Wineglass Half Marathon Weekend Update

Sit down, grab some coffee and put those reading glasses on!  It's Weekend Update time!

This past weekend I ran the Wineglass Half Marathon in Corning, NY.  Ever since the hotel debacle that happened the night before my full marathon in 2011, I have been a stickler for booking the right hotel way in advance of race weekend.  Corning is about 190 miles away from home, which meant an opportunity for us to get away for the weekend at a nice, cushy hotel.  Hotel options were not abundant in Corning, so we ended up finding a very nice hotel in a little town called Watkins Glen, in the Finger Lakes region.  Watkins Glen is about 30 miles from Corning, but I figured that'd give us the chance to see the general area, and catch some local flavor.

My husband and I started our journey on Friday afternoon.  Knowing that this particular race was a "goal race," I decided that I would not be consuming a drop of alcohol this weekend.  If you know anything about me, you know I enjoy a nice glass of wine now and again, especially when we travel.  I am not the kind of girl to give up a beautiful Pinot Noir just because there is a race the next day.  In fact, once I completed a 20-mile training run while I was still tipsy from the night before.

During the ride, I had that feeling that you get when you know you forgot something important.  I mentally ticked off the checklist in my head, and realized that whatever it was that I had forgotten could be purchased at our destination.  We weren't visiting a third-world country, after all.  As we pulled up to our hotel, I am happy that it looks lovely.  Checked in, ordered some room service, snuggle into bed and had a good night's sleep.  Upon waking the next morning, I quickly realize what I had forgotten.

Perhaps you do not fully comprehend the exhaustive list of things you must remember for a race, especially while traveling.  The obvious things like running shoes, socks, outfit, and Garmin come easily.  The other things require some thought.  Should I run with music, or without?  With requires armband and headphones.  If I run without music, I need something to carry my phone, so I'll pack that little waistband thingy, which also holds my GU.  May as well pack another pair of running shoes, just in case, and ok fine, another pair of socks.  Then it's time to decide what kind of head covering to wear.  If it's going to be hot, a visor.  If it's going to rain, a cap.  Grab both, decide later.  Don't forget the ponytail holder.  Sunscreen, handheld water bottle, Body Glide, sunglasses, race-morning breakfast options, baby wipes for guerilla-type shower after race so I don't smell up car on the way home.  I got it all.  Except for one thing--underwear.  Yes, I remembered every piece of runner minutiae ever invented, but I forgot good, old-fashioned underwear.  Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees, throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and micromanaging.

Good thing we had Saturday to have some fun.  And underwear shop.  Before I continue with the rest of the weekend, I have to give a shout-out to Trip Advisor.  We used this app extensively to find the mall (underwear) and restaurants (breakfast).  Very useful.  Breakfast was at Savard's Family Restaurant, and they had really cool placemats where there are hidden objects drawn into the ads to pass the time while waiting for food.

This happened to be a place frequented by the biker crowd.  I would've taken a picture of them, but I feared for my life.  We're still not sure what the attraction of the bikers to that town was.  Maybe one of you know?

We headed to the expo from there to grab my bib, and little did we know that they gave out other goodies too!

I picked the wrong day to quit drinking!

There was a wineglass too, but Jim already wrapped it up.

The Corning Museum of Glass was next, since it was next door to the YMCA where we picked up the bib and goodies.  We saw the Hot Glass Show, where they demonstrated how to blow glass (very cool), and we shopped at the museum store.  Here are a few pictures of us at the Glass Museum.


I did mention our sense of humor was juvenile, right?

Since I was without significant underclothing, next on the agenda was, well, that.  Trip Advisor to the rescue again!  We found the local mall, and had a good time with the name.  It was the Arnot Mall.  As in, "We Arnot a real mall."  We found this to be true.  It was the most depressing mall at which we ever had the pleasure of shopping.  Since we were kid-less for the weekend, we decided to take in a movie at the (We) Arnot (a) Regal Movie Theatre.  We saw Gravity, with Sandra Bullock and five minutes of George Clooney.  We liked it.

Back to our lovely hotel for a nap, then dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant.

Sunday morning started out wet.  We woke up at 5 a.m. to pouring rain.  Good thing I had many cap options, and if necessary, we could've stopped at the (We) Arnot (a) Convenience Store for a trash bag rain coat.  Fortunately, it wasn't necessary!  Yay!  All the rain did its thing by 7 a.m., and it was cool, dry and absolutely perfect running weather.  Here's my selfie on race morning.

I will not go into all the runner-specific details of my race.  Suffice it to say, it confusled me.  That's pronounced 'con-fuse-eld.'  I was surprised at how strong I felt throughout the entire race, and thought I could turn in a significant PR (personal record), but it turned out I was a little overly-confident.  OK, a lot.  I ran a very consistent race, and in fact, my most consistent.  You see, I usually lose it at about mile 10.  I start to ask questions like, "Who the hell signed me up for this race?", and "I'm older!  What makes me think I can still run 13.1 miles again this year?"  But that didn't happen!  I was almost surprised at myself because I felt so strong at mile 10.  I thought for sure I'd run it faster than my best.

It's all good though, I was only a few minutes slower than my best, and I'm OK with that.  I like to think about my husband and kids as I cross, and the fact that I am completely in control of my accomplishments.  In fact, these days, I'm learning it's one of the only things I can control.  The race wound through charming towns, had friendly and encouraging crowd support, and the best thing?  The medal.  You've gotta see this medal.

And here I am, after finishing my tenth half marathon since I began running in 2010.  I gotta tell you, it's a great feeling!

Are you forgetful?

Do you have a juvenile sense of humor?  I probably would not if it weren't for my husband.  He brings out the best (worst?) of me.

Thanks for stopping by!
Robin