Corning, NY
3:09:53 (7:15/mile)
41st place overall (out of 550)
My parents, bless their souls, were very smart to raise me the way they did. One of the many ‘good’ things they did for me was teach me that experiences were much more valuable than physical objects. Me and my siblings grew up in an upper middle class house but lived (for the most part) a middle class lifestyle. What we got in exchange was travel. In my youth I got to travel all over the country. So much so, that by age 25, I had visited all 50 states, many of them more than once. It is in that vein that I truly love to travel, especially by car. When I started this marathon thingie a few years ago, I got to merge some passions with my lifestyle. I got to mix my love for travel with my obsession and ability for running marathons. 22 marathons is just over 2 years, in 17 different states is a testament to that. This marathon trip is a perfect example of just such a marriage.
I left 2 days before the race to enjoy the trip. The race was on Sunday, but I left on Friday afternoon, stopping late Friday night in Hamburg, NY. On Saturday morning I did the quick trip up to Niagara Falls. I had not been here for a few years and it was (as usual) beautiful. Then, I decided to take in some culture. Stopping at a Buffalo Starbucks early Saturday morning, I talked to a very nice employee and he let me know that there are a few art galleries in town. I did some research and sure enough, there was an awesome art gallery (with lots of abstract stuff, which I love including a Jackson Pollack) so I took that in as well. A quick drive to Corning, NY on Saturday afternoon got me to the marathon check in/expo (unexciting, honestly) and then I hit the Corning Glass Museum to round out the ‘tourist’ part of my marathon trip.
I ate dinner at a local Applebee’s (which seems to be a standard for my night-before-marathon dinners) and met 3 women who were planning on running the 3 person marathon relay. It turns out one of them got diagnosed with a stress fracture mere days ago so the third leg will be split by the other 2 runners. At the first transition point (9 miles in) I saw two of them waiting for their teammate. I sacrificed the 15 seconds to stop and say hi to them. They were still all smiles.
Race morning I stood outside my hotel room for 10 minutes at 5:30 am trying to decide what clothes to wear for the run. It was about 40 degrees, and I ultimately decided that shorts were not the right choice. I was not racing, so I wanted to be comfortable, so running pants it was. After a 30 minute bus ride up to Bath, NY and I had about 30 minutes to hang out. The temperature stayed crisp, and the fog was very dense.
Since I am shooting for a PR in Alabama in December, I decided right before race start to run a 3:10 (7:15 pace) because that is what my training schedule calls for. I set my GPS watch, wished some nearby runners luck, and we were off.
About 0.6 mile into the race I met Dovid (no, not a typo. He is the guy in that really crappy finish picture above. Sorry, it was my cell phone) from New York City. He lets me know he is shooting for a Boston Qualifying time, which for him was (ha-ha) 3:10. We start chatting and next thing you know, we decide we are going to run together for a while, and we end up staying next to each other the entire race. We talked about where we grew, up, or respective running history and stories, marathon and other. It really was a pleasant conversation, making the miles fly by for both of us. He was born in the Bronx, grew up on Long island, now lives in Queens and works in Manhattan. He said he has never lived more than 20 miles from downtown NYC.
At about mile 15, a group of 3 guys (all from Philadelphia) caught up to us, and sure enough there is another guy trying to qualify for Boston. They remark to me that they have seen me for a while and hate the fact that I am not sweating that bad and my form is smooth and relaxed. They are jealous when they realize how slow I am running this. So, I became an unofficial 3:10 pace group leader. At about mile 20, everyone pretty much stops talking except me. They were starting to get weak and I started playing full time cheerleader. Getting them to relax their arms, keep their heads up, etc. As the assistant cross country coach at JCC, I have lots of practice yelling at runners, but they are usually only for short periods of time as my athletes run by me. It is different when you are running with them. I have thought before about being an official pace group leader at some of the bigger races I run. Today, I decided I definitely want to do that as it was way fun, especially seeing those two guys achieve their goal. It made me feel like a first time Boston qualifier all over again.
The fog stayed with us for almost 20 miles. At mile 6 the view was literally picture perfect. We were on a lonely stretch of road, with farm land on both sides. We were running towards the sun, but visibility was only about 400m. The runners in front of us were literally silhouettes disappearing into the distant abyss. It was totally awesome.
Post race food excellent (pizza and soup along with standard post race fare) and I defied my rule, eating 3 pieces of pepperoni pretty much right afterwards (after a bottle of water) What I thought was post race rot-gut due to eating solid food is (new evidence says) actually from consuming too much sugar afterwards. With lots of water, I can eat solid food right after a race, well a race that I run a 3:10 in :).
After a short walk and shower, my legs felt fine. Here, 10 hours later (after a 8 hour drive) my legs feel almost normal. I massaged them as much as I could while driving and every time I stopped. My double in November seems more possible.
This ranks up there as one of the most memorable marathon trips I have ever taken. Great tourist stuff the day before, a fun race, it was awesome.
