Friday, October 5, 2018

Wineglass Marathon

I had always figured that the Wineglass Marathon would be my first marathon. That is, until it wasn't. I ran my first marathon in 2016 and ended up selecting the Newport Marathon. Less than a year after that, I did the Vermont City Marathon in 2017. But Wineglass was always there in the back of my mind. The reason being that Wineglass Marathon sounded fantastic -- scenic course up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, a flat course, and cool swag. It seemed like a must-do.

With this in mind, last December, my marathon buddy, Amy, and I clicked submit on our Wineglass Marathon registrations. Sunday, September 30, we were registered to run 26.2 miles.

Fast forward to Saturday, September 29. After a five plus hour drive from Western Massachusetts, Amy, my boyfriend, Ben, and I arrived in Corning, New York, where the race was set to take place. Racers were required to pick up their bibs the day before the event. Wineglass offered both a half marathon and a full marathon option, both on Sunday with start times of 7:45 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. respectively. Since the marathon was a point-to-point, I think they didn't want to fuss about having to get people their materials the day-of.

Registration took place at the Corning Museum of Glass. Part of the appeal of the race was that we'd get to check out the museum. After all, it seemed unlikely that I'd be undertaking a five hour car ride to Upstate New York again anytime soon. Getting to the Wineglass registration area once we entered the museum was a bit of a nightmare. We had to make our way through the huge museum gift shop, then down a narrow hallway packed with Wineglass clothing and products for purchase. Everywhere we went was cramped and packed with people. The narrow back hallway of a museum not being an ideal spot to have a store. From there, we made our way into an auditorium with loud music. Things were were less crowded and seemed fairly organized. Amy and I hopped into line to quickly gather our bibs and swag.

Wineglass really killed it on the swag game. We were handed our bibs and a bag filled with a marathon program (which included information about the course and the bus schedule for getting us to the starting line), a long sleeved quarter zip tech shirt, and some fliers. We were also handed a stemless wineglass. At the end of the registration counter, a volunteer handed us each a small bottle of champagne and a bag of yogurt covered pretzels.


It was around 3:30 p.m. We headed up to purchase admission to the Museum of Glass, which was half off with our bibs. I can say easily that the museum was a highlight of the weekend, even if we were only there for 90 minutes. (The museum closed at 5:00 p.m.) The Museum of Glass featured a wide variety of exhibits that looked at everything from the history of glass to manufacturing and engineering elements to glass as art. I especially enjoyed the modern art section. 

As cool as the museum was, I was not eager to walk around too much. I needed to save my legs for Sunday's race. We headed out to crash at the Airbnb we'd rented for the next two nights. I slept fairly well and woke right before the 5:30 a.m. alarm. Even though the race didn't start until 8:15 a.m. because we were doing a point-to-point, we had to catch a bus to the start line. The last bus from the finish line, where we wanted to park so that Ben could be there to greet us at the end, was at 7:00 a.m. Furthermore, Amy had just taken a new job and moved to Boston. With all that transition, she hadn't been able to do as much training as she wanted for the marathon. As a result, Amy decided to take the bus to the half marathon starting point and hang out for a few hours and then run the last half with me. Amy gets major "good friend points" for this!

When we arrived at Corning it was a bit unclear where to park. We had thought we might park at the museum, but it was about a mile away from where the buses were going to be. Time wouldn't allow for that. We drove around a bit aimlessly, wishing that the details online were a bit clearer or that there were a few more signs. Eventually, using GPS, we came to an area near where it seemed the buses were. I rolled down my window and asked a volunteer where to park. She said there were spots in the lot right behind her, so we drove down the alley and parked. We were right across the street from the buses and (while we didn't know it at the time) less than a block from the finish line. Amy jogged over to the bus to the half way point, and I headed over to the bus to the marathon start. I gave Ben a quick hug and kiss and was on my way.

Now seems like a good point to talk about the weather. When I checked the forecast for Sunday the day before, it had been promising. Sun and temperatures ranging from the upper 40s at the race start to the low 60s at the end. When I was packing Friday night, I had thrown in a long sleeved tech shirt at the last minute. But as the bus rolled down the highway rain started to streak across the windshield. It was just above 40 degrees and raining. This was not what we had ordered.

The bus arrived at the starting line area at around 7:45 a.m., after a brief detour, which is to say that we got lost on the way to the race start. Festive, I know. In just a running tech shirt and capris it was cold. I made a quick trip to the facilities, which were amply provided, before heading up to an old bus garage where we were able to wait out of the rain. I stayed there until the last possible minute. It was rainy and cold. I was shivering and didn't want to get wet waiting and catch a chill.

I headed to the start at around 8:05 a.m. Fortunately, the wait wasn't a long one and at 8:15 a.m. exactly we were off on our 26.2 mile journey from Bath to Corning. I started off at a 10:30 / mile pace trying to get my hands and feet to warm up. It would be around the 5K mark before I could fully feel my fingers and toes.

The Wineglass Marathon course its way through four main towns / villages: Bath, Savona, Campbell, Erwin, and Corning. I had never done a point-to-point marathon before and was curious to see what the experience would be like. My overall impression of the marathon course was that it was not as scenic or enjoyable as I would have liked. Running point-to-point definitely resulted in me feeling like I was going to somewhere, but it also meant we were often running a straight shot along the course, which was a little bit less mentally engaging than I would have liked. Additionally, the course was not as scenic as I had envisioned. When I learned of a marathon up in the Finger Lakes region, I had imaged running along the lake side with vineyards stretched along the sides of the road and mountains with changing fall leaves in the background. In truth, much of the marathon was along main state roads and highway with limited areas that I'd consider scenic. Much of the course was uniform in appearance and not that visually engaging or distracting. Running along the side of the highway also meant that we were running along the heavily cambered shoulder of the road for miles on end, which was not ideal for my gait. Traffic control was good, but a few times we had to run in the exhaust of waiting cars. Finally, a point-to-point is a challenge for spectators. Likely a combination of the bad weather and the point-to-point layout, spectators were limited. Vermont City Marathon had been one endless party with spectators all along the route and lots to see and enjoy. In comparison, Wineglass was a bit dead with 26.2 miles of running in the cold and wet. Not quite the marathon celebration one might wish for.



With the gloomy weather, I was feeling a bit bummed about my run in general, though I was ticking off 10:30 miles at a pretty consistent rate and physically running well. I needed a pick-me-up though, and was really glad to reach Amy at mile 13. She'd been waiting for three plus hours in the rain, and I'm sure was ready to get moving. What a champ!


Amy kept me distracted and the miles ticked by. The most challenging were probably the miles in the late teens. I had been running for three hours, but I still had an hour and a half to go. I understand how the last miles of a marathon can feel like the worst physically, but mentally, I think those middle miles are the worst challenge. All you want to do is sit down, but the end is not in sight. At least at mile 23 you know the finish is coming!

While the first half of the race had taken us along a lot of state highways, the second half featured a few more towns and a section of countryside with horse farms. Even so, this section ran parallel to the main highway. It was as though we couldn't escape those heavily trafficked roads. The last few miles took us into a park and the surrounding neighborhood that was situated just along the train tracks. This was a nice change of scene and meant some interest since we had to make a number of turns. I was pretty spent at this point though, having run for around four hours. I was wet and tired and just wanted to be done.

We rounded a corner and the final bridge was in front of us. I honestly couldn't tell you one thing about the scenery on the bridge because I was just focused on making it to the finish line. Across the bridge, a final left and the finish line was in sight! I started scanning the crowd and almost immediately found Ben right near the finish. Seeing him cheer as I ran across the finish, the race MC announcing my finish, was a huge highlight for me and will rank highly in all of my race-related memories.


In the chute, a volunteer hung a medal around my neck and another draped a shiny blanket around my shoulders. (Fun fact: Ben's friend mentioned that Ben had best keep an eye on me once I got my blanket, stating, "You want to be able to find your personal baked potato in a vast sea of baked potatoes." Hehehe!) I grabbed a bagel and a cup of soup and sat next to Ben outside a store. I was so glad to be sitting and having some warm food. I was done!


I finished the Wineglass Marathon in 4:37 running a 10:35 pace consistently throughout with less than a ten second variation more or less per mile, excluding mile 14 where I had to stop for a minute to refill my water. This consistency is great and a testament to the strategic training I did with my coaches. I was also a PR for me. My first marathon, I was very conservative in pacing and the weather was horrible -- I ran a 5:19 (average pace of 12:12 / mile). At Vermont City, I finished in 4:54 (11:18 / mile). Wineglass was a huge improvement and situated me solidly as a middle-of-the-pack runner.


Wineglass was a good personal success, and I feel awesome about my effort. It's not a race I'll opt to do again -- the course wasn't as scenic or fun as I hoped and not great for spectating. The logistics of a point-to-point were a bit of a bother and not something I want to consider in the short term.

In the meantime, I have no big races on the horizon, just a few fun events to cap off the season. I've done my big distance and my A-races and am ready to chill out, enjoy my fitness, and focus on other things. I have no plans for a 2019 marathon at this point and will likely take next year off in terms of doing a fall marathon, since I didn't love having to go right from North American OCR Championships training into marathon training this year and don't want to do it again. That being said, the chances I do another marathon at some point are decidedly not zero -- I guess I have the marathon bug. For now, I am happy with my 2018 race season and ready to enjoy a relaxing fall and winter.

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