Cowtown Half Marathon Race Report
Just really a half marathon race report, but an event synopsis for the time that I was there.
I've been needing to get a little mojo back and the way to do that - for me - is a race. I knew that this wasn't going to be close to my 2:14 in Mobile in January, but I was OK with that.
After a long week in Jackson (worked 50+ hours in four days) before a short morning in the office on Friday, a flight home and some additional work before getting some sleep at about 5 p.m. I'd estimate it at three hours (I slept well Thursday night), and I couldn't get back to sleep.
Waverly was up at about 1:30 a.m. and we were out the door by about 1:50 a.m. She slept most of the way - typical 13-year-old :) - and we pulled into the parking garage in Sundance Square (in downtown Fort Worth) at around 5:50 a.m.
It was cold. Temperature? 37. Winds? 15-20 mph gusts. Race day registration for the half? $75. A little pricey, but I understood. (More on that later.) Priceless? No, just plain stupid.
I saw Cheryl Lowe in the Expo Tent as I was getting ready to register for the half marathon. We had a good visit, got caught up on a few things and then it was time to get back to the truck and try to get a little more sleep. It didn't work.
The start line area was one of the worst controlled situations that I've ever seen in a large marathon. Granted, a lot of it had to do with inconsiderate, rude and just plain selfish runners.
The 10K started a block over. These people felt entitled that they could just climb over a fence and run between the timing mats and where the leaders were queued up. It was chaos and the Fort Worth Police Department was doing nothing to stop anyone. Race management just kept talking into the public address system (probably horrified).
People were still pushing, shoving and climbing over this metal fence while the National Anthem was being sung. This is a REALLY big thing with me. It is our country, people! Stop for two (2) minutes of your life and respect our country's anthem. Your race doesn't mean that much.
The course had some character with a lot of long, slight inclines all the way through past mile 8. You picked a little bit back up in miles 9 and 10 going down 7th Street, but you were running on cobblestone the entire distance before a little climb past the Trinity River back into downtown.
The one welcome sight? A street sign that read "Penn St." Yes, I know it means Street but it meant State as far as I was concerned.
The course is good. Volunteers were absolutely overwhelmed though. The FW Star-Telegram race-day article touted 4,000 volunteers. There's no way!
Thank goodness for Houston's closed course. I can't speak to what Dallas does for White Rock, but knowing that - for the most part - you don't have to run along side a car or have one cut in front of you is a huge deal. Austin the course isn't completely closed and San Antonio I've wanted to forget. :)
There was one lane of traffic open going down the finishing stretch in the last .2 of a mile! Insane.
I saw Keith Pierce, the three-time defending champion now out of Krum, finish near me and he was running strong as he cranked out a 2:25 as Texas' top marathoner under the age of 30. (Yes, a future column in RTN.)
Here's the damage:
Mile 1 -- 9:42.33 (downhill into a headwind; how's that for pain and no pleasure)
Mile 2 -- 10:19.92
Mile 3 -- 10:22.11
Mile 4 -- 10:12.61 (thought to myself ... hmmm, maybe)
Mile 5/6 -- 21:15.04 (I saw Claude Hicks of Fort Worth and Troy Grimes of College Station in this stretch; they were both doing the Ultra and Claude had done a 100-miler in Florida last week.)
Mile 7 -- 11:17.78 (I even pushed a half marathon wheeler a little bit in this mile ... people took turns helping this lady with a hand cycle navigate the hilly course. Very inspiring.)
Mile 8 -- 11:07.20
Mile 9 -- 10:59.87
Mile 10 -- 11:10.88 (1:46:27; was doing the math and thought again ... maybe)
Mile 11 -- 11:28.09
Mile 12 -- 12:03.12
Mile 13 -- 12:06.58
Last .1 -- 59.14
Just didn't have enough in me at the end, but I was just doing this to get my legs loose for next week and do this course for the first time. But really they weren't loose. A couple of times in the last two miles, I stopped to massage my left leg, which was beginning to cramp. As I was driving away from downtown Fort Worth, talking to Edwin on the phone, it really, really cramped then. No Tylenol before the race so I was (and am) really banged up until I get to sleep (after ingesting three 8-Hour Tylenol).
If I hadn't been cramping, I might have been under 2:20, which would have been something for not really having done much since the Chevron Houston Marathon.
2:23:05 was the official chip time. Locally, I beat Spring's Mike Bard, 37, in the Big Person division by 2:42 seconds (he's a Clydesdale winner at many triathlons in the area), but was 131 of 194 big guys overall.
I'll take it for having run once since February 14.
Some more thoughts about Cowtown:
+ They really need to think about people flow. It was chaotic. I almost wouldn't go back just because of that.
+ The course - again - was pretty good. I can do better on it.
+ They have a cool medal concept. Basically my metal will fit into a large Texas star with four other pieces if I finish one of their events the next four years. Great way to keep you coming back.
+ The other thing that was odd is that there was no timing mat on the farthest point out of the half. Why? There were a couple of places people could cut the course.
All in all, the experience was pretty good. They definitely have some things to work on.
Omar Sesay said it best, "We are spoiled in Houston."
I've been needing to get a little mojo back and the way to do that - for me - is a race. I knew that this wasn't going to be close to my 2:14 in Mobile in January, but I was OK with that.
After a long week in Jackson (worked 50+ hours in four days) before a short morning in the office on Friday, a flight home and some additional work before getting some sleep at about 5 p.m. I'd estimate it at three hours (I slept well Thursday night), and I couldn't get back to sleep.
Waverly was up at about 1:30 a.m. and we were out the door by about 1:50 a.m. She slept most of the way - typical 13-year-old :) - and we pulled into the parking garage in Sundance Square (in downtown Fort Worth) at around 5:50 a.m.
It was cold. Temperature? 37. Winds? 15-20 mph gusts. Race day registration for the half? $75. A little pricey, but I understood. (More on that later.) Priceless? No, just plain stupid.
I saw Cheryl Lowe in the Expo Tent as I was getting ready to register for the half marathon. We had a good visit, got caught up on a few things and then it was time to get back to the truck and try to get a little more sleep. It didn't work.
The start line area was one of the worst controlled situations that I've ever seen in a large marathon. Granted, a lot of it had to do with inconsiderate, rude and just plain selfish runners.
The 10K started a block over. These people felt entitled that they could just climb over a fence and run between the timing mats and where the leaders were queued up. It was chaos and the Fort Worth Police Department was doing nothing to stop anyone. Race management just kept talking into the public address system (probably horrified).
People were still pushing, shoving and climbing over this metal fence while the National Anthem was being sung. This is a REALLY big thing with me. It is our country, people! Stop for two (2) minutes of your life and respect our country's anthem. Your race doesn't mean that much.
The course had some character with a lot of long, slight inclines all the way through past mile 8. You picked a little bit back up in miles 9 and 10 going down 7th Street, but you were running on cobblestone the entire distance before a little climb past the Trinity River back into downtown.
The one welcome sight? A street sign that read "Penn St." Yes, I know it means Street but it meant State as far as I was concerned.
The course is good. Volunteers were absolutely overwhelmed though. The FW Star-Telegram race-day article touted 4,000 volunteers. There's no way!
Thank goodness for Houston's closed course. I can't speak to what Dallas does for White Rock, but knowing that - for the most part - you don't have to run along side a car or have one cut in front of you is a huge deal. Austin the course isn't completely closed and San Antonio I've wanted to forget. :)
There was one lane of traffic open going down the finishing stretch in the last .2 of a mile! Insane.
I saw Keith Pierce, the three-time defending champion now out of Krum, finish near me and he was running strong as he cranked out a 2:25 as Texas' top marathoner under the age of 30. (Yes, a future column in RTN.)
Here's the damage:
Mile 1 -- 9:42.33 (downhill into a headwind; how's that for pain and no pleasure)
Mile 2 -- 10:19.92
Mile 3 -- 10:22.11
Mile 4 -- 10:12.61 (thought to myself ... hmmm, maybe)
Mile 5/6 -- 21:15.04 (I saw Claude Hicks of Fort Worth and Troy Grimes of College Station in this stretch; they were both doing the Ultra and Claude had done a 100-miler in Florida last week.)
Mile 7 -- 11:17.78 (I even pushed a half marathon wheeler a little bit in this mile ... people took turns helping this lady with a hand cycle navigate the hilly course. Very inspiring.)
Mile 8 -- 11:07.20
Mile 9 -- 10:59.87
Mile 10 -- 11:10.88 (1:46:27; was doing the math and thought again ... maybe)
Mile 11 -- 11:28.09
Mile 12 -- 12:03.12
Mile 13 -- 12:06.58
Last .1 -- 59.14
Just didn't have enough in me at the end, but I was just doing this to get my legs loose for next week and do this course for the first time. But really they weren't loose. A couple of times in the last two miles, I stopped to massage my left leg, which was beginning to cramp. As I was driving away from downtown Fort Worth, talking to Edwin on the phone, it really, really cramped then. No Tylenol before the race so I was (and am) really banged up until I get to sleep (after ingesting three 8-Hour Tylenol).
If I hadn't been cramping, I might have been under 2:20, which would have been something for not really having done much since the Chevron Houston Marathon.
2:23:05 was the official chip time. Locally, I beat Spring's Mike Bard, 37, in the Big Person division by 2:42 seconds (he's a Clydesdale winner at many triathlons in the area), but was 131 of 194 big guys overall.
I'll take it for having run once since February 14.
Some more thoughts about Cowtown:
+ They really need to think about people flow. It was chaotic. I almost wouldn't go back just because of that.
+ The course - again - was pretty good. I can do better on it.
+ They have a cool medal concept. Basically my metal will fit into a large Texas star with four other pieces if I finish one of their events the next four years. Great way to keep you coming back.
+ The other thing that was odd is that there was no timing mat on the farthest point out of the half. Why? There were a couple of places people could cut the course.
All in all, the experience was pretty good. They definitely have some things to work on.
Omar Sesay said it best, "We are spoiled in Houston."
posted by WalkSports.com | 7:14 PM
1 Comments:
I ran the Full in 2007. I lived in Fort Worth while going to TCU and really love the town. I'd live there, if I didn't live in Houston.
I assure you that course is as flat as they could make it, except for that stretch near the end on Penn Street.
Yes, the cops are indifferent. They actually stopped the runners FOR traffic.
We are spoiled, here. But don't let Karpas get a steady diet of that. He thinks his marathon is recession proof.
Back in the 70's, the Chamber of Commerce or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (we called it the "Startlegram") came up with an iconic bumper sticker named, "Foat Wuth, ah luv yew!" in wonderful Texas tawk.
Wish I had one.
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