In 2010 I ran my first marathon. It was the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY. Ten years later, I am back in Corning.
Originally, the plan was to run with a friend but that fell through so I was going solo again. Back in 2010, a group of our friends came to watch and cheer me along at various points on the course. It is completely energizing when you see someone rooting for you during an endurance race. This year, 2019, I didn’t have the group with me but I had Ted and I had the memories.
Corning is a 3 hour drive from Utica. We left at 12:15 pm on Saturday and went right to the expo at the Corning Museum of Glass at 3:30 pm. Just a simple bib pick up as it was a small expo, limited vendors. We perused the museum store and were in awe of the beautiful glass work. We went upstairs to watch glass blowing for a short time before leaving for our hotel. We stayed at Staybridge Suites directly across from the museum and over the bridge from where I would board the bus the following morning. *Every runner is required to take the bus to Bath, NY (or take a bus from a hotel/home in Bath to the start) which is the starting point of the marathon.
Our dinner reservations were for 6pm at The Cellar on West Market St. (down from the finish line) in Corning. The restaurant offers creative dining in an eclectic atmosphere. A variety of vegetarian/vegan options as well as carnivore fare in both full and half portions. My dinner was the Ancient Grains which consisted of 2 pan fried five grain cakes, xacuti gravy (a mild curry style gravy) local delicata squash, vegetables and a chickpea cracker. I added wild gulf shrimp to this dinner and it was more than enough. Ted had chicken and waffles. That was quite the dish! The dinner ended with French press coffee.
It was a sleepless night. As I tossed and turned, waking up seemingly every hour, I continued to remind myself that this was training run in preparation for Indianapolis Monumental on November 9. My only goal was to run under 4 hours and to keep the effort at about a 5 out of 10 accepting that I would get tired come the last few miles. Since I drank about 8 oz of the OSMO pre race hydration drink plus the coffee from dinner and water, waking up every hour was unavoidable. It wasn’t until about 4 am that I got into a good dream state. At 4:30 am, my alarm went off.
Race Morning.
It was difficult to eat that early in the morning and I wondered why because I don’t usually have a problem but then I think I was comparing it to Boston which starts so late that there is time to work up an appetite before running. For Wineglass, the start time was 8:15 am and I wanted to get to the buses for 6:15 so at 4:30 am, I spread almond butter on half of a Dave’s Killer Bread blueberry bagel and choked that half down with water. At 5:15am I drank a 5-hour energy drink to get my body moving and charged. The temperatures were going to be low 50’s to start and high 50’s to finish with a head wind all the way (south to south west). I wore my Gypsy Girl long shorts so I could carry my gels on the side pockets and didn’t have to take the belt. I put my phone in my Koala Clip and fastened it to the back strap on my sports bra. I took 1 Cliff gel, 1 SIS energy, and I would take 1 HUMA gel from what they gave out on the course. I put ½ a bottle of water, a banana and a Cliff bar in my clear drop bag. To run, I wore my visor, Boston Buddies tank, arm warmers, Gypsy Girl shorts, Injinji short socks, and Newton running shoes. To keep warm, an old hoodie sweatshirt with the neck cut for easy removal over my visor, sweat pants with a zipper for easy removal over my sneakers, and an old heat sheet from Philadelphia marathon.
Ted drove me over the bridge to catch the bus at 6:05 am. Getting on the bus was easy as was the ride to the start. There was a large building for tent overflow so runners could get out of the elements. Plenty of porto potties. I went down to the tent and took a seat when anyone got up to use the pp’s. It was very windy, 12 – 15mph so standing outside wasn’t appealing. I went back and forth to the pp’s about 4 times, making sure there would be no stops once the race started. After the last visit, a lot of room opened up under the tent and since it was right across from the starting line, I stayed inside until about 10 minutes to go time when I shed my sweatshirt and pants but held onto the heat sheet in the coral for the count down to the gun. I started the RaceJoy running app to track my run (for Ted’s sake but he didn’t use it) about 2 minutes before I started running because I had to get the phone back in the clip and hooked to my back strap. Turned out it was hanging out and bouncing when I started running but quickly remedied the problem without stopping. YAY!
This is me at mile 19
Since my initial miles of a race are too fast, I reined myself in by staying with the 3:55 hour pacer to the 12 mile mark. I was going to hold on to the group longer but I felt ok so broke away. At 16 I began to wonder if it was a smart idea but my pace was pretty consistent as I stayed with others who had broken away as well.
At about the 9 mile mark there was a bit of drizzle but nothing soaking. My body temperature was just right, not hot not cold. My feet hurt at times because the Newtons are a lighter less padded shoe but I wanted to test them for Indy. Still not sure if I will use them again because my feet were hurting after the race.
There were cones lining the course what seemed the entire way and there was a constant camber in the road to really challenge your ankles. There are quite a few little turns especially as you get closer to the finish line in those last few miles. Ted said he saw me at 13 but I didn’t see him. I DID see him at 19 and it was WONDERFUL! The entire race I was remembering when our friends had come with us in 2010 and how much seeing them along the course helped me get through it. I used those memories to help me on this race day as well so when I saw Ted, what a great energy booster.
After that point, we went along a path aside the highway then down into a park and weaved through housing districts and parks. At 22 1/2, I heard the 3:55 pacer come up behind me. This was not what I wanted so I worked and dug for more to keep her behind. At the 25 mile point, I came up on a guy who had started with the pace group but broke away.
He was walking so I ran to him and said “Faye is right behind, lets keep her there.” He said “you and I have been going back and forth this entire race so I can do this.” He really turned on the speed! I couldn’t stay with him but it motivated me for a good 8:35 paced last mile. AWESOME and thanks Dude!
Net time: 3:53:06 same time as CIM last December. Pace 8:54 Not unhappy with that for this race as I placed 7 out of 44 in my age group. 537 out of 1598 overall. Sexplace was 219 of 875 total females. 10K split was 55:42 and half was 1:56:48. I want more out of myself at Indianapolis. Will I ever revisit Wineglass for a 3rd time? Doubtful. The only reason I signed up this time was to run with a friend and that didn’t happen but it turned out well.
The bling: A beautiful ½ zip light blue shirt, a 187 ml bottle of NYS Brut Champagne from Pleasant Valley, a wine glass, a bag, and of course the blue glass finishers medal.
Thinking of running this marathon? It’s terrific fall race for good running temperatures, downhill course, organized, easy navigation. The start is very accommodating to runners with a large tent, chairs, an over flow barn if the tent is too congested and so many porto potties. Major draw back are the multiple cones along the course.
I didn’t go to the pasta dinner and I didn’t attend the after race event at the Radisson so not sure how those rated.
Joanne
