The Cowtown Marathon Weekend

One year ago, I completed my first ultra-marathon.

Flat Chip ready to go!

A friend of mine recommended the Cowtown Marathon as being well supported event and great experience that was a lot of fun.  I wanted to run my first ultra and I thought a road 50k was a good chance to get that done.

A year later, my second Cowtown 50k was my 7^th ultra.  It was also my second in two weeks.

This year I got to serve as an ambassador for the Cowtown Marathon and it has been an amazing experience.  I applied last summer and was pleasantly surprised when I was selected.  I’d have shared my experiences with the race and tried to get people to come run it with me even if I hadn’t been selected, because that’s just what I do.  The Cowtown Marathon is my favorite road race of the year.  The event is very well run and organized and the city turns out to celebrate the runners to such a degree that I’ve never seen in any other race. 

Several friends did sign up for the races and four of them registered to run their first ultra-marathons!  The #ChipMadeMeDoIt movement has really gained traction!

I drove to Fort Worth early on Friday and signed in for a volunteer shift at packet pick up.  I got the chance to chat with a lot of runners about their goals for the weekend.  The Cowtown Marathon prints a name on the bib for the runners and also notes how many years they have run.  It was neat to talk to folks that were new as well as 10+ year veterans of the race.

After my shift, I walked the expo for a bit and bought a tech pullover from the merch booth.  I also got some energy bars from the Generation UCan booth.  I have found that I tolerate their starch based products very well.  I tried to network a little, too, by visiting some of the vendors to see if there were opportunities to bring representatives or products back to the Killeen area for my Sunday and Grabbagreen runners.

On Saturday I arrived early for the 10k.  I got a few pictures in and chatted with some other runners as we waited to start the race.  It’s funny sometimes when I run the same course again that I don’t remember anything specific about the course all year long until I’m on it again and then I remember all the twists, turns, and hills!  I told people all year the course wasn’t really very hilly and then we immediately started up a hill and I thought, “Oh, yeah, I remember going up this hill last year!”

10k Complete!

The 10k went by fairly quickly for me and I finished with a slightly better time than I had the year before but I did stop last year for a short portopotty break near mile four.  I always tell myself that I’m not going to race the Saturday race but then I get out on the course and can’t help myself from trying to pass and/or keep up with people.

Once I finished the race, I went back to the hotel to clean up and change clothes in preparation for my next shift at the expo.  This time I volunteered at the Welcome Booth.  I got to see several friends as they entered the expo hall and chatted with even more runners that were excited to take on the Sunday distances.

Welcome Booth Shenanigans!

One pair of ladies approached the booth and wanted to talk to someone that had experience with running the race.  They both had tears in their eyes.  I stepped aside with them and they explained that one of them was injured and would have to skip her race.  She was heartbroken because she had trained for so long to complete the race.  I tried to explain that it was the right decision to skip a race due to injury, as you run the risk of doing worse damage to yourself.  

The other lady was torn between attempting the ultra (which she had signed up for) and dropping down to the half marathon.  She had missed about three months of training as she recovered from an injury and was worried that if she attempted the ultra, she would fail to finish.  We talked for a while and she had no desire to run the full, because she was certain that if she could finish a full, she could gut out the ultra.  I told her that if her concern was the injury, not running at all or dropping down to the half was probably the right choice but if it was a matter of training, she should go ahead with the 50k.  I told her I agreed that if she could do the full, she could gut out the extra five miles of the ultra.  After a few minutes of talking a little more about her situation and also sharing some of my story, she decided to do the ultra and picked up her packet.  I saw her on the out and back section of the course the next day and she looked strong.  I sent a friend request via Facebook and a message letting her know I’d seen her in the results, that she’d done an amazing job, and I was happy for her.

I met up with some friends at the expo after my shift and also signed up for next year’s Cowtown weekend!  Then I went back to the hotel again and hydrated and prepared for the ultra marathon the next morning.

On Sunday morning, I got to the start area early again.  It wasn’t as cold as it was the year before and I knew it would warm up later that day.  I went with a short sleeved shirt, arm sleeves, and shorts and wrapped myself with a disposable blanket to stay warm and ward off the wind.  

It was cold!

Last year, I wore a hydration belt with two small water bottles.  Even though I drank fluids at every water point on the course, I still drank my two water bottles dry late in the race and felt really thirsty by the time I got to the mile 29-30 water station where I was able to refill them.  This year, I wore my Orange Mud Double Barrel Hydration Quiver with 2 24 ounce bottles.  I put Nuun in one and water in the other.  I also carried two Generation UCan energy bars in the shoulder pockets.  I also carried some salt tabs.  I wore my Altra 3.5 Knit Torins with XOSkin XOToes socks and once again had no issues with my feet for the entire race.  I also had my Aftershokz Trekz Air headphones.

Corral Four Party!

I started the race in Corral 4 and hoped to finish in 5:30.  I saw the 5:00 ultra pacing crew and thought I’d try to stay ahead of them as long as possible without pushing too hard at the beginning of the race.  I still started out a little too fast but I kept most of mile splits under 10:00/mile, which would have gotten me a finishing time around 5:10, if I had been able to keep it up.  I felt really good through the first half of the race.  

Love the Cowtown support!

One of the things that makes the Cowtown Marathon so special is the support the city pours out for the runners the entire weekend.  There are very few sections of the course where you won’t be able to see someone along the way out there cheering on the runners.  At several points, families and entire neighborhoods set up unofficial aid stations and have block parties to celebrate the runners.  Folks dress up in costume and provide traditional aid options to the runners.  They also provide adult beverages at many of the spots.  

I stayed up on hydration and fueling and the pace felt good through the first 18 miles.  Mile 19 was where I started to slow down, though.  I began walking at the water points, partly to make sure I got all the fluid without spilling but also to give my legs a little break.  By mile 20, I was stopping to walk every few minutes for a minute or two.  I stared leapfrogging the same folks for a while.  

At mile 23, I stopped at a portopotty and put the seat cover down so I could sit.  I thought, “this is a little weird…sitting in a portopotty…but it felt good to get off my feet for a couple minutes.  After that, I started to feel a little better, so I guess it worked.  By mile 25, I was back to running slowly and was able to keep the walking breaks to very short spots around the water stations.

The extra 5 miles for the ultra marathon are split off right around mile 25 and the runners do an out and back on a park path along the river.  There’s a water station shortly after the course split and another at the turn around point.  The turn around aid station is much more like a normal trail and ultra aid stations and had some candy, crackers, cookies, coke, and hot food.  This section of the course, however, doesn’t have the same type of crowd support as the rest of the race.  The runners spend most of that portion of the course running on their own.  The nice part of this portion of the course, though, is that I got to see several of my friends as we passed each other on the out and back.

By the time I hit the turn around a little short of 28 miles, the 5:00 pacing crew had nearly caught up to me.  I was still running slowly but was off the pace I would need to meet my goal of 5:30.  I refilled my water bottles and grabbed a few snacks from the aid station and started back on the course.  

At mile 30, the ultra merges back onto the course with the marathon runners at their 25^th mile.  This is one of the best parts of the course, as the last mile to the finish line has a lot of spectators cheering and the addition of the other runners gives you a big boost as you finish the race.  I came along the final section of the course and was able to find the energy to finish at a faster pace.  

I finished the race in 5:35, just a few minutes behind my goal and I was happy with that time.  Less than a mile into the race, my knees were already bothering me and my legs had felt the fatigue from running Lone Star just two weeks earlier during the second half of the race.  

I've had ice cream exactly twice in the last year.

I collected up my finisher’s swag and met up with some friends to eat my ice cream.  Last year, the ice cream made me sick but I’d been thinking about how awesome it would be for the last 10 miles of the race, so I knew I was going to risk it.  This year, I had no problems from the ice cream.  I chatted with my friends about their races and snapped a few pictures to share and caught up on Facebook with people that had been cheering me on during the race.  It’s really fun during the ultras to check my phone every few miles to see texts and posts encouraging me and it makes a huge difference for my mindset.

I also tracked how some of my friends were doing.  I had several friends that finished ahead of me, one of which had run her first ultramarathon, and it was great to hear they had a fun time, too.  I also had three other friends from the Killeen area that were running behind me and were also completing their first ultras.  I was so excited for their success and so happy that I got to share this race with them.  It’s so much fun to see folks step up to a huge challenge and knock it out of the park.  It’s a privilege to be able to cheer them on and witness their greatness.

And Done!

The Cowtown Marathon weekend was an incredible experience and I’m so happy that I got the opportunity to represent the event as an ambassador.  I told so many people the same thing that I had been told the year before – The race is well organized and run. The crowds are super supportive.  The event is amazing and does so much for the community.  I’m so glad my friends were able to experience this weekend and that they had so much fun.

I’m already excited about sharing and running this race again next year.

 

Run Hard.

Be Grateful.

Celebrate Love.