Wineglass Half Marathon recap, aka, Slow and very slow with hints of plodding

Last year, I ran the Wineglass Half Marathon in Corning, New York, and did pretty OK. Of course, “pretty OK” is all relative, and my version of it is probably many other people’s “not so hot.” But I I set a PR that I have a feeling I’ll never be able to beat, and I was really happy.

The Wineglass is my kind of run. It’s mostly flat or downhill and you get a free glass and a bottle of bubbly along with the shirt and the other bits and pieces. No wonder I set a PR. Although, the PR may have had something to do with the fact  I had spent 2012 running so many races every weekend that I had by default trained for that one (shock!), but still, bubbly booze is a powerful motivator.

Smooshed way in the back at the Wineglass Half Marathon start.

This year, Hubby had the brilliant idea of suggesting this race as a destination run for our group at the Quincy Y. There ended up being nine of us who traveled from Boston. So fun! The rest of the group like to do wild and crazy things like train consistently, which means they were all infinitely more prepared than I was, so I said goodbye to them and sneaked into the back of the pack where I belonged (Hubby and our trainer Mary were doing the full marathon). Last year, I was propelled to the finish by the 2.30 pace runner, but once you consign yourself to 3:00 and above, I feel like you’re pretty much on your own.

Into the mist.

I had decided that I was going to mostly walk this one, as I didn’t want to injure myself coming into the race cold. Unfortunately, there’s no such program as Couch to Half Marathon in Two Weeks. I could really use one of those.

I did start off jogging, for about a mile, but it felt pretty torturous, so I decided to stick with the original plan. I’m a pretty fast walker, so I thought I could maybe knock it over in about three hours. (I did the Mad Half Marathon last year in around that time, and figured that given that the Wineglass is a net downhill course and the Mad is crazy hilly, it would be a cakewalk.)

I guess I should learn how to bake.

I remembered this course really well from last year, and I remembered exactly where I was before I finally petered out and had to walk. It was at about the nine-mile mark. Man, nine miles is a long way when you’re walking as slowly as I was this time around. And don’t even get me started on 13.1. For the first time in many, many races I felt … and I can’t believe I’m saying this … kind of bored. Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing event. I love it and would happily do it every year regardless of the shape I’m in. But it was tough for me for many reasons.

Thank goodness it’s pretty. I was out there long enough.

I kept going even though my legs were turning to jelly and my brain to mush. I was so relieved when I turned the second-to-last corner that I even broke out into a little jog (that may have been mostly for the camera), but I couldn’t sustain it. For the first time ever (apart from the Mad, where I was in a walkers division), I resigned myself to walking across the finish line.

But that’s OK. I was just so glad to cross it that I didn’t really care that the race wasn’t my finest hour. All the others from the Quincy contingent did amazingly well, and everyone had a great weekend. I’ll toast to that.

The event: Wineglass Marathon and Half Marathon
The location: Corning, NY
The date: October 6, 2013
My time: 3.28.40
Hubby’s time: 4.02.29
The T-shirt: Purple tech long-sleeved shirt
The aftermath: Bagels, soup, chocolate milk, bananas