Flying Pig Marathon registration on the fly? No problem for NASA engineer, Olympic hopeful

With no COVID-19 protocols limiting the field this year, 27,620 participants marked the field this weekend for the 24th annual Flying Pig Marathon.

Those participants came from 49 states – all but South Dakota – and 15 different countries, and each of them came with a unique story, different goals and a variety of reasons for running.

Despite where they came from, they each arrived at the starting line early Sunday morning and ended at the finish line.

Some of those runners didn't even know if they'd participate until days before the race – a theme shared by the male and female winners of the half marathon.

More: Everything you need to know to get ready for the Flying Pig Marathon, Paycor Half Marathon

Josh Whitehead's from Alabama. He graduated from Auburn University with a degree in engineering and now he's a program manager at NASA.

Originally, Whitehead was a bicyclist, an activity he started at age 12 with his father and continued until he was 29. But he said his wife liked running over bicycling and she convinced him to try running and the 43-year-old has been running ever since.

More: 'I cried. She cried.' Loveland's Grace McCarron wins 1st Flying Pig Marathon

More: 'This is the most satisfying.' Bishop Brossart, NKU grad Zac Holtkamp wins 1st Flying Pig

Whitehead's wife was entered to run Sunday's full Flying Pig Marathon, but "she had a medical condition pop up this week and was getting checked out."

Whitehead said the doctor told his wife Wednesday that she didn't need to be running a marathon that weekend.

"We had hotel reservations here in town that we couldn't cancel and she had the marathon registration," Whitehead said. "And she's like, 'Let's see if they'll swap it to you. If they'll let us transfer it... we can just go up and make a family trip of it.'"

Whitehead, who's an experienced marathoner with about 20 races under his belt, didn't want to run the full marathon because he hadn't been training properly, so he opted to run the half marathon.

"I literally did not know I was going to be doing this until Friday," said Whitehead, who won the men's half marathon with a time of 1:12:14.

About nine minutes after Whitehead crossed the finish line, Caitlin Keen followed.

More: Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon: Wire-to-wire win for former resident Caitlin Keen

Keen won the women's full Flying Pig last year, and this year she decided to win the half marathon with a time of 1:21:08.

Keen's a local product from Hyde Park, but her family moved to Texas before she started high school.

And like Whitehead, Keen wasn't sure if she would compete in the Flying Pig until seven days ago.

Keen had just finished a race in Waco, Texas, and she was upset.

"They had us take a wrong turn on the course so they cut it two miles short and I was pretty upset," Keen said. "So when I got in the car on the way home I was just like I have to go to Cincinnati."

She bought a plane ticket that night and registered for the Flying Pig.

Her decision to run the half as opposed to defending her title in the full marathon was a product of her long-term goal.

"The new Olympic trial standard has changed," she said. "So my goal for the first half of 2022 was to try to just run halves and try to get a lot faster in the half."

Keen doesn't plan to run another full marathon until December. She wants to keep improving her shorter time runs with the hope that will translate into improving her time in the longer runs. By the time the Olympic trials roll around in 2024, she'll be ready.

It would seem Keen's going to have a decision to make for the Flying Pig next year (May 5-7, 2023) – defend her title in the half or try and win another full?

"I'm probably just gonna do the full," she smiled. "I'm definitely gonna do the full next year. There's no way around it for me."

Keen and Whitehead joined full marathon winners Zac Holtkamp and Grace McCarron.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Flying Pig Marathon: Half marathon winners had little time to prepare