Steamtown / Mohawk / Richmond / Wineglass

Oh yeah. My goal would probably be about 2:56 to 2:58?

Glad you had a good MH experience,

I've run both Steamtown & Wineglass. Both are good marathons worth experiencing/supporting. But I personally under-perform on courses with big elevation drops, and suffered at Steamtown because of that.

My wife and I met other running couples @ Wineglass and had a good time post-race touring wineries and hiking Watkins Glen. (We added another overnight closer to the Finger Lakes to do so.)

Thanks for the response!

i live in a very hilly area but surprisingly underperformed by a lot at boston this past year (my first). My quads were shot by 11 miles, but maybe it was the heat too. My best performances have been at philly and mohawk, so relatively flat i'd say.

It does sound like you can make a nice long weekend out of wineglass for both parties. Steamtown does have a good rep though for great crowds and support. Is wineglass pretty quiet like I assume? Mohawk was almost worth doing again with a big group of mine but I kinda like changing it up.

fall race wrote:

... I ran Mohawk and thought it was a nice course but the race seemed like an afterthought to everyone not involved. I don't need throngs of fans but some support is nice. The race was a pretty good one for me at 3:02 and I wasn't alone though.

If I didn't want to repeat, what would you recommend here now? I think Richmond would be my last choice so really its wineglass or steamtown. Another x factor is Wineglass is on my anniversary weekend and its a little more fun for all being in that area maybe? I've never been to any location here.

I also ran Mohawk Hudson last year, but I am signing up for 2017 Wineglass Marathon today. That was my first choice last year, but it was sold out by the time I decided to put a marathon on my calendar.

I ran Wineglass a bunch of times back in the 80s and 90s, but it's a lot bigger now, and a different course, so I can't speak with any certainty about it. I have a stated goal of 3:12, but a silent goal of sub-3. My training will have to go VERY well to realize that. My last sub-3 was in 2003 (my last marathon prior to 3:25 at HMRM ... only 20 miles per week training last year).

If you choose Wineglass, definitely check out the glass museum, and allow some time to head a little ways north for the Keuka, Seneca, and/or Cayuga Lake winery tours.

Hammondsport to Corning wrote:

3:25 at HMRM ...

I meant Mohawk Hudson River Marathon (MHRM)

I've done 3 of the 4 (not Mohawk). Richmond course is pretty ugly in my opinion.

Not a super nice city, even though it has some interesting history. It also has some short steep up and downs. They run a lot of different distances, which means more people, which means you better get your hotel a year in advance or be SOL.

Wineglass ... well Corning isn't all that great either, hotel accommodations are hard to come by (if you want to be within walking distance of the finish). I felt the course was a little crowded in areas (I did the half in this one, maybe the full doesn't have this issue?). If it is marketed as net downhill, then it's an exaggeration. It feels basically flat.

Steamtown has nice scenery and his a hillier course. Probably the slowest of the three, but the one I'd most likely do again if I had to. We had friends in the area so I cannot speak as to the hotel situation. Probably also tough to find a vacancy if you don't get it a year in advance.

All were pretty well organized as far as those things go, similar atmosphere with maybe Richmond having slightly more spectators, and probably just because there are more participants.

Thanks for the really helpful recon! :)

I grabbed a fully refundable hotel in steamtown just in case about a quarter mile from the finish for a very fair price of like 130 just in case. Will scope around for corning too.