Wineglass Marathon 2016 - Race Recap

Corning, New York, is home to the fun and friendly Wineglass Marathon. This quaint and charming town has played host to thousands of runners chasing their marathon dreams for the past 35 years. This point-to-point race starts in Bath, New York, and winds through farmland and the small communities surrounding Corning. Located in the New York Finger Lakes Region, this fall marathon provides a backdrop of changing leaves and beautiful countryside. An overall net downhill course, Wineglass has become a favorite for first-time marathoners, runners seeking a new personal best time, and that elusive BQ (Boston Qualifying marathon time). The peaceful setting and laid back atmosphere takes a lot of stress out of marathon weekend that you can face at some of the “bigger” marathons.

WHY I CHOSE WINEGLASS

My friend, Sara, was looking to run her second marathon and asked me if I’d help her train for it. She had picked Wineglass since it was near where some of her family lives. I had coached Sara to run her first marathon in Richmond, Virginia in 2015. She was looking to build off that race. Her husband, Josh, was going to run this one as well. The more we talked about it, the more tempting it got for me to join them. I registered for the race, and shortly after that, our friend, Mario, caught the marathon buzz and signed up, too. Look out, Corning, here we come! My lovely wife, Jen, accompanied us and served as our “concierge-of-all-things-not-running-related” and our “support-team-of-one”.

MY GOALS

I always set several goals for each major race that I run. The goals range from “Yeah, I can do that” to “Uh, that will be a freaking miracle“. That way, if I achieve at least one of them, it is a success. If I check more than one off the list, it is a freaking great day! I had four goals for the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, New York on October 2, 2016.

Goal 1
Finish

If this doesn’t happen, I will be a sad camper.

Goal 2
Qualify for Boston 2018

I’m in for 2017, but let’s roll the dice on 2018 early.

Goal 3
Improve my seating at the 2017 Boston Marathon

with a better time than my qualifier (3:11)

Goal 4
Go Sub 3

That’s a 6:45ish pace for 26.2 miles. Yikes!

Along with my personal goals, I was really anxious to see how Sara, Josh and Mario would do after we all worked together training over the past few months. Sara was looking for an improved marathon personal best, while Josh was looking for a BQ. Mario and I were both aiming to cross the finish in under 3 hours. I think I was more nervous for my friends than I was for my own performance.

Race weekend was threatening to be cool and rainy. I am totally fine with that. Heat is my weakness. It bothered me in Boston in April (2016) almost derailing my efforts there. Temps in the low 70’s made Heartbreak Hill live up to its name. It was nice and cool and wet for the 2015 Boston marathon and that netted me my personal best time of 3:02. So bring on the cool air!

RACE DAY

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If you are looking for a place to stay in Corning for race weekend, you can’t beat The Rosewood Inn. Innkeeper Suzanne Sanders only reserves rooms for runners that weekend and does an awesome job at making everyone feel at home. She was even at the finish line to cheer on every runner that stayed at the Inn for race weekend. Thank you, Suzanne!

Sunday morning, the four of us met for breakfast at our B&B. From there we walked a couple blocks and boarded a school bus to the town of Bath. The bus ride was around a half an hour. Not bad, but it is always a little intimidating when it seems like a long ride in a vehicle to get to where your race is going to start, and you have to back-track by foot. The morning was overcast and temps were in the low 50’s. The bus dropped us off at the start line where there was a nice tent and rows of port-a-pots for our convenience. We hung out under the tent until our nerves got the best of us. We had to move around to calm the race day jitters. As the starting time got closer, we moved to our starting positions and put on our game faces. Sara lined up near the 3:30 pace group while Josh, Mario and I positioned ourselves right on the start line. Ambitious? Maybe.

Photo courtesy Wineglass Marathon Facebook page.

After the National Anthem and some words from the director, the race started and we were off. Mario and I settled into a pace between 6:30 and 6:45 per mile. Josh dropped back with the 3:05 pace group, so it was just the two of us out there near the lead pack of runners. It really is helpful to have someone running with you to keep you motivated and strategize the upcoming miles. The early miles went by fast and I felt great. Before I knew it, we were at the midway point and right on pace for a 2:50 – 2:55 finish. There were only a few inclines in that first half, and I had heard that the biggest of the hills was around mile 14.

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Only one thing was bothering me at this point. I had to pee. I thought the urge would pass, but, unfortunately, it did not. Mario tried to convince me to “Just go. Next water stop, pour water on your shorts and go. No one will know.” Uh … no thanks. I tried to think of ways to pee while running, but nothing seemed appealing. Creative ideas, but most likely not feasible. Maybe I need to practice … So I sped up when I saw a port-a-pot and took a quick detour. I probably lost about 30 seconds at this unplanned stop, but at least my shorts were dry and I didn’t get arrested for indecent exposure. I kicked it into high gear to try and catch back up to Mario. I got close, but never did reel him in. He turned a couple times to see where I was, but I signaled him to keep going, not to wait.

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The next hiccup came at mile 19. I got a stitch in my side and a bit light headed. My pace dropped a bit, as I struggled to keep it together. Somehow I snapped out of it and knocked out the next few miles pretty comfortably. All comfort went out the window, though, at mile 24. I started to get cramps in my calves and quads. I was just waiting for “the big one” – the muscle cramp that brings you to a complete halt. I was also keeping an eye on my watch, doing the math to see if I could still get done in under 3 hours. It was going to be close. Really close.

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Finally rounding the turn onto Market Street, I could see the finish line … and the clock. 2:58:14 … 2:58:15 … 2:58:16 … 2:58:17 … and I still had a decent amount of ground to cover. Somehow I managed to speed up and step across the finish line at 2:59:49. Close one! SUB3! I came in 25th overall out of around 2000 runners.

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Mario crossed the line 40 seconds ahead of me in 23rd place. I should have just peed my pants. Next time. Josh came in at 3:12. Not a BQ, but his new personal best marathon time. Sara came in at 3:35, also a personal best time. We all achieved most, if not all of our goals for the race!

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Having friends to spend time with and celebrate our accomplishments was really what made this race great. I look forward to doing it again in the future with this same group of friends!

After such a great weekend of running and being surrounded by friends, I would not hesitate to visit Corning and run the Wineglass Marathon again!

Oh yeah, I got to meet and hang out a bit after the race with Mr. Bart Yasso, author and Chief Running Officer at Runners World Magazine.

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Wineglass Marathon 2016 – Race Recap

WHY I CHOSE WINEGLASS