Wineglass Marathon Race Recap

Here to say that I think Wineglass is my favorite race and hopefully will be able to do it every year. It’s not too far away for us to drive to and the convenience of where we stay is perfect for our season of having littles. I knew after having my PR race last year that I really wanted to try to come back again. I think I signed up for the race in February and booked our hotel then as well. This race must be lucky for me because I earned another PR this year!

Charlotte was all about the veggies before we left on Friday, while I stuck with my traditional 500g carbs-per-day load (using Featherstone Nutrition’s carb guide). It’s around a five & a half hour drive to Corning, so we got to the hotel around 4pm. The girls were great on the drive- we stopped once to have lunch/diaper changes and thankfully had special toys for them to play with when they started to get cranky. Alex’s parents caravan’d (spelling?) down with us too (they stayed 20min away in Watkins Glen). We ate dinner at the hotel (stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Corning)- the veggie cavatappi is my go-to without the Alfredo. Then we went to the Expo before it ended at 7pm. I didn’t get any extra swag this year because I’m saving for NYC next month, but they had some awesome sweatshirts and running jackets. I also honestly love the quarter zip we get with signing up for the race. We all were in bed by 7pm and thankfully slept well the first night.

On Saturday I did a quick 20-minute shakeout run and checked out the finish line. I met Alex & the girls at Wegmans to pickup some more Gatorade, bananas , and milk for the girls. I love how close the grocery store is too- almost directly across the street from our hotel.

We had brought some cold cuts with us, so I made a bagel sandwich for lunch with a side of pretzels after visiting the Glass Museum that morning. We stayed there for an hour or so, while Alex’s parents continued to explore while we went back to the hotel so the girls (& we) could nap.

We played around the hotel lobby/ sat outside under the shaded area until dinner. I did the pasta buffet (pasta with butter), which always works well for me. I knew it would be hot the next day, so I had two gatorades on Saturday for my carb-load, as well as scratch the night before. Charlotte woke-up that night at 11:30, so I brought her into our bed and was finally able to fall back asleep around 1:30. She woke-up around 5:30, so I didn’t get the best sleep before the race (which is something I expect). Both girls were awake by 6 - a little early for them, but I did get to say goodbye before I left to walk to catch the buses around 6:20.

There were plenty of people walking to the start buses, so it wasn’t so scary (last year I remember it being quieter ) and took me maybe 15 minutes. I got to the start with an hour to spare. I did some strides, stretching, two porta stops, and took one Maurten 15-minutes before the start.

I knew it was going to be warmer that day, so I tried to do a conservative start with my first 10k splits of: 8:19, 8:03, 8:00, 7:59, 8:02. But this was definitely too fast for the day. Ha. I still felt good for those miles! This course is pretty flat & fast with a very small amount of uphills, but it’s also not really shaded. I knew it would eventually start to feel warm, so I did also kinda expect to positive-split on the day. The next 10k splits were: 8:08, 7:59, 8:01, 7:58, 8:03, 7:58, 8:06. I still felt pretty good, but the sun was starting to feel warm and there was no shade at all really.

The only really significant hill is slightly after mile 14 (the half marathon start), which I also remembered from last year. From miles 15-25, I definitely started to feel the heat from the sun (I think it was in the 70’s at this point) and unfortunately this course didn’t have hardly any shade cover and the sun was facing directly on us for the most part. During these miles we pass through the town of Erwin (which I love because it’s my Dad’s name and makes me think of him every time I do this race) and then into the towns of Painted Post and then Corning.

My splits for the second half of the race: 8:02, 7:50, 8:17, 8:09, 8:18, 8:24, 8:21, 8:46, 8:33, 8:13, 8:46, 9:15, 8:19. Then 7:16 for the final 0.2 ha.

I started to walk through the water stations around mile 23 because I was feeling warm and then I just really wanted to be done with it in that last bit. I finished in 3:36:19. An 8-minute PR!

I’m obviously excited to finally be under 3:40 in the marathon, but I’m definitely also a bit disappointed in myself. I trained and really thought that I could be close to a 3:25-3:27 on a good day. I did do a great job of taking in my gels every 30min until mile 23- I should’ve taken one more, but I started feeling pretty dehydrated by then. I think I did a great job with carb loading, but certainly taking care of littles and getting less sleep isn’t ideal.

A small part of me is wondering what I might be able to do in NYC next month. I haven’t had many aches or pains after the race and am excited to get running again (2 more rest days). I honestly think I will just see how these next few weeks go, what the weather on the day looks like, and maybe look more closely into the elevation profile.

This is all to say that I love Wineglass and everything they do with this race is amazing. I highly recommend it! I’ve gotten two massive PRs on this course.