Cowtown Marathon

Most people have never heard of the Cowtown marathon. So, why did I decide to run it when I live in Austin, where they hold arguably the best marathon in Texas? After having run Austin numerous times, my first keeping Kent company, the full 3 times and the half, once, I decided this year I would sign up for something different. There were other reasons why I decided to run Cowtown, one very important one was so I could get a new charm for my charm bracelet! Enough of why and on to the event itself.
The Cowtown expo is small if you compare it to Chicago, New York or Boston. It is even small compared to Austin but they have an expo (which some past participants claimed they didn't) and everyone there was nice and helpful. I found out from the Ft Worth Running Company that there was going to be pace groups, which thrilled me. I haven't been able to hit pace during my entire marathon training. I'm either consistently 15 secs fast or 15 secs slow. This all took place on Friday as the Cowtown marathon (the only marathon I know of) is run on a Saturday!
Race morning arrived and it was perfect. Temperatures were around 38 degrees and the wind was coming from the S/E at 6 mph. Ft Worth is known for being windy. In 2007 the winds were gusting up to 60mph. Planes had to be grounded. Runners felt like, when running into the wind, were running on treadmills and not open road. I knew the wind would pick up but the weatherbug predicted it would never get over 12mph and would be at our backs coming home.
The race start was about a block away from our hotel. We walked over at 7am, 30 minutes before the start of the race. Thank goodness we were so close. I heard later that the traffic was so bad coming into downtown that people were still registering for the 5 and 10k when the gun went off. The start was a bit chaotic. The race officials had told some participants that the race was going to start about 2 blocks away from where it actually was. There was no one around to give directions and I couldn't find a single pace group.
Kent wished me luck and I jumped into the crowd, as close to the front as I felt comfortable. I knew from looking at the results that the race was not super fast and that there were not a ton of people who would be running my pace. However, the half-marathoners were starting with us (as well as the Ultra marathoners) and I assumed the half runners would be taking off quite a bit faster. I kept asking if anyone had seen the pace groups. I found a little group of guys who were from Abilene, Tx. They were planning on running a 3:30 so I informed them I would just hang around for as long as I could. (I didn't ask...I told).

I heard someone say, "Two minutes till the start of the Cowtown marathon) and next thing I know I heard someone say, "GO!". I turned to one of my newly adopted running partners and said, "Are you serious"? There was no National Anthem, air horn...nothing!
With that the Cowtown marathon was underway. I was nervous about going out to fast as I almost always do. And, as these reports are supposed to be informative to those of you who are interested in potentially participating in the events we write about, I'll go into a bit of detail about the lay of the course. First two miles are fast so you have to be careful.

Elevation Map

The first mile we were bunched up so it kept us about 15 secs slow. Our second mile was 10 secs slow....not bad for a long downhill when you are trying not to go out fast. I was so proud of myself that I promptly ran the next two miles, which were two miles of slight climbing, 10 secs a mile too fast. And the rest of the race follows that same pattern. I think I hit 3 miles that were close an actual 8min pace. The rest were 8 secs to 10 secs slow all the way to 8 secs to 27 secs fast.
I broke it up, in my mind, into 4, 10ks. The first I knew was predominantly down hill. The 2nd was up, the third was down and the fourth and hardest was straight up, so it seemed, into downtown. It never climbed or descended more than 200 ft but it never seemed to level out. There were very few flat spots. Robert (my new running mate) and I dropped his friends around mile 9. Robert needed a 3:30 to qualify for Boston so I think he wanted it more than his friends did. We were alone, now, expect for my amazing Sherpa.
Kent was everywhere on the course, offering support, encouragement, drugs, gatorade and documenting the whole thing with his new camera. We had decided that he would meet me in the park at mile 16 and give me Cricket. I thought it would be fun to run part of the marathon with her as she had been my training pawtner for the last 4 mos and I'd never get to do that in Austin (Austin is too big and I'd be afraid of tripping someone). I was looking forward to making it to mile 16 and picking her up. At mile 15 I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle her. My quads started to knot up and I was afraid that if she were too excited and pulled too hard, they'd seize up on me. I made it to Cricket and Kent and told Kent that my legs were shutting down. He popped me some salt tabs and Advil, gave me Cricket and told me to pick up the pace and stretch out my legs for a bit. My cardio wasn't taxed at all so I decided to give it a try. I think it helped my quads but then my calves started to cramp up. I wanted to stop so bad and try to stretch them out but knew if I did that I'd cramp up and that be the end of my day. So, I took some of Matt Carpenter's advice, "if it hurts, run faster". So, I picked up through 16 then settled into the ups and downs of Trinity park. We came out of the park and into the neighborhoods where we had more rollers,through which we were a little slow. We then broke free of the houses adn started heading back towards the park. We got a nice slow descent that felt like heaven on my tired legs. We pulled a 7:42 out of that but then promptly entered the rollers of the park and slowed back down to an 8:04.
You know how they say, "A marathon is a 20 mile warmup and a 10k race"? Robert had said if he had anything left he would throw it down at mile 20. We hit mile 20, in Trinity park, and had some nice downhill sections. We pulled some good time out of those. I told him, I don't know when my legs are gonna go so I'm gonna go while I still have em. We did the next three miles at an avg 7:45 pace. We came out of the park and began the torturous climb back into downtown. When I hit those hills, I hit my wall. Robert began to pull away from me and I had to let him go. I could feel my calves knotting up on me and I'd pitch forward every once in a while when they'd cramp. I kept moving though. I figured until they seized there was nothing I could do. Just keep going. I met up with Kent at mile 25. He began running with me, with his gimpy Achilles and a backpack on his back (he was in as much pain as me but there for me, none the less). He actually started to leave me at one point and I had to ask him if he wanted to win this race. hee hee
He did his best to block me from the wind that now was in my face and not at my back and which was threatening to blow me down the on-ramp that I was desperately trying to climb. Those last two miles are as bad as rumored..or worse. The last three miles I avg'd an 8:25 min mile. I turned the corner and did my best to limp through the finish line with a smile on my face. I was thrilled because I knew I had done it. I got my 3:30. The best part was seeing Robert with tears running down his face. He came over and we hugged. I heard him tell someone, "she ran the whole way with me". I remembered what it was like the first time I qualified for Boston. It was the biggest feeling I have ever had. I was so excited for him and it felt good to have been part of something that made someone so happy.
I got my finisher's metal. We stuck around for a little bit enjoying the free popcorn and diet cokes. I heard there was beer somewhere but I've never been abig beer drinker.
Would I recommend this race to someone? Yes. There was great support on the course. The course was actually very scenic and though there were not many spectators, it is kinda fun picking out the people who are moving around the course to spot their runners. Also, there were people who were set up outside their houses, offering food and drink to the runners. How cool is that? For me it was a PR course but I would not recommend others trying to PR there. It is hilly and it has a history of being windy. Go for fun and for something different than Austin or White Rock.