.4% grade; downhill benefit applied below −0.75% grade. Math closes exactly to goal time.
Where the hills actually hit, why the descent is both a gift and a risk, and what it takes to run the second half of the Flying Pig on fresh-enough legs to actually hold pace.
The Flying Pig starts at Paul Brown Stadium in downtown Cincinnati, where the Ohio River sits at roughly 500 feet above sea level. The first mile is welcoming — a gentle +4 feet as runners settle into the field and find their rhythm along the riverfront. Mile 2 heads east along Pete Rose Way with a small drop, and mile 3 delivers the signature early postcard of the race: the Roebling Suspension Bridge crossing into Newport, Kentucky, a short ramp up and back.
Miles 4 and 5 loop back through downtown with a small net rise, and mile 6 begins easing into Over-the-Rhine as Eden Park comes into view. Through the first 6 miles the cumulative climb is only 30 feet. It feels like an easy start — and it is. Then the course turns onto Gilbert Avenue.
The climb does not end at the top of Gilbert. Mile 8 through Walnut Hills adds another 52 feet, and mile 9 through Evanston adds another 60 — so you're still climbing three miles after the hardest one. By the time you crest the peak near mile 9, you've gained 323 feet since the start line. The lungs know it. The legs know it. What comes next is a long, dramatic descent that will either feel like relief or feel like torture — and which of those it is depends almost entirely on how conservatively you ran miles 1 through 6.
The descent begins at mile 10 and is immediate. After cresting the peak in Evanston, the course drops 75 feet in mile 10 and another 69 in mile 11 as it descends through the Norwood corridor. For runners who powered up the Gilbert Avenue climb, this section feels liberating. For runners whose quads are already shot, it's a different story.
Mile 10 is the steepest single-mile descent in this stretch at 75 feet. The legs want to run fast here — pace feels easy on downhills even when they're not. Running mile 10 hard is one of the most reliable ways to blow up the Flying Pig. Your calculator splits for these miles are faster than your average goal pace, and they should feel easy to hit. If you're working to hit them, something went wrong earlier.
Mile 13 is the single largest descent on the course — an 80-foot drop that takes you through the halfway mark in Silverton. Mile 14 continues the descent through Kenwood at another 68 feet. Check your pace bank here: if you've run the opening climb correctly, you'll be slightly behind average goal pace but with a positive bank from the descent miles. Quad damage from running these descents too hard shows up in miles 22 through 26, not here.
After the long descent out of Evanston, miles 15 through 22 settle into the rolling out-and-back through Cincinnati's eastern neighborhoods. The course is net downhill through this section — 61 feet lower at mile 22 than mile 15 — but there's enough variation to demand continuous engagement. Mile 15 drops 12 feet, mile 16 climbs 27, mile 17 turns around near Mariemont. The consistent pattern of small climbs and drops is more draining at mile 20 than the numbers suggest.
The turnaround in Mariemont at mile 17 is one of the small psychological pivots of the race — from that point on, every step is heading back toward the finish. Mile 18 drops 39 feet as the course descends out of the turnaround through Madisonville, and mile 20 drops another 18 through Hyde Park Square. Both miles will feel faster than target pace and both carry the same descending-on-tired-quads risk as the earlier descent section, just amplified by an additional 10 miles of racing. Mile 19 is the wild card — a modest 3-foot rise that feels harder than it should because the quads are already loaded from the descent.
Crowd support picks up again in the Hyde Park, Oakley, and Norwood neighborhoods after thinning slightly during the Mariemont turnaround. Cincinnati residents along this stretch understand how hard the course is — the encouragement tends to be genuine and specific rather than generic. This section is where Flying Pig veterans often report the most meaningful crowd moments of the race.
By mile 23, the course is working its way back through the Corryville and Mt. Auburn corridor toward downtown. Mile 23 is a small 7-foot rise near the UC campus — minor on fresh legs, but at mile 23 of a hilly marathon, every step matters. It's a mile where the weakness of early-race pacing shows up clearly: runners who banked patience through the Gilbert Avenue climb handle this with ease, and runners who burned matches on the climb feel it here.
Mile 24 eases back down 5 feet through the Mt. Auburn descent, and mile 25 drops another 18 feet as the course returns to downtown Cincinnati. The streets are lined with spectators who've been waiting since the start, and the energy here — knowing you're less than a 5K from the finish line — is different from anything that came before it. The pig costumes, the cowbells, the signs. Flying Pig finishers earn this section.
The Flying Pig finish experience is one of the better regional marathon closings in the midwest. The festival atmosphere that gives the race its name — the costumes, the humor, the community — peaks at the finish. Flying Pig finisher medals are among the more memorable in marathon racing, and the post-race area near Paul Brown Stadium typically has music, food, and the distinct satisfaction of having survived Cincinnati's most demanding 26.2 miles.
Early May in Cincinnati brings genuine variability — anything from ideal cool and overcast to warm and humid. The hills make heat significantly more punishing than a flat course.
| Year | Start Temp | Humidity | Wind | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 64°F | 72% | 7 mph SW | Warm Humid, partly cloudy — harder on hills |
| 2023 | 52°F | 65% | 9 mph NW | Good Cool, overcast — near-ideal conditions |
| 2022 | 57°F | 70% | 11 mph W | Good Partly cloudy, mild — solid running weather |
| 2021 | 61°F | 68% | 8 mph S | Warm Sunny and humid — above ideal for hills |
| 2019 | 48°F | 62% | 13 mph NW | Cool Breezy and cold — excellent for fast times |
Cincinnati in early May sits in a weather transition zone — winter cold fronts still push through occasionally, but humid summer air can arrive early. The hills make heat management significantly harder than at flat marathons: climbing Gilbert Avenue at mile 7 in 65°F humidity is physiologically harder than running flat at 70°F. If the forecast shows warm and humid conditions, adjust your goal time or build extra conservatism into the mile 7 through mile 9 climb. The Flying Pig has produced both exceptional times and significant attrition depending on the year.
Yes — and many runners do. But the hills demand a different kind of BQ strategy than you'd use at a flat course.
The Flying Pig Marathon is a popular BQ target in the midwest, and for good reason. The net elevation change is near-zero, which means there's no systemic penalty built into the course the way there is at a race with a significant net climb. A well-paced Flying Pig is as BQ-able as most regional marathons — on a good weather day, you have everything you need.
The challenge is that the hills demand patience in the first half that most runners aren't trained to exercise. At a flat race, running by feel in the first half roughly corresponds to running by pace. At Flying Pig, running by feel through the Gilbert Avenue climb almost certainly means running faster than the hill warrants. The calculator's Ideal pacing strategy builds in conservative splits through miles 7 through 9 and calculated recovery through the descent — a plan specifically designed to leave enough in the legs for a strong close from mile 22 through the finish.
Many experienced Flying Pig runners target the race knowing they'll be 30 to 60 seconds per mile "behind pace" through the big climb, with a pace bank that turns positive as the descent plays out. This approach works. Running positive splits on the hills and chasing down time in the second half does not. The Flying Pig rewards patience and punishes early effort more consistently than any flat course.
These are the official BAA standards for Boston 2026. To secure entry, aim to beat your standard by at least 5 minutes — the field is oversubscribed and the cutoff typically falls several minutes under the stated standard. With the Flying Pig's hills, planning for a 5 to 10 minute buffer is wise insurance against a tougher-than-usual day on the Gilbert Avenue climb.
| Age Group | Men | Women | Non-binary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–34 | 3:00:00 | 3:30:00 | 3:30:00 |
| 35–39 | 3:05:00 | 3:35:00 | 3:35:00 |
| 40–44 | 3:10:00 | 3:40:00 | 3:40:00 |
| 45–49 | 3:20:00 | 3:50:00 | 3:50:00 |
| 50–54 | 3:25:00 | 3:55:00 | 3:55:00 |
| 55–59 | 3:35:00 | 4:05:00 | 4:05:00 |
| 60–64 | 3:50:00 | 4:20:00 | 4:20:00 |
| 65–69 | 4:05:00 | 4:35:00 | 4:35:00 |
| 70–74 | 4:20:00 | 4:50:00 | 4:50:00 |
| 75–79 | 4:35:00 | 5:05:00 | 5:05:00 |
| 80+ | 4:50:00 | 5:20:00 | 5:20:00 |
The calculator's “Ideal” pacing strategy adds conservative time through miles 7 through 9 and recovers it through the descent section, with a slight push in the closing miles. This pacing approach is calibrated for the Flying Pig specifically — it's not the same as even effort, and it's not the same as aggressive negative splits. It's designed to account for the hills, protect the quads through the descent, and arrive at mile 22 with enough left to run the finish on your terms.
Everything you need to know before race weekend — from expo and packet pickup to start-line access, on-course support, and the festival atmosphere that makes Flying Pig one of the midwest's best race weekends.
Friday (expo preview): The Flying Pig Health and Fitness Expo opens Friday at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati. Hours are typically limited on Friday — check the official race website for current times. The expo features vendors, race merchandise, and the packet pickup process that continues through Saturday.
Saturday (main expo day): Full expo hours at the Duke Energy Convention Center. Saturday is the busiest day — arrive early in the morning if possible. All runners must pick up their own bibs with valid ID. Corrals and start times are printed on your bib.
Sunday (race day): Marathon starts at approximately 6:30am. Arrive downtown well before your corral opening time — parking fills early and the pre-race area near Paul Brown Stadium gets crowded as the field gathers.
The start line is near Paul Brown Stadium in downtown Cincinnati along the Ohio River. Downtown Cincinnati has structured parking garages within walking distance of the start and finish area — the race website publishes recommended garages each year. Arrive at least 60 to 75 minutes before your wave start to allow for parking, gear check, and corralling.
For runners staying at downtown hotels, most are within a 10 to 20 minute walk of the start. Downtown Cincinnati is walkable and flat near the river — save the legs and avoid rideshares in the immediate pre-race window, as streets close early and pickup/dropoff logistics become complicated near race time.
The Flying Pig places aid stations approximately every mile throughout the course. Water and sports drink (typically Gatorade Endurance) are available at each station. Gel stations at specific mile markers provide GU Energy gels — the race website publishes the exact placement and flavors each year. Confirm which gels will be on course and test your planned gel in training.
Medical support is strong, with medics stationed throughout the course and mobile bike support on key sections. The hilly terrain means aid-station spacing can feel uneven on effort — Mile 7 is the most demanding stretch relative to the spacing, so carry what you need through the Gilbert Avenue climb rather than waiting for the next station.
The finish line is near Paul Brown Stadium with the Ohio River as the backdrop — one of the more visually dramatic finish settings in midwest marathon racing. Finisher medals, mylar blankets, food, and beverages are distributed in the finish festival area along the riverfront. The Flying Pig finish experience is festive: pig costumes, live music, and one of the more enthusiastic crowds of any regional marathon.
Gear check bags are transported to the finish area and distributed near the finish festival. Bag retrieval typically runs smoothly, but plan 15 to 20 minutes for retrieval after finishing. The post-race festival area has food vendors and entertainment for runners and spectators — a good place to wait for friends who are still on course.
Downtown Cincinnati hotels are the most convenient option — walking distance to the start, finish, and expo, with no race-morning transport required. The Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter (just across the river in Covington, KY), the 21c Museum Hotel, and the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza are all popular with Flying Pig runners. Downtown hotels book up quickly once registration opens.
Covington and Newport, Kentucky, directly across the river via the Roebling Suspension Bridge and other crossings, offer additional hotel inventory at generally lower rates than downtown Cincinnati proper. Both are a 10 to 15 minute walk across the river to the start area and are a practical alternative if downtown is sold out or priced out of range.
The Flying Pig Marathon uses standard online registration through the official race website (flyingpigmarathon.com). The race does not use a lottery system — registration is open until the field is full on a first-come basis. The full marathon typically sells out months in advance, particularly as the race's reputation as a BQ course and midwest destination event has grown.
Charity entries are available through the Flying Pig's official charity partners. The race weekend includes multiple events — the half marathon, 5K, 10K, and various novelty races — that run alongside the full marathon and share the finish festival atmosphere. If you're bringing family, the weekend schedule gives non-runners plenty of options to participate.
The Flying Pig is one of the hillier major marathons in the midwest. The course climbs more than 440 feet through the first 9 miles, with the most demanding mile by a wide margin being Mile 7 — a single 181-foot climb up Gilbert Avenue out of Over-the-Rhine that rivals any mile at Boston for sustained grade. The good news is that almost all of that elevation comes back down through miles 10 through 14, with a dramatic 250-foot descent. The second half of the race is substantially more runnable, though tired legs make even the modest rolls through Mariemont and Hyde Park feel steep by mile 20.
Mile 7 is the hardest mile on the course by a wide margin — a single 181-foot climb up Gilbert Avenue out of Over-the-Rhine that alone out-grades Heartbreak Hill. The climb doesn't end at the top of Gilbert, either: Mile 8 adds another 52 feet through Walnut Hills, and Mile 9 adds 60 more through Evanston before the course finally crests. Runners who haven't accounted for the Gilbert Avenue climb in their pace strategy typically blow up through this section and pay for it in the second half.
Yes, and it's a popular BQ target in the midwest. The near-zero net elevation means the course itself isn't inherently slower than a flat race — but the hills require a patience-first approach that's different from how most runners approach a BQ attempt. The key is running the first 9 miles conservatively enough that the descent in miles 10 through 14 feels like recovery rather than additional stress. Many experienced BQ chasers deliberately run mile 7 at 30 to 45 seconds per mile slower than goal pace and make up the time in the second half. The calculator's Ideal pacing strategy is specifically calibrated for this approach.
The calculator uses net elevation data derived from the official 2026 Flying Pig Marathon GPX (Ride With GPS route 54268095), applying a research-backed penalty for uphill grades and a benefit for downhill grades. The math closes exactly to your goal time — meaning if you run every mile at the target pace shown, you'll finish in your goal time. What it can't account for is weather (Cincinnati in May can swing significantly), how your quads respond to the sustained descent in miles 10 through 14, and race-day variables like crowd congestion in the early miles. Use the splits as target ranges and adjust based on how you feel through the big climb. If you're struggling on Gilbert Avenue at mile 7, slow down — the descent will naturally give pace back, but only if you have the quad strength left to run it controlled.
