Race Date: Sunday September 30th, 2012
Race Name: 31st Wineglass Marathon
Race Price: $100
Race Description: The Wineglass Marathon, presented by Arnot Health Human Motion Institute, is a flat, fast and scenic 26.2 miles starting in Bath, NY and finishing in Corning, NY.
Race Location: Bath, NY to Corning, NY
Race Information: The 31st Annual Wineglass Marathon, one of the more popular and fastest-growing marathons in the Northeast U.S., takes place in the Finger Lakes Region on Sunday, September 30, 2012. Each year, more and more runners travel from all over the US and Canada, and from around the world to America’s “Crystal City”. Runners come for a variety of reasons (which can include the 1st time marathoner just looking to finish, marathon veteran adding to their list of races completed or states in which they have run a marathon, runners looking for personal bests and/or qualifying times for races such as the Boston Marathon, and runners coming with groups or on the recommendation of friends), not least of which includes the local area attractions and natural beauty plus typically great weather (for running) in the autumn season along with an unmatchable display of community spirit and support.
Race Distance: Marathon (26.2 miles)
Distance Traveled: 244 miles
Race Time: 8:00 am
Weather: Cloudy, calm & cool (Temps probably in the 50's)
Swag: Longsleeve Tech Shirt | Glass Finisher Medal | Nice Bag | Wineglass | Champagne
Food & Drink: Water | Soda | Chocolate Milk | Cookies | Soup | String Cheese | Fruit | Pizza | Bagels (Thanks Wegmans!)
Number of Participants: 1587
Results: http://auyertiming.com/Results/9-30-12wineglass_full.htm
My Results
Time: 3:40:37.87
Pace: 8:26
Place: 384 of 1587
Men (Age 30-34): 29 of 82
Personal Race Info
Pre-Run: Gatorade w/ Chia Seeds | Gu Gel
During-Run: Water | Gatorade | Gu Gel | Powerbar Gel
My first Marathon! This race wasn't originally on my list but a friends from a fitness site mentioned it to me so I figured I would go for it. Overall this was a pretty stressful weekend for me. I had taken off friday to clean the house for a deck warming party on Saturday. I had the For Paws & Wright Naturals 5k Saturday morning, the deck warming party from 1-6 and then had to drive the 4+ hours to Hornell, NY where my hotel was. Everything went off without a hitch and I arrived in Hornell at around 10 on Saturday night. I stayed at a Days Inn which wasn't bad but the room did smell like smoke when I first got in. I had read reviews that mentioned that but I adjusted pretty quick. Turns out my friend was staying at the same hotel. We decided to meet up at breakfast. Off to bed I went.
Didn't sleep great, waking up a few times, but I felt rested when my alarm went off at 5:40. Got down to the lobby at around 6:15 and had a bagel w/ cream cheese. I met SarahJane for the first time, chatted briefly and then we headed off to the start line of the marathon. The start line was about 30 minutes away from the hotel. I parked at the Philips Lighting complex and could not find where to get my bib. Turned out the parking area was probably almost half a mile from the actual start but luckily I found someone who was heading the right direction and I followed. It was really cold at this time in the morning and I was wearing my hoodie to keep me warm. People seemed to not be ready for this temperature. Lots of people were huddled into the large structure where they were handing out the bibs. I did my best to stay warm as well but it was not affecting me as much.
As it got close to starting time I ditched my hoodie at the bag check and headed up to the start line. I had briefly seen SarahJane at the start area but I had lost her. She found me at the starting line, we wished each other good luck, and found our place near the pacers who were closest to the times we were looking to hit. I was a little bit behind the 8:12 pacer which would have given me a 3:35 finish. I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up but I would do my best.
I'm going to split the race up into 4 sections which relate to my pace. The race started out on a downhill which was nice but also caused a mad dash at the beginning. The next thing I remember is a bunch of girls singing songs behind and hoping that I would not have to hear that the entire race. Luckily it didn't take long for them to fall back. The first section i'm going to talk about is the first 13 miles. Everything seemed to be going as planned for this section. My average pace, from my MotoActv, through the first 12 miles was @ 8:05. This was probably faster than I should have gone out but I was feeling pretty good. Officially I hit the half way point at 1:47:15.06 and felt really good that I was still near the 3:35 goal. Of course this was short lived.
The next section will be miles 13-19. For 6 of the 7 miles I was sub 8:22 and probably averaged @ 8:15 except for mile 18 which was a sign of what was to come. This was now the farthest I had ever run and much faster than I had previously done it. I don't remember much except for passing 18 miles and yelling "this is the farthest I've ever run!" This is where things started getting really tough. I kept thinking all you have left is a 10k, you've done this plenty of times. The next section was miles 20-23 where I averaged 8:42 for the 4 miles. Now things were really starting to get real. My legs were no longer listening to me telling them to go faster. I coughed once while drinking and the muscles above my groin were starting to hurt. I knew that I was going to make it but wasn't sure whether it would be running or walking.
The last 3 full miles I averaged around 9 minute miles and my legs were no longer wanting to move. I think I may have walked a couple feet at one point but realized it was going to take way too long to finish if I walked the rest of the way. At this point I started passing a bunch of people who were walking. Most of these people looked in much better shape than myself which did help to push me. Saying that there were a bunch of people who were passing me as well and looked much fresher. As I came into Corning and passed over the bridge I knew I would be getting close to the finish line. There was a Wegmans off to the right and I wished I could have stopped in and eaten some of the delicious food I knew existed inside. I turned on to the road that had the finish line and I could see it.
I tried to tell myself to sprint the last section but as soon as I started my legs went back to the only pace they could maintain. I continued on down the road and as I got within a couple hundred feet I looked behind me to see people coming up on me and knew I had to push myself to sprint as fast as I could. I did what I could and luckily it was enough to hold off those who were coming up on me. As I crossed the finish line I was so happy to have finished. I got my awesome glass finisher medal and chocolate milk and continued to walk around the finish area a bit. I picked up some water, a bagel & some pizza. I had originally passed on the metal sheet thing, since I didn't think I would be cold, but had to go back and get one because it was cloudy and windy and I started getting super cold.
I hung around the finish area waiting for SarahJane to finish. I knew she wanted to finish in 4:10 so I wanted to be there waiting. She didn't hit the time she wanted but she did get a new PR. We walked around, picked up our checked bags, I got my race bag and we got some more food. The amount of food at the finish line was awesome. Once I saw that Wegmans had provided it I knew why. For those that have never had the pleasure to visit a Wegmans you are missing out.
My first goal was to finish the Marathon. My second goal was to finish under 3:40. I didn't hit the second goal but I came awfully close. I think I started out too fast and thus died off towards the end. The race itself was really great. They had water & Gatorade almost every 2 miles and had gels a few times starting at the half way point. There were plenty of spectators cheering everyone on and a lot of them moved around to different areas throughout the race. I don't remember tons of scenic areas but I wasn't really paying attention all that much.
For some reason I didn't feel a huge sense of accomplishment at the end of the race. SarahJane found this odd. It wouldn't be until a few days later when reading
this article that it finally hit me what I had accomplished. It wasn't so much about finishing as fast as possible. It was pushing myself to continue going when my body no longer wanted to. It was fighting those thoughts that said just walk for a bit and you'll feel better. I look forward to the next 2 marathons this year to see what I can accomplish. I might not beat this time but that's not what it's about at this point for me.
