The Cowtown - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Fort Worth, Texas
United States
The Cowtown
50F / 10C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 2h 59m 58s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Woke at 5:45am, ate a bagel w/lowfat cream cheese and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Met lady next door and walked with her and her grown children to race start, about a mile away.
Event warmup:

The walk from RV to race start was one mile of brisk walking
Run
  • 2h 59m 58s
  • 13.4 miles
  • 13m 26s  min/mile
Comments:

I did what I planned to do - I ran the race for *me*, what was comfortable for me, according to what my body was feeling, and for the pure enjoyment of running outside with thousands of other people on a beautiful day. I went out slow and kept it slow for the first 3-4 miles because I know what my body can and cannot do - and it cannot go out fast or I will bonk. Then when I reached mile 5 or so, I increased my pace and waited to see how my body responded. It always responded well. If for some reason I got a tiny bit winded or had to climb a hill, I would walk for about a minute or two to get my HR back down. I remember saying at each mile past mile 7 "I am still feeling great...time to pick up the pace a tiny bit." By mile 10 I knew that I only had a 5K left to run and that my body was still feeling great, so I picked up the pace considerably - ran at zone 4 until the end, and then an all out sprint to the finish line to make it in under 3 hrs.
What would you do differently?:

Not a thing.
Post race
Warm down:

I thought I was going to pass out or puke after sprinting the last .25 mile, but I didn't. Instead, I wandered around trying to find my husband who was supposed to be at the finish line watching my incredibly inspiring sprint to the finish, but who left our RV late and missed me. Finally gave up and walked (limped) back to our RV and had to wait on him to finally figure-out that he'd missed me. He showed-up an hour later.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I did have some pretty severe PMS symptoms Friday and Saturday night, but God was looking after me as I, on a whim, picked up some tea from the company The Republic of Tea called "Get a Grip" at Central Market Friday night. It's formulated for PMS symptoms. I drank one cup and within an hour all the symptoms were gone. So I had another cup Sat am and another Sat pm before bed. Woke Sunday morning without any aches/pains/PMS, and ran the race. However, I did start my period during the race but luckily I did have a tampon on me. If this is TMI, sorry...this is my race report, and when you're a woman runner, things like this are HUGE.

Event comments:

I wish there had been more music and/or bands along the race course.




Last updated: 2012-02-27 12:00 AM
Running
02:59:58 | 13.4 miles | 13m 26s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
First split was 1:27, second was 2:34. Tried to keep HR in low 140's the entire race, with the exception of when I was running up a hill. Compensated for hills by running a bit slower and/or walking once I hit level ground to get HR back down.
Course: The course started in the "Cultural District" of Ft Worth and wound through a Latino neighborhood, then onto the Stockyards, then downtown, and back west to the cultural district. A couple of hills, but nothing bad at all.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4