The Cowtown Marathon Race Report

On Saturday I accomplished something I never dreamed I could do. I ran my THIRD marathon!

The weekend started with my mom coming into town. She came a couple of days early to get some quality Grandma/Zoe time in.

On Friday afternoon my mom, Zoe, and I headed over to Ft. Worth so that we could make it to the expo to pick up my race packet. We left Mike behind to finish some things up with work. He met us in Ft. Worth later that night.

Zoe and my mom having a tickle fight.

My stuff is all laid out and ready to go!

The race started at 7:30am and our hotel was only 6 miles away from the starting line downtown. Sweet. I woke up at 6:00 and was out the door by 6:30. The traffic was horrendous. It took us 30 minutes to make it to our exit on the freeway. Then another 20 minutes to drive a quarter of a mile to a place where my mom could pull over and I could jump out. I was kind of freaking out at this point. The start of the race was about 5 blocks away and the back of the line (where us slow pokes start) was another 3 blocks back from that. I like to get to my races early so I can have time to eat something, go to the bathroom, check out the competition, and relax. That wasn't happening this time! I jumped out of my mom's car and jogged to the back of the starting line. I made it with about 5 minutes to spare. Whew. Oh wait, duh, it takes me about 15 minutes to pass the starting line. I guess I didn't need to freak out. I'm glad I had time to settle my nerves a little and by the time I made it to the port-a-potties there was no line. It worked out well.

I went into this race with an idea to do a few things differently:

• I ran with a fuel belt so that I wouldn't have to fight the crowds and slow down so much at the fuel stations. This was a good idea.
  
• I decided that no matter how fast or slow I would run in the beginning, the last 6 miles of the race would hurt. So I decided to just run like I wanted at the beginning to give myself as much of a cushion as I could for the end. This was a good idea also.
  
• I walked for one minute at every mile marker (I did this with Scott and Lisa at Austin and it was great). Knowing I was going to do this gave me a big mental boost. Each mile I knew I only had to run for a mile until I saw the next sign and then I could take a minute break. What a wonderful thing. This was a WONDERFUL idea.
  
• One last thing, since I had just run the Austin marathon 2 weeks prior, I really had NO IDEA what to expect.
  
  

Miles 1-12: I went out with a bang. The first mile and a half was down hill and I took it easy on that. I let my legs warm up and get into a rhythm while tons of people were passing me. I let them do their thing, I knew I would pass them later because I kept things controlled during that downhill. And I did. After that downhill was over I had gotten into my groove and I was going at a nice pace. I was passing people left and right. After a couple of miles I had passed all the 5 hour pacers. Then I saw the 4:50 pacer and decided to pass him. I did. Sweet. Then I saw the 4:40 pacer and decided I wanted to pass him too. I did. Awesome. I didn't see any more pacers to pass so I just kept finding more people to pass. It was great. I was feeling great.

Miles 12-20: I think around mile 12 I was taking a walk break and the 4:40 pacer passed me. I remember thinking, "well that kind of sucks. Oh well". And then around mile 13 the 4:40 pacer passed me and I thought, "Dang. Oh well". I really wasn't too upset. I was still on pace for about a 5 hour finish and that's really what I was hoping for.

Mike called me right after the half way point and told me they'd be waiting for me around mile 16. Perfect. I told him I needed some ibuprofen and sunglasses. When I got to mile 16 I saw my mom and Zoe but no Mike. Huh?! Mike run to get the ibuprofen but wasn't back yet. Oh well, I didn't want to wait for him to get back. So I said a quick hi to my home girls, picked up my sunglasses and left.

Leaving my mom and Zoe around mile 16.

Right after I passed the 17 mile marker I saw my car speeding by on the other side of the park I was running by. Huh? Then the car came to a screeching stop and out jumped Mike. I waved to him. He sprinted faster than I've ever seen him run. He caught up to me and had a bottle of Advil in one hand and a Gatorade in another. Do I even need to insert here how awesome this guy is and why he's the BEST?!?! That totally pumped me up for the rest of the race. Well, pumped up my spirits, not my legs.

Miles 20-26: All the people around me were starting to slow down. So was I. Some guy next to me mentioned that we had run half the race and now we had the second half. It's so true. Those last 6 miles are just as bad as the first 20 put together.

Around mile 20 my mom called and asked where I was. As I was telling her I heard Mike in the background say, "I see her!". And there they were, right in front of me. Yay! This was just the boost I needed to push me into the last 6 miles.

I'm coming!

Slowly but surely.

Will somebody please carry me for the last 6 miles?!

The rest of the race is kind of a blur. I was in pain. Surprisingly not as much as I was in either San Antonio or Austin. But I was still in pain. But I also knew that I could do it because I had already done it two times. So I just dug deep inside me and pushed through to the end.

Here I am coming to the finish line!

I got this cool finishers shirt at the end.

And here's my medal.

Official finish time: 5:05:03 (10 minutes faster than Austin and 35 minutes faster than San Antonio!).

After I got to my car and took my shoes off, I saw this.

Ouch!

Many thanks to my crew: Mike, Mom, and Zoe!

My mom did her own marathon that day. After dropping me off near the starting line she spent about 2 and a half hours trying to get out of downtown and to a spot where she could see me. She kept trying to make it to the mile markers to see me run by but the traffic was just not moving. Mike had stayed at the hotel with Zoe to let her sleep in and finally rescued my mom.

Also, I was a little bit frustrated that I didn't make it in under 5 hours. I really wanted to (but not as much as I just wanted to beat my Austin time). There was a point during the race when I realized that I could run the rest of the way in at the same pace I was doing right then so I could make it in under 5 hours. I decided it wasn't worth it to me. I like to enjoy these races. I like to talk to fellow runners, run over to kids with their hands out to give them high fives, stop and talk with my family when I see them, etc. So I was mentioning this frustration to my brother, Scott, and this is what he gave me:

"For me, time is like the 4th or 5th or 10th most important thing in the race. I'm not running for time. I'm running for myself, I'm running for those who support me, I'm running for the beauty of the course, I'm running for the beauty of the human body, I'm running for health, I'm running to prove to myself that I can do it, I'm running for the challenge, I'm running to see other people challenging themselves and I learn from them, and then when I get all that good stuff I figure I can try to run it fast too. Time is good for setting goals and pushing yourself mentally and physically. But hopefully time doesn't become the end-all in any of your runs and races; the really good stuff is all that other stuff."

Isn't he so great?! I'm so happy that Scott, Dad, and Lisa are who I learned how to marathon from.

Speaking of Lisa. Check out her blog here. She did a Half marathon the same day I did Cowtown and she totally KILLED it. She's awesome.

I think I'm done marathoning for a little while. Unless somebody knows of a good one coming up! As for now, I'm planning on running this 10k with my friend, Mubeen.