This is now my 8th state in my quest to hit all 50 states before I turn 50. Flew into Kansas City International Airport via Spirit airlines out of O'hare on the 17th of April. Luckily I was able to get a lift from Joe and the rest of the crew who drove from Mississippi to run the full marathon. (suckers) My flight landed in the afternoon so we proceeded to head to the race expo. We didn't use the gear check since our bibs didn't have a detachable small piece of the bib to hand out. We had about 30 minutes to stretch and warm up before the race started. There were no speakers at the back of the corral so we totally missed the National Anthem and didn't hear the race start so we all just waited until the people in front of us started running.

Because of the weather I did not bring my phone with me which I use to listen to music and follow my pace. A new for me so I latched on to the 2:40 pace group and figured I will try to hang with them as much as possible. Turned out to be the best thing I did. Katrina was AWESOME!!! She totally rocked our pace group.

The temperature dropped as the race went and the rain become steady. And the wind...geez. On top of that there were hills which I am not trained in flat Chicago. Despite that and my under training I was very pleased with my 2:50 time. The only thing that really could have been better was the amount of water stations. Had it be warm a lot of runners would have been hurting.

The post race party was okay but it could have been better. The tent which housed the runners for a free beer and sandwich could of been much bigger. Just minor logistical stuff. Things that can be improved for next year.

This race has the makings of a bucket list race. I highly suggest doing the half marathon!!!

Frank

Arriving at the hotel parking lot where the expo was being held at brought a sense excitement. Thinking since Garmin was the main sponsor of the race it was going to be something else. To be fair I wasn't let down..lol. Entering the hotel lobby I saw the entire race expo just by turning my head left to right without taking another step. Getting the race bib was quick and easy. The staff very friendly. Then took 20 steps to the right to receive my race shirt. Saw four exhibits and that was pretty much the expo. I guess I was expecting something more.

Our hotel was only less than a quarter of a mile from the expo. We dropped our luggage. relaxed and then headed to dinner before turning in for the night. I kept looking at the weather forecast because it wasn't looking pretty at for the race on Saturday. A big glob of yellow and red on the doppler radar was heading our way. Actually fitting for a Land of Oz theme race. ;)

As we arrived at the Garmin Headquarters I was surprised to see the amount of cars in the parking lot...(free parking!!!) Looks like people weren't afraid of getting a little wet.

I signed up for this race over seven months ago as part of my "Complete 50 half marathons in all 50 states before I turn 50" quest. I read several articles about the races with good reviews. I checked out their website and found the price for the half marathon was the same at the full marathon. I contacted race officials about this but really never got a definite answer. I was able to convince a very good friend of mine to run the race with me if I actually signed up for it. Sent her my confirmation number and presto we both signed up for the 2014 Wine Glass Half Marathon.

I landed at Elmira Regional Country Airport from Philly on Friday Oct 3rd. We proceeded to the Corning Glassware museum/gift shop for the race packet pickup. The directions were easy to follow and there were plenty of signs on where to go. Once in the building we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful glass objects just waiting to be purchased. We went through the huge display to the other side of the building to find the packet pickup. The volunteers were friendly as we headed towards the half marathon table. Once there we should our I.Ds received our race bibs, long sleeve tech shirts, and best of all our wine glass/personal champaign bottle. We proceeded to verify our race bibs then headed off to the expo.

The expo itself was not very big but did have interesting local booths.The race merch for sale was suprisingly well stocked. I bought myself a very cool looking Wine Glass hoodie with the very important thumb holes for $40. Not a bad price at all for quality an Asics product. After getting our packet we proceeded to head to lunch at a local brew pub. When racing out of your area it is really helpful to soak in the local flavors from independently owned businesses. Skip the fast food joints, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor.

Saturday saw us just keeping a low key day. Caught my first live rugby match. Nevermind that it was an all-female rugby match because these ladies can play just as tough as the guys. We returned back to the house for a nice pasta dinner. We turned in for an early night. And found ourselves throwing another blanket on for the night. Temps at race time were falling to somewhere around the upper 30's. WOOHOO!!!

Our home base was in Ithaca, New York so it was about an 20-30 drive to the race. Once we arrived there we saw a lot of people there around 6am. We were lucky enough to be dropped off so we didn't have to worry about parking. We read that we were going to be transported to the half marathon starting line by bus. We were informed that the last bus was going to be leaving at 7am. Judging by the ever growing line and the slow fill up of the buses this was not going to happen.

We waited in line until it was our turn to hop on the bus for about 45 minutes and the line behind us was not getting any shorter. Once our bus was full we headed towards the starting line. 20 minutes later we found ourselves about 0.2 miles away from the starting line. There were plenty of port o johns and there was a person on the mic directing people on were to go. Gear check was also there, Four/Five UPS trucks were there with bib numbers. You had to find your bib number on a certain truck, check it in and it would be waiting for you at the finish line. Once I made use of the port o john it was time to make the walk over to the starting line. Funny that the starting line was on a road between corn fields.

Now the setup of the half marathon was unique for me. It shared the same route as the full marathon. It would start an hour earlier and was actually the midway point for the full marathon. The sun was finally coming up and the temperature was begining to rise to a nice 40 degrees. People were very friendly. Many of them were running their first half marathon. While others, like myself, had this race on a list to check off. After some stretching it was time for our race to begin. We looked at the race map and noticed there was one major increase in elevation after that it was all down hill from there. Trust me this is a good thing for a runner.

Since the start of the half marathon was actually the half way point for the full marathon there was the typical inflatable arch with ballons and such. There two simple floor flags that read start and the timing strip that activated your timing chip on the bib once your crossed it. The race did have pacers so that was cool. This was only the 4th half marathon while the full marathon was celebrating it's 33rd year.

It was finally time for the race to begin!!! Didn't hear a boom, bang, or horn. Just noticed the herd slowly moving ahead of me. The incline happened very quickly and honestly really didn't notice it. It might have been a two hundred meter incline at nice slope. The drop happened just before mile two. It stayed flat winding around the beautiful area until it dropped off again. Now around mile two my shin splints acted up again. I was hoping they were going to be a non issue for this race. I had none during my Boston half marathon and it was a lot warmer. It got so bad I told my friend to go ahead and go without me. I walked/limped for about a mile or so. I was pissed off. Walkers were passing me by and an awesome guy by the name of Shawn had his two person team walking with as he was completing his first half marathon. Shawn was a big guy. I mean a big guy. I admired him for taking on this challenge. But personally I thought to myself there is no way in hell Shawn going to finish this race before me. So I gutted it out. I had to stop to the side of the road and massage out my shins. The right one acted up first and when I thought it was over the left one took over. Then pain on both my feet were happening. I was thinking to myself "Why am I breaking down?" Took a couple of deep breaths, remembered my training, and slowly picked up my pace.

I never let Shawn out of my site. After two miles my pace was now at a respectable running pace. I caught up to Shawn and gave him a thumbs up at mile 4 and never saw him again. The whole time I was just in awe by the fall colors, running through bridges over streams, It was a picture perfect race. Norman Rockwell would have an hard on the whole race.

I didn't take any pictures but with my current pace I was able to really enjoy the scenery. I noticed my race app wasn't working for the majority of the race. I had no idea what my pace really was until mile 11. By then I knew It wasn't going to be a fast but a respectable one considering the pain I push through from the beginning. My goal is always to finish the race and not come in last. So far I met that goal in all my half marathons. The speed will come eventually come through with hard work. Running a long distance race isn't about the person in front or in back of you. The person you are trying to beat is your previous self. Races like this will unveil your mental toughness. That's the biggest hurdle to overcome the rest is just hard work. ;)

My personal goal for this race was to finish under 3 hours. The official race time has me at 3:01 but that is almost the exact same time as my race app which has me running an extra 1/2 mile. I've read through Facebook that other runners were complaining that their finish time did not match their race app. So it looks like either everyone's app was not working due to poor cell phone coverage or a qlitch in the race timing gear. Either way I had a great time at the race and encourage other runners to take part in the 2015 Wine Glass Half/Full Marathon. Quite a few mico breweries, a lot of vineyards, and many good local eateries.

Until we lace up those running shoes again,

El Guapo
#RunBitchRun
#MyPaceMyRace

Before coming to Boston I had completed a half marathon in Indiana(3), Alaska, California, and Wisconsin. I have a goal of completing 50 half marathons in all fifty states before I turn 50. A modest task if I do say so myself. Now I'm still recovering from a pulled calf injury I had from over a month ago. Did not participate in the Minnesota half marathon because of it. So I couldn't really train as much as I would like to have. Luckily I had my November Project Chicago tribe to keep me motivated.

I still could do some core workouts with very limited running. A week before the Boston Michelob 13.1 I visited my doctor to see if I got the green light to go ahead and do the race. After an hour examination I received the go ahead. Feeling confident I knew I wasn't going to break any PR's but at least I had the opportunity to finish the race.

So hear I am flying into Boston on a cool Friday morning. I leave the airport to find out there is a free shuttle bus that will drop me off in dowtown for free. Loving this already. I walk around the city for bit before I hit Harpoon Brewery. Needless to say that was one of the highlights of the trip. Stumbling to the bus stop I headed back to downtown to view some historical sites before going to City Sports for the packit pickup. Now I was kinda of shocked to see an athletic store host a half marathon. Usually because of the number of registered runners it would been an a convention center or something. I guess it wasn't gonig to be much of a crowd come race day.

Went towards the rear of the store to find some helpful people at the registration table. I was asked to enter my information in a tablet that gave me my bib number which I gave to the volunteers. With bib number in hand I proceeded to the race shirt area. Within five minutes I got what I came for. Easy peasy. I wish all half marathon packit pickups were efficient like that.

Walked around some more before heading to Weymouth, MA to stay with my good friend. Looking at the race information I noticed the race started and ended in front of a horse race track, Suffolk Downs. I thought hey that's pretty cool. Never had a race do that before. I was looking forward to this on Sunday.

I was dropped off at the race location only to see the horse race track complex not to be what I expected. It almost had a feel of being a non profressional track. Kinda like a second rate carnival. Once going inside I was not suprised to see the condition of said venue. Saw so many trip on themselves because of the unleveled floors. Getting to the gear check was simple and once again the volunteers were helpful.

Outside the starting and finishers corral were set up. They had a horse starting gate nearby for runners to take pictures with it. The weather was cool. The sun was ready to shine brightly without a cloud in the sky. It was almost time to start the race. I headed towards the corral and noticed there seemed to be only several thousand runners. This might be the race where I come in last and to be honest I was okay with that. My goal for this race was just to finish and if I can do it in under three hours all the better.

After the National Anthem was sung it was time to start the race. First the 5k runners started in the opposite direction then five minutes later it was the half marathoners turn. I started my tunes, activated my Endomondo race tracker and it was go time. I wanted to start with a 12 minute pace or so. I have a habit of starting way too fast in the begining. I held back for the first three miles. The course was fairly flat with only a couple of slight hills every now and end. Around mile 7 through 11 was a great view of the oceanside beach. There weren't many onlookers by my pace but the one who were I gave a wave. They stuck around.

Kudos the bagpiper and drummer around mile 4 going into the trail. At mile 9 I felt my body tell me...you've done pretty good with little or no training for this race...Im going on shut down mode now. Gutting it out I walked when I had to and jogged to push through. I will say this about this race. The majority of the runners are FAST!!! Very impressed usually half marathons have a good number of walkers and run/walk particpates. Not this race....99% runners. The end of the race looped back to the horse track. I chatted with other people going at my pace. Very nice people with their own reasons to run. There it was I finally saw the finish line. Quads tired, calf muslces tight, right foot hurting...I kept at it to the very end. and presto I finished my seventh half marathon!!!

I didn't stick around for the free beer well because it's Michelob. I went back to Harpoon Brewery the next day. ;)

So if you're thinking of doing a half marathon in Boston this one would be the one to do. Fairly flat course, helpful volunteers and you can visit Harpoon Brewery before and after the race.

Until we lace up those shoes,

Frank