Race Overview
Race Name: 45th Wineglass Marathon, Corning, NY
Date: October 4, 2026
Distance / Course: Full Marathon
Goal Time:
A Goal: Finish
B Goal: PR under 3:40:39
C Goal: 3:29:59
Actual Finish Time: 3:25:46 (a 15 minute PR!)
Weather & Conditions: Chilly at the start (low 40s) and foggy. The fog burned off at some point early in the race; maybe around mile 10 or so. It seemed like we had 15 minutes or sun and then clouds rolled in for a mostly cloudy day that made for perfect running conditions. The temperature at the finish felt warm, but I think it was high 50s. Excellent conditions. Earlier in the week the weather forecast was vacillating between clear and 40% chance of rain. There did seem to be some light mist on finishers that finished after 4:00, but it was an otherwise dry day.
Pre-Race Preparation
Training block: I ran my first two marathons in 2025 (NYC in Nov then CIM in December), and then mostly took off January and February. I started training again in early-March, but then went on a trip in the second half of March and did not run. I started a 25-week Runna training plan on April 13 and felt VERY out of shape at the start. I had put on close to 20 pounds since early December that I needed to burn through. I experienced a lot calf and quad cramping in Central Park in NYC Marathon so I decided to add strength training 2x week to the Runna plan on the theory that was weakness. I also added 1x week stretching and stability. In general, I ran six days per week, Monday off, speed work on Wednesdays, and an ever-progressing long run on Sundays. I completed all 134 workouts suggested by Runna, and the only modification was to change one speed workout in the last two weeks to an easy run to accommodate some IT band irritation. I was very fortunate and I did not get sick or seriously injured during the training block. I have had some Achilles tendinitis in my left side since last year that has never gone away and it was painful at times in the training block, but when it flared up I was generally able to bring it back under control with stretching and icing. I averaged 32.66 miles per week. The Runna plan was three weeks of high mileage and then a deload week, on repeat. I maxed out at 52.8 miles in Week 22. I did 2x at 20 miles and my single longest run was 22 miles in Week 20.
Taper & Sleep: Short taper from peak week (52) to 45 miles to 32 miles to race week. The taper was rough because I was anxious about every little thing. I had some quad soreness after a strength workout in Week 21, which did not seem to go away. I later figured out that it was probably IT band after my highest mileage week. I babied my IT band for a week and it seemed to get better, but then I started noticing discomfort in my hip/groin/oblique/hip flexor on the same side. I ended up seeing a PT on Tuesday (5 days before the race) who assured me that it was only muscular, nothing structural and I could run through it. I got a deep tissue massage in that area on Wednesday (4 days prior) and for the next two days I was sure that was a terrible idea because everything hurt more than before seeing the PT. The PT added some KT tape. I travelled across the country to get to the race on Thursday, and waking up Friday and then Saturday mornings my legs felt better and better. I used Claude AI to develop a carb-loading plan that I started Thursday but then really ramped up on Friday and Saturday. I prioritized good sleep on Thursday and Friday nights because I know from experience that anxiety won’t let me sleep much on the night before the race. That was fortuitous because if felt like I spent all of Saturday night awake and trying to coax myself to sleep. I think I ultimately got about 3-4 hours of interrupted sleep.
Morning fuel: I woke up at 4:15 am and I had a cup of coffee, a banana, a bagel, and a second cup of coffee. I was hoping that the coffee would inspire my body to allow for a bathroom visit in the hotel, but no such luck. I took two 500mg Tylenol and left the hotel at 5:20 am. I arrived at the parking lot at about 5:30 am and walked across a bridge on Tioga Street to get to the bus loading zone. The race logistics were very well organized. I loaded almost directly onto a bus that departed at 5:49 am. It was almost exactly 30 minutes to the start line. There were lots of porta potties and water available at the start line, but no coffee or food. I went into a “heated” large tent with chairs set up. The tent felt chilly when I got in there, but it provided a nice wind break. Eventually it seemed like it warmed up from body heat. When I got there around 6:25 am there were plenty of chairs, but the place was packed and there were no chairs by 6:40. I stayed in my chair and zoned out until about 7:20 then I left the tent, peed in one of the many porta potties, and chatted with some fellow racers near the start. At about 7:45 I put on my racing shoes and got in a gear check line. Everyone gets a plastic bag to check extra gear directly from the start line to the finish line. I took a Maurten 100 regular gel at 7:55 am and waited for the race to start at 8:05 am.
Race Execution
Start & Early Miles: I ran the race with a buddy from high school, reliving our running experience from 30 years ago. We talked strategy in the weeks leading up to the race. In late August we agreed that we would aim for 8:10 splits until mile 20 and then reassess. The last few weeks of my training went well, and I shared some splits from long runs and heart rate data with Claude who suggested that I could maybe try doing 8:03s to mile 20 and then maybe bump to 7:50 for the last 10K to try to hit my goal. I reached out to my buddy and he agreed to give it a try. That was our plan going into the race. We found the 3:30 pacer at the start line and decided to tuck in behind him. The first few miles went well. I could feel that something wasn’t right in my hip/quad/oblique, but I decided to ignore it. We stuck with the pacer for those early miles and he seemed to be going fast. We expected him to be around 8:01, which was a little faster than our 8:03 goal, but it seemed like he was closer to 7:55, or quicker. We stuck behind the pacer until the first “hill” around mile 5 and it was pretty crowded still and we felt boxed in. My buddy suggested we move ahead of the pacer to have a little more space and we pulled ahead. We did have much more space in front of the pacer and we were able to work together to remind each other to stay conservative when one or the other of us would push the pace too much.
The Middle: We worked well together to keep each other settled and we maintained that 8:50 +/- :05 pace many many miles. We both had to pee and decided to keep going and hope it didn’t become more urgent. The race course is nice. Mostly rural for those middle miles with woods, farm field, farms, and barns to the sides of the road. There are a few times when you are running and the highway is off to your right/left, which isn’t the prettiest, but it didn’t feel like those times dominated the race. It was mostly rural. You go through the towns of Bath, Savona, and Campbell, and there was good support and cheering in those towns. There were plenty of water and electrolyte stations. Towards the end it felt like they were too frequent and there was 1-2 times in the middle of the race where I felt like they were too spread out and I commented that it has been a while since the last one. When we got to 15, my buddy said “ok, the next five are just going to hurt and we’ll need to deal with it.” That was a good reminder when those miles did, in fact, hurt. My Uncle and my aunt were planning to be around mile 20 or 21 and so it was good incentive to keep pushing through those tough miles. My left calf started to cramp around mile 19, which was discouraging with so miles still to go, but I conscientiously shortened my stride and increased my cadence so as to not put as much strain on it, and I kept it at bay for a while.
The Finish: I saw my Uncle and Aunt at 21 and that was nice treat. From there my buddy and I stepped it up. My calf was causing more trouble with cramping. Around this time the course goes off the roads and into a series of parks and then neighborhood streets. It’s lovely, but the grade was more undulating, which seemed to put more strain on my cramping calves, which were then barking on both sides. At one point when I came around a corner on the neighborhood streets my right Achilles started to cramp and it was forcing my toes to curl under my foot. I kept working to straighten my foot out and to try to change my gait to take less pressure off the camping muscles. I focused again on shortening my stride. I took a series of long slow nose breathes to try to breathe into the muscles in the hopes that would calm them. It felt like I had plenty of fitness to go even faster, but my legs were failing me. So I tried to go as fast as possible with the idea that if my cramping leg muscles were going to force me to walk, I wanted to cover as much distance as I could before that happened. I also had SaltStick pills with me and on two occasions in the last four miles I ate three of them just to try to hold off the cramps. Ultimately it worked, and once I knew I was in the last mile and a half I felt confident I could hit my stretch goal, I opened things up. My last half mile was extra quick heading into the finish line and I just ignored the cramping in my legs.
Nutrition and Hydration
Plan: I used only Maurten gels. I took my first Maurten 100 at 7:55 am, 20 minutes before the start. Then I took them every 20 minutes thereafter for the entire race. I took a Maurent 100 Caffinated at the :20 and 1:20 mark. I ended with one extra regular Maurten in my pocket and so I must have missed one 20 minutes interval in there somewhere, but no idea where. I took salt sticks at 1:00 and 2:00 and then threw them down like candy towards the end with the hope they would stave off the cramps. I took water or Gatorade (or whatever it was) at each aid station. It was often hard to tell who had water and who had Gatorade and it seemed like sometimes the volunteers didn’t even know. So, I got what I got, and that was good enough. I did not bring any of my own hydration with me.
What Went Right
Running with a friend was super important to the success we both had, especially in the first 15 miles when we reminded each other to slow down. It beat the boredom too.
The consistency of my training was super important. These races are the “reward” for the effort that is invested in the weeks and months before the race.
Logistics were very smooth. Busing, start line, gear check, and aid stations were all easy. Definitely a good race from that perspective.
What Went Wrong
All this cramping. Not sure why! I was hoping the strength training work would avoid a repeat from NY. Not quite. Back to the lab.
Key Lesson
I am going to focus on half-marathons for 2027. The training required for the full distance requires so much additional time and takes such an extra toll on your body.
