I’m not sure if visiting my in-laws was an excuse to run a marathon or if running a marathon was an excuse to visit my in-laws, but however that works out we found ourselves at Steve and Polly’s doorstep in Campbell, New York, late last Friday evening. Their home is strategically located at the half-way point of the Wineglass Marathon, a point-to-point marathon running from Bath to Corning, primarily along the Cohocton River valley.
After a lazy Saturday morning, Andrea and I grabbed the kids and drove the course from start to finish. As we crossed the town center of Bath, I came to realize that this marathon was a symbolic representation of “This Is Your Life, Andrea!” The hospital where she was born was located about a ½ mile down the road from the start line. Her very first job as an office clerk was in Bath along the course. Later the race would pass by her school from kindergarten through high school, her first boyfriend’s house, and a few blocks from the home where she grew up. Twenty-six point two miles of Memory Lane!
After a lazy Saturday morning, Andrea and I grabbed the kids and drove the course from start to finish. As we crossed the town center of Bath, I came to realize that this marathon was a symbolic representation of “This Is Your Life, Andrea!” The hospital where she was born was located about a ½ mile down the road from the start line. Her very first job as an office clerk was in Bath along the course. Later the race would pass by her school from kindergarten through high school, her first boyfriend’s house, and a few blocks from the home where she grew up. Twenty-six point two miles of Memory Lane!
I, of course, mainly focused on the course elevation changes, which were almost non-existent! I noted one hill in mile 5 after a left turn, and then another hill after passing through Campbell. Neither hill looked bad, and everything else was blissfully flat!
Completing the course drive-through left us in downtown Corning right next to the race expo. I picked up my bib, shirt (long sleeve Podium technical shirt from Brooks), and gift bag and quickly looked through the goods on sale. Not a huge spread, but then this is not a huge race. If you needed something, it was probably there, and the prices looked good.
Next stop: Sorge’s Restaurant (great pasta!) and getting to meet my online friends from the Marine Corps Marathon Forum, Kevin and Gwen (aka cobweb and CTD – Crash Test Dummy). We all had a great time getting to know each other; we talked lots about running, kids, how to feed lizards, and of course, The Accident. Last February Gwen was in a horrible head-on car accident on icy roads. She was left with two fractured vertebra in her neck, along with numerous other injuries. Her presence at dinner Saturday night alone is remarkable, and the fact that she was also ready to toe the line the next morning for another marathon is…well, I don’t think I know a strong enough adjective for it. Jaw-dropping? Miraculous?
On Sunday morning Andrea and I were up by 6am and at the Phillips Lighting factory getting ready for the race start by a little after 7. We let the kids sleep in; Andrea would return and pick them up after I started. The weather was quite chilly – around 38 F – and very foggy. We soon hooked up with Gwen and Kevin and got in a quick “before” photo of the 3 of us. As we dressed down to our racing shirts and bibs, I looked at their numbers in surprise: Kevin 167, Gwen 168. I looked down at my own shirt: 691. What’s so remarkable about that? Well, I was looking at my number upside down. Right side up my number was 169. Over 500 runners there that morning and somehow the 3 of us ended up with sequential numbers! How wild is that?
Soon enough it was time to start running! And good thing, too, because we were all getting pretty cold outside! We gathered at the start line and Gwen and Kevin moved a little further back in the pack. They were figuring on running 10 or 11 minute miles. My goals were to 1) Finish healthy, 2) get under 4 hours for a PR, 3) go sub 9 minutes per mile pace (meaning just under 3hrs 56 minutes), and 4) go faster than that to whatever extent my body would allow. With those goals in mind I was shooting for running mainly in the 8:40s throughout most of the race, if all went well. I assumed the start would be a little slow so I was thinking of about 9 minute miles for the first two.
I waved to Andrea as I crossed the starting line and we were off! It didn’t take long for me to be pleasantly surprised that I was feeling pretty decent that morning, and I quickly settled into a very comfortable, steady pace. It usually takes me a few miles to feel like that. Mile 1 brought a mild surprise. I checked my watch expecting to see 9 or 9:30, and found 8:34 instead. Cool! For Mile 2 I tried to remain relaxed and ran an 8:35 split. Ok, that settled it. 8:30s are a bit faster than I expected, but based on my level of effort, I decided that I would try to stay right there, at least for the early stages of the race.
After the first couple of miles I was no longer very cold, and temperature was a non-issue for me the rest of the way. We weaved our way back and forth through the center of Bath and then headed southeast out of Bath toward the next town, Savona. I remember crossing an intersection and hearing a lady squeezing a loud squeak toy from a car. Made me think my dog was coming!
Then we were soon running down country roads that were completely immersed in a dense, dense fog. I chatted a bit with a couple of other runners. One, a fellow mechanical engineer, was running the first leg of a relay. The other, a guy a couple of years older than me named Matt, was running in his first marathon. We were all feeling decent at this point. Running in a fog was kind of cool, and it didn’t allow us to dwell too much on the long, seemingly endless straight-aways because we simply couldn’t see more than a few hundred feet ahead! However, I looked forward to the sun burning through so that we could get a good view of the yellow and orange forested hillsides that I knew would surround us all along the course. Mile 3: 8:33. Mile 4: 8.37. Very steady!
The first hill was after a left hand turn during the fifth mile. It was nothing major, but enough to slow my Mile 5 split to 8:48. Miles 6 through 9 were flat and there was nothing to change my strategy. I still felt fine and I was still turning in splits in the 8:30s. Repeated checks of my overall race pace showed a consistent 8:38. We arrived to cheering crowds lining the streets in Savona around Mile 9. This would be typical for the race: long stretches with relatively few fans, but then many more fans in each town. Right there in downtown Savona was the squeaky lady again! It was actually a bicycle horn that she was squeaking, and I thought it was really a good, uplifting noisemaker! Mile 6: 8:40. Mile 7: 8:33. Mile 8: 8:39. Mile 9: 8:37.
Miles 10, 11 and 12 continued through peaceful, country roads and the sun was finally starting to burn through the fog at times. I noticed that one of the women running near me was being paced by friends of hers that were doing the relay. Now that’s a cool way to provide a friend some support! Mile 10: 8:39. Mile 11: 8:34. Mile 12: 8:40. Race pace still 8:38.
Mile 13 lead us into the small town of Campbell, Andrea’s home town and the first point at which I expected to see my fans. Sure enough, right after the mile 13 point and another water/Gatorade station there they were cheering me on! What a huge uplift to see family in a marathon! I high five’d all of them (Andrea, the kids, and my in-laws), and then some other lady who apparently thought I was out to high five anyone I could (I guess I probably was!), and then I was off for more miles! My pace definitely picked up for a few minutes thanks to the emotional boost. My 20K split was about a 4 minute PR at 1 hour, 47 minutes and change! Mile 13: 8:30. ½ Marathon: 1:53:19. Mile 14: 8:38. Race pace still 8:38.
Behind Campbell, we soon ran up our second hill in Mile 15: ~8:50. Then we went flying down the back side and returned to the flats, heading for the tiny town of Erwyn Mile 16: ~8:31. During the 17th mile I caught up to Matt once again, and met his wife Michelle who was briefly riding alongside Matt on a bike. We ran together for a short while before I moved ahead. Mile 17: 8:31. Race pace 8:38. I start having delusions of grandeur!
In the next few miles, as we passed through the towns of Coopers Plains and Painted Post and I saw my family once again, my effort remained steady, but I found my pace fading a bit. Mile 18: 8:47. Mile 19: 8:49. Mile 20: 8:53. Finally, my race pace was moving into the 8:40s.
It’s often said that the marathon consists of 2 separate races: the first 20 miles and then the final 6.2. I’ll vouch for that! The miles now had become very painful. No injury, just increasing pain from the waist on down. The next couple of miles were probably the low point of my race, as I knew any hope of finishing as strong as I began was gone. My slowdown continued, and even when my family drove by me and cheered me on from the van, I could do little to acknowledge them. At some point along here Matt caught me and passed me for good. Mile 21: 9:25. Mile 22: 9:51.
When I saw that last split, nearing a 10 minute pace, I became a bit alarmed. I could accept that any hope of going sub 3:50 was fading, but I really didn’t want to be flirting with that 3:56 (9 min pace). I doubled my efforts and surged as much as possible as we entered Corning. Mile 23: 9:29. Mile 24: 9:37.
In the last couple of miles, I walked briefly at the aid stations. My familiarity with Corning helped me pace myself a bit for the finish, as I had a very good feel for when I was just a ½ mile out. Mile 25: 9:35. Mile 26: 9:43.
I waved to Andrea as I crossed the starting line and we were off! It didn’t take long for me to be pleasantly surprised that I was feeling pretty decent that morning, and I quickly settled into a very comfortable, steady pace. It usually takes me a few miles to feel like that. Mile 1 brought a mild surprise. I checked my watch expecting to see 9 or 9:30, and found 8:34 instead. Cool! For Mile 2 I tried to remain relaxed and ran an 8:35 split. Ok, that settled it. 8:30s are a bit faster than I expected, but based on my level of effort, I decided that I would try to stay right there, at least for the early stages of the race.
After the first couple of miles I was no longer very cold, and temperature was a non-issue for me the rest of the way. We weaved our way back and forth through the center of Bath and then headed southeast out of Bath toward the next town, Savona. I remember crossing an intersection and hearing a lady squeezing a loud squeak toy from a car. Made me think my dog was coming!
Then we were soon running down country roads that were completely immersed in a dense, dense fog. I chatted a bit with a couple of other runners. One, a fellow mechanical engineer, was running the first leg of a relay. The other, a guy a couple of years older than me named Matt, was running in his first marathon. We were all feeling decent at this point. Running in a fog was kind of cool, and it didn’t allow us to dwell too much on the long, seemingly endless straight-aways because we simply couldn’t see more than a few hundred feet ahead! However, I looked forward to the sun burning through so that we could get a good view of the yellow and orange forested hillsides that I knew would surround us all along the course. Mile 3: 8:33. Mile 4: 8.37. Very steady!
The first hill was after a left hand turn during the fifth mile. It was nothing major, but enough to slow my Mile 5 split to 8:48. Miles 6 through 9 were flat and there was nothing to change my strategy. I still felt fine and I was still turning in splits in the 8:30s. Repeated checks of my overall race pace showed a consistent 8:38. We arrived to cheering crowds lining the streets in Savona around Mile 9. This would be typical for the race: long stretches with relatively few fans, but then many more fans in each town. Right there in downtown Savona was the squeaky lady again! It was actually a bicycle horn that she was squeaking, and I thought it was really a good, uplifting noisemaker! Mile 6: 8:40. Mile 7: 8:33. Mile 8: 8:39. Mile 9: 8:37.
Miles 10, 11 and 12 continued through peaceful, country roads and the sun was finally starting to burn through the fog at times. I noticed that one of the women running near me was being paced by friends of hers that were doing the relay. Now that’s a cool way to provide a friend some support! Mile 10: 8:39. Mile 11: 8:34. Mile 12: 8:40. Race pace still 8:38.
Mile 13 lead us into the small town of Campbell, Andrea’s home town and the first point at which I expected to see my fans. Sure enough, right after the mile 13 point and another water/Gatorade station there they were cheering me on! What a huge uplift to see family in a marathon! I high five’d all of them (Andrea, the kids, and my in-laws), and then some other lady who apparently thought I was out to high five anyone I could (I guess I probably was!), and then I was off for more miles! My pace definitely picked up for a few minutes thanks to the emotional boost. My 20K split was about a 4 minute PR at 1 hour, 47 minutes and change! Mile 13: 8:30. ½ Marathon: 1:53:19. Mile 14: 8:38. Race pace still 8:38.
Behind Campbell, we soon ran up our second hill in Mile 15: ~8:50. Then we went flying down the back side and returned to the flats, heading for the tiny town of Erwyn Mile 16: ~8:31. During the 17th mile I caught up to Matt once again, and met his wife Michelle who was briefly riding alongside Matt on a bike. We ran together for a short while before I moved ahead. Mile 17: 8:31. Race pace 8:38. I start having delusions of grandeur!
In the next few miles, as we passed through the towns of Coopers Plains and Painted Post and I saw my family once again, my effort remained steady, but I found my pace fading a bit. Mile 18: 8:47. Mile 19: 8:49. Mile 20: 8:53. Finally, my race pace was moving into the 8:40s.
It’s often said that the marathon consists of 2 separate races: the first 20 miles and then the final 6.2. I’ll vouch for that! The miles now had become very painful. No injury, just increasing pain from the waist on down. The next couple of miles were probably the low point of my race, as I knew any hope of finishing as strong as I began was gone. My slowdown continued, and even when my family drove by me and cheered me on from the van, I could do little to acknowledge them. At some point along here Matt caught me and passed me for good. Mile 21: 9:25. Mile 22: 9:51.
When I saw that last split, nearing a 10 minute pace, I became a bit alarmed. I could accept that any hope of going sub 3:50 was fading, but I really didn’t want to be flirting with that 3:56 (9 min pace). I doubled my efforts and surged as much as possible as we entered Corning. Mile 23: 9:29. Mile 24: 9:37.
In the last couple of miles, I walked briefly at the aid stations. My familiarity with Corning helped me pace myself a bit for the finish, as I had a very good feel for when I was just a ½ mile out. Mile 25: 9:35. Mile 26: 9:43.
The course finished by crossing the Chemung River over a foot bridge which is slightly downhill. I, um, sprinted, sort of, to the finish, with various leg muscles beginning to give me some funky twinges. Somehow I managed to see Andrea and the kids once again along the bridge. Crossing the finish line I hit my GPS for a 3:53:15 a PR of about 7 ½ minutes!
Post race I was in bad, bad shape for a while. My legs and hips were screaming at me and I walked a bit like a 13 month old! I passed on pizza. I passed on bagels. I attempted some good chicken noodle soup, but I really couldn’t take it in. I drank lots of water as my son Lincoln tried to help me by messaging my calves!
Eventually, I checked the time and decided to try and get myself back to the finish line to cheer on Gwen and Kevin, if I could find them. I staggered over toward the finishing chute. Looking up, I was fortunate to catch a momentary glimpse of an image that – after all the miles of country roads, changing leaves, and cheering fans are left behind; after the pain of pounding exertion has long since faded from memory – will remain permanently etched in my mind. Standing there a few yards past the finish line were Gwen and Kevin, locked in an embrace. I have to believe that in that one moment was the release of a flood of emotions built up over a period of time much greater than the 4 hours and 20 minutes or so that it took for them to run the Wineglass.
Gwen’s real marathon began 8 months ago on a cold, icy day in February. I can’t even begin to imagine what it has been like for Gwen and Kevin, but I’m willing to bet that this last 26.2 miles of her marathon, painful as I know they were, may actually have been the easiest.
I’m not sure who placed first in this year’s Wineglass Marathon, but I know that the winner was the one who finished in a chip time of 4:20:41!
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Jay Silvio and I after the race