On the shuttle bus to the starting line of the recent
Wineglass Marathon (Corning, NY), I said to the guy sitting next to me that
this was the least prepared I’ve been going into a marathon. For several
reasons, I’d missed about two weeks in my training, out of a total of 12. My
weekly mileage barely exceeded 30, which should have been a clear foreshadower of what was to come. This marathon was my first one
since before COVID (Harrisburg Marathon 2019), so there was also some racing rustiness.
The result, not surprisingly, was my slowest marathon finish thus far
(5:20:17).
This was my fourth Wineglass run and about an hour nine minutes
slower than the last time I ran it in 2018. I don't think it's the five years
difference in age, at least not the main reason. It's more not being fully
prepared from training. The result was a race that went from Boston qualifying (BQ)
hopeful (first 10 miles) to walking the last three miles. So, my training was
good enough for just 10 miles (maybe 15 if I'm being generous). It's still a
matter of training!
Standing near the starting line near Bath, NY, in a group gathered
around the 4:20 pacer, I actually thought I was being conservative. Although
4:20 was my BQ time, that would not have been enough to run Boston (see 2024 Boston Marathon qualifier cutoff time). In hindsight, I should have gone with the 4:30 pacer, or 4:40, or 4:45,
or anyone under 5:00! The 4:30 pacer passed me at around Mile 15, followed a
few miles later by the other pacers. I didn’t even notice the pacers after the
4:40 one, because I was struggling to just focus on getting to the finish,
somehow.
As the above pace chart shows, the first 10 miles were on a
BQ pace (9:55/min). They felt good—well, the first 10 always do. 😊
But, at around Mile 10, going through the village of Savona, NY, my legs intimated
their soon-to-come complaints. The second 10 miles gradually slowed. Still, I
didn’t walk except through the aid stations, except I was taking longer and
longer to do that and to start running again. Miles 21-23 were walking/running,
and Miles 24 to just before 26 were all walking. In those last three miles, my leg
muscles just felt weird and occasionally cramped up. I felt that I had nothing
left. And, yet, what’s with the last 0.4 mile to the finish?!
Somehow, I managed to run that last 0.4 mile, starting around the
middle of the bridge over the Chemung River on Bridge Street, crossing the
finish line at a sub-9:00 pace. In a way, I sort of had to: the race photographer on the
bridge was taking pictures, as were others closer to the finish along W. Market
St. And the crowd was cheering! I had to at least make the finish look good! 🤣
“Sort of had to” seems to apply to almost every runner
nearing the finish line. This “end spurt” also occurs in shorter-distance races,
but especially so in endurance events. Here are some recent data and analyses on this interesting behavior. Two of my previous posts, “Mind over muscle?” and “No-running running,” also delved into this, including Tim Noakes’ Central Governor Model.
As for the Wineglass race management, I’m impressed every
time I run it (See 2013, 2017, 2018). Here, I just note again how impressively efficient were the shuttle
busses that took some 5,000 runners to separate marathon and half
marathon starting lines, all within one and a half hour. Corning, NY has a population
of about 11,000, which, during race weekend, increases by about 50%. More than 2,000 volunteers are typically involved.
Bib pickup at the race expo was at the Corning Museum of
Glass, which always makes it fun.
Of course, a bottle of champagne and a companion glass (with paper to wrap it) are both part of the swag. 😊
And, the glass finishers medal is always unique!
