Spectating at the Wineglass Marathon

·  Last weekend was the Wineglass Marathon and half-marathon. The marathon began in Bath, NY and went to Corning, the half began in Campbell, NY. The weather was perfect for long-distance running, around 50 at the start and ending around 60 degrees. Mike W. ran the marathon and Eileen W. ran the half-marathon. Jan, Lou, Joanne and I drove down in the wee hours of the morning hoping to follow them around by car. I also hoped to meet up with MW and run with him the last 3-4 miles. The course design (point to point) makes it fairly easy to see the racers at several places, as you can exit off the expressway and drive a half mile or so to see them go by on country roads. 

There are several things I learned while spectating and later, pacing, at this event; 

1.  Watching runners in marathons is interesting. You really can’t tell how fast or long someone can run by looking at their body shape or running style. 
2.  Lou is amazing finding parking spots. He was able to get so close to the action we hardly had to get out of the car. A spot barely big enough for an Urkel car was twice the size of what he needed for parking his Honda. 
   
3.  There should be food/coffee trucks for spectators in point to point races. We get hungry too.
4. It's easy to smile for the cameras when you’ve only run a mile or two.
5. I like that people thought I had run 24 miles and still didn’t break a sweat.
6. Pacers notice the scenery much more than runners who have been putting one foot in front of the other for three hours.
7. Who needs a water stop? Not me!
8. For the first time ever I saw MW not scoop up money that was on the road. He couldn’t bend down far enough.
9. I could jog backwards waiting for MW to stroll through the water stop. I’ve never tried to run backwards in a marathon before. Maybe I would cramp less if I used that technique more often.
10. The last 3.5 miles of a marathon typically has no port-a-johns. This isn’t a problem for dehydrated racers, but became an issue for me. It’s not easy to find a “hiding” spot in the middle of Corning.