By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FLYING PIG RUNDOWN

Photos from the race Complete race results Today's stories: • Clifton residents champions • Daugherty: Pastry, coffee fuel for this soul • Lentz a tenacious victor • Ball's 1st win at home • Wrong turn costly in the 10K event; Borling wins it • Flying Pig by the numbers

P.J. Ball was understandably a little nervous entering Sunday's Flying Pig Marathon. The last marathon she ran she "hit the wall and crashed."

Not this time, and not with her home crowd.

With the help of some friends along the way, the 25-year-old Clifton resident won her first marathon in four tries, taking the women's title in 3:05:52.

"It's just amazing," Ball said. "To win in my hometown is awesome and then knowing all these fans are here supporting and yelling for me is great. It's an honor and I feel extremely lucky because I totally didn't come here to win."

Ball graduated from McAuley High School and is a graduate student and former long-distance runner at the University of Cincinnati. She pulled away from Leslie Dorado, 34, of Westerville, Ohio, at mile 10 and wasn't challenged again. Dorado finished second in 3:07:41. Laurie Davis, of Cincinnati, came in third in 3:10:27. Defending champion Lisa Veneziano didn't run because she is pregnant.

"All three of us ran together for a mile, then (Ball) just kept on going," Dorado said. "I was leading, but she's a strong runner."

Ball's performance Sunday was about 30 minutes faster than her last marathon, in Boston in 2003, the race she said was "the worst experience I've ever had." After that race, she wasn't sure she wanted to run a marathon again. But some friends convinced her otherwise, and she's been training with them since December.

"I was more nervous for this marathon than any other marathon . . . I was so worried that would happen today again," Ball said. "I just ran how I felt. The marathon's so scary. You can all the sudden (drop back), so you kind of just try to go your best, see how you feel and keep gradually getting faster. I tried to start out conservative and then start picking up the pace."

And she had help. On top of the support from her family, college and high school friends that spread themselves throughout the course, Ball's training partner, Rich Haffey, ran with her until mile 23. Then her friend Beth Kreider jumped in to run mile 25 with her.

"If it wasn't for (Haffey), I wouldn't have made it . . . He's awesome," Ball said. "And (Kreider) kept me going through the worst part of it."

Ball is now two for two in major running events in Cincinnati this year. She also won the Humana Heart Mini-Marathon 15K on March 28. It was her second time running the Pig. She finished in fifth in 2002. And she may be back next year.

"The more I do (marathons), the more I'm starting to like them," Ball said. "I really just love to run. It's something I truly enjoy, so I can see myself keeping it up."

E-mail ckane@enquirer.com