Wineglass Half Marathon Race Recap 10/5/14

DAY BEFORE THE RACE:

We got to the cute town of Corning, NY Saturday morning. It's a 4 hour drive from Princeton so it was a long but scenic drive for all. Driving through the Allegheny Plateau was so nice! We saw mountains and some fall colors showing on the trees. I loved seeing the oranges and reds. The kids were more than ready to get out of the car when we arrived. Our first stop was the expo at Corning's Museum of Glass. 


We were directed downstairs for the expo where we came to the gift shop. Once at the gift shop, we weren't quite sure where to go, but found out that you had to go through the gift shop, out the doors and back into the building where the expo was. Not a big deal, but would have been nice to know exactly where to go after going down the escalator. 

Bib pick up along with getting our shirts, wine glass, and our mini bottle of champagne went smoothly. It was quick and easy. Love that we get the glass and champagne, and the shirt is cute!

The actual expo part was small but not bad for a smaller race. The volunteers were great and the people who answered questions about the race were great. Hubby had questions about dropping me off and getting to and from the viewing areas and the lady answering them was great and very helpful. We didn't spend much time at the expo. However, I did enjoy browsing the museum's gift shop. The glass is so pretty, but very pricey! The museum would have been great to see especially since runners got half off of admission with your bib, however we didn't have the time and I was afraid the kiddos would break something. I did let the boys get a glass marble from this cool "marble machine". 

After the expo, we grabbed a quick lunch then headed to Watkins Glenn State Park to check out the waterfalls. A definite must see! Blog post about the hike will be coming soon!

After the park, we checked into our motel, then headed back to Corning to check out the town and have dinner. The town is really cute and we visited some of the shops before eating dinner at Panasia where I got a bowl of noodles with veggies and chicken. It was yummy!

We then headed back to the motel to put the kids to bed and me, get prepared for the run. Laying out my running outfit for the morning, I noticed that my Flipbelt was not in my bag. I was pretty sure that I had packed it, but apparently I didn't because it wasn't in the bag. I was pretty upset as the main reason I use it is for my phone. The running skirt I wore has pockets, but I knew that if I put my phone in there, it would bother me and I'd worry about it falling out the whole run. Ultimately, I decided that this race will have to be phone-less and without music. This would be my first race without my cell phone and music. I wasn't sure how this would affect my race, but I couldn't do anything about it. I was in bed by 9pm.

RACE DAY:
I got up around 5:15am. It didn't take me long to get up and ready as I was getting excited for the run. I knew it was going to be cold, but didn't realize it would actually be freezing. There was actually some frost on the car. It was a clear day and the stars were out. I knew it was going to be a beautiful day for running. We were in the car by 6:00am and they dropped me off in Corning to take the bus to the start. I ended up taking an emergency blanket we had in the car so I can use that to stay warm at the start. The volunteers were very helpful directing runners as to which bus to take for the half or full. 

The bus ride was about 15 minutes to get to the school where the start line was near. It was definitely freezing out as the temp on the school sign read 32 degrees. I was there pretty early, about an hour and a half before the start time. It was great that the school was open for us to stay warm. However there was only one bathroom open in the school so unless you wanted to wait in a long line, you had to go out in the freezing cold and use the porta potty. I chose the latter and it wasn't horrible as I didn't have to wait long. After, I went back inside to warm up. I did meet up with Jenny from Run Jenny Run. It was pretty cool meeting her as I've been following her blog for a while now. :)

She knew about my Flipbelt situation and how I did not have my phone, so she sent me this pic and the next couple of pics. She is so nice! Thanks Jenny! 

It was cold but very pretty out at the start line.

The race started a bit late, as I think we had to wait for all the runners to get to the start. To get to the start line you had to go right by the starting area and line up from there. There were no corrals, however there were pacers with signs. I stood in between the 1:50 pacer and 1:55. My goal was to get at or below 1:55. 

When the race started, I felt strong. I probably went out too fast, but if you look at my splits I did pretty good up to mile 10. I did see Hubby and the kiddos at mile 8 and they made me smile ear to ear. It was so nice to see them and they helped push me.

Mile 10 is where my legs were getting tired, but I kept at it. The course was great! Except for the big hill right after the first mile, a lot of it was flat or slightly downhill which was awesome. There were some ups but slight upgrades and nothing horrible. It's a perfect run! Some parts we didn't even have the whole road, but ran along the side and we ran through a cute park. My favorite part was towards the end, where after we ran on a bridge, we turned onto Market street and saw the finish. 

I always love when you see the finish and know that you are almost done. What was even better was seeing Hubby and the kiddos cheering for me. I did not expect to see them as I thought I would just meet them at the family meeting place, but seeing them was a pleasant surprise. They helped push me to a nice sprint to the finish.

At the finish I was given my medal, got some water and chocolate milk! It was so nice to drink that chocolate milk at the finish. I was happy to see that they gave you a bag (thanks Wegmans!) so we can have a bagel, banana, cookies, etc. and not have to hold it all. There was even pizza! Nice goodies for the runners. The race was put on very well! I was very impressed with all the water stations and even a Gu gel and chomp blok station along the course. The volunteers were great!

These are my stats from my Garmin.

According to results, my net time or chip time was 1:54:02 so I PR'd. :) I was so happy at the finish! I did fine without my phone and even enjoyed the race without it. I got to take in all the cheering which was awesome! I also love the medal as it is made of glass.

I definitely recommend this race to anyone! It was an awesome experience!