It's all downhill at Wineglass...

Kurt and I flew into Corning, NY on Friday evening, 09/30 for the Wineglass Marathon/Half-Marathon on Sunday, 10/02. The hotels in Corning during race weekend book up well in advance of the race, so most everything had already been booked when I registered us for the race at the end of April. I kept an eye on it though, and a room at the host hotel opened up about a month before the race. So, I splurged and booked it since I knew it would make everything easier during the weekend. After checking in, we walked out to Market Street and grabbed dinner at Cugini Italian Market (K salivated over the cheeses, while I eyed the desserts for after the race).

We slept in on Saturday (10/01) and met up with Bart Yasso and other runners for a shake-out run around town in the morning.

Chief Running Officer, Bart Yasso

Finish line on Market Street

Then, we headed over to the Corning Museum of Glass to pick up our race packets. The Expo was fairly small, but the runner swag for this race was really nice - we got a small spike bag, a stemless wine glass, a personal bottle of champagne, and a nice half-zip pullover hoodie. Race participants also received 50% discounted admission to the museum during the weekend, as well as discount cards to area shops.

Since it was a Saturday, we stayed off our feet most of the day while Kurt watched college football at the hotel. Then, we headed down to the official pasta dinner at the hotel where Bart Yasso was the speaker. His words of wisdom for the race were that this is a PR course, and your strategy should be to try to negative split it (for both the full and half-marathons). He suggested starting just off the back of your desired pace group then reassess how you feel for the second half of the course.

It rained most of the day on Saturday, but the rain cleared out for the race on Sunday.  The weather on race day was warmer than my ideal conditions, but it still felt better than anything that we have run in for months in Texas. The temps stayed pretty steady in the 60's (but 90% humidity at 6am) with mostly overcast skies, although there were a few times that the sun made an appearance during the race and I definitely noticed it. And, there were a few sections where I noticed the wind - Kurt said it was mostly a crosswind.

Since the race is a point-to-point course, all runners are bused to their respective start towns (marathoners start in Bath; half-marathoners start in Campbell). Kurt left first since the half-marathon started 30-minutes before the marathon (I assume to minimize congestion for the faster marathoners since the races share the same course). The buses left from just outside of our hotel, so again that made things very easy.

The start area in Bath was by a large field, but there was a tent and other small building that most of the runners congregated in before the race. Since it wasn't too cold, I just opted to sit on the ground near the bag drop (two UPS trucks) before dropping my bag and lining up on the small road where the race started.

 

As we were queuing up for the start, I noticed a Oiselle teammate nearby and quickly introduced myself and asked what kind of pace she was shooting for - she indicated that she was going to try for just under 4 hours, so I responded that I probably shouldn't stay with her then. I lined up with the  4:00 hour pace group to start though, but I immediately got frustrated because it was too congested in the first couple of miles around the pacer. If I had listened to Bart's advice from the day before, then the smart thing to do would have been to pull back from them a little. But, no, I ran right through them and decided to run in front of the pace group. Bad move.

With more road in front of me, I allowed myself to run more at the pace that I was comfortable with at the time, especially since we were mostly going downhill at that point. After I passed the pacer at mile 2, I mostly ran in the 8:50's. I wasn't overly concerned at that point, even though I knew it was slightly faster than I should be going because I reasoned that I was going downhill so that those miles would be a little faster. I also kept waiting for the road to flatten out or turn uphill a bit, which would slow me back down.

There was a short uphill turn around mile 4 and a longer uphill stretch around mile 6, but then a steeper downhill coming off that stretch so it ended up being my fastest mile. Around this section a guy made a comment to me about my form - I could tell (or, more accurately, I could hear) that my right foot was slapping the ground. I knew that was probably because my right calf was tight and I didn't have good range-of-motion in my foot/ankle as a result. Interestingly, it was my right heel that ended up hurting the most after the race was over - I assume from heel-striking so much with that foot on the downhill.

Everything was all well and good until mile 10 or so (isn't it always?!?!). By then I noticed that my quads were feeling much heavier than they should at that point. And, the road just.kept.going.downhill. I walked my first aid station at that point and that really ended my day right there. Mentally, I was not expecting the course to be that noticeably downhill. And, clearly, I hadn't really done any extended downhill running for my legs to be ready for that either. Now, I am not talking steep, quad-burning downhills; this was definitely a gentler gradient, but it was still downhill, folks.

Elevation profile of Wineglass Marathon (from race website)

I went through halfway in 2:00, but I had already punched my ticket on the struggle bus for the rest of the race. I commiserated with the fellow bird who I had met at the start off and on from about miles 10-16, as she was feeling the effects of the downhill as well. It was a long, slow slog to the finish - I had already written off my race miles ago, and I didn't have the mental fight that day like I did in Eugene earlier this year.

There was another noticeable hill around mile 14-15 and the only other small blip on the elevation profile is a bridge that you cross as you enter in the downtown area of Corning for the finish. The race has a nice finish through the area main street, which was lined with spectators. I had enough in my legs for a nice finishing kick for whatever that was worth. Once I crossed the finishing line, there was relief at being done, but also such disappointment in the race that I had - 4:37. I have had 3 marathons slower than that - one that I ran while I was sick and two that I ran when I wasn't fully trained. Maybe my legs are trying to tell me that they need a break after being in some phase of marathon training pretty much non-stop since May 2014.

I had a nice bowl of chicken soup waiting for me in the finisher area and then I met up with Kurt, who had finished the half-marathon hours earlier and ran a fairly good effort for 4th in his AG and 19th overall.

After the race, it took awhile for my stomach to really settle enough for lunch/dinner. We managed to get over to the Rockwell Museum to tour the museum and enjoy a free wine/beer tasting with cheeses in the afternoon though.

It was a nice treat to stay over until Monday since we have flown home immediately after the race for my last four marathons. We got to tour some of the wineries in the area in the Finger Lakes region and see the leaves changing colors.

Glenora Wine Cellars on the Seneca Wine Trail

Lakewood Vineyards on the Seneca Wine Trail

 

 

So, all in all, this is a fast course, the race is well-organized, and the locals are so friendly and supportive of this race. I need a do-over at this race, so I will be back at some point!

The finish banner being taken down until next year