The Cowtown Marathon - RunMarathon


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Fort Worth, Texas
United States
The Cowtown
42F / 6C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 58m 43s
Overall Rank = 339/1479
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 41/135
Pre-race routine:

Yesterday:
5-6 quarts of Gatorade, (2) salads, chicken, salmon, PB&J, and typical eggs, toast, and cereal for breakfast.

Race day AM:
Ate 1 cup of oat meal, (2) slices of toast, (1) cup of yogurt, and a glass of Gatorade. Then drove to the race 45 minutes away.
Event warmup:

Took over 45 minutes to get off highway and park! Luckily I knew where some port-a-potties were without lines 20 yards long. Ran right up and did my business. Short stretching but not much time. Looked for the 4:00 pace guy without luck, jumped over fence into Corral #2 with only one minute, 30 seconds before the gun. Not the ideal WU.
Run
  • 3h 58m 43s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 07s  min/mile
Comments:

Race went great with better then expected outcome. Started getting noticeably tired as well as left knee hurting around mile 22. By mile 24-25 I really felt like I needed to stop and walk, painful. But I pushed through it. After mile 25 I made the decision that I was just to close to the finish and walking was still not an option at this point. I managed to pick up the pace, back to my 9:00 m/m.
Left lateral knee REALLY hurt by mile 25.
Left calf cramped hard with under 400 yards left. A little scary but I managed to get across the line.

Nutrition:
* Took (3) Sportlegs at 6:00 am per instructions
* Digested (3) GU Gels during the race, 30/90/150 minutes
* Took (6) Saltstick caps, Buffered Electrolyte Salts on the 1/2 hour till gone.
* Carried my 24oz water bottle, kept it 1/2 - full and sipped from it. I would say, guessing 48oz of Gatorade/water mix. First 24oz straight Gatorade.
What would you do differently?:

Left the other (3) Sportlegs in the car :(. Maybe more saltsticks to help with cramping at the end of the race.
Post race
Warm down:

Race:
Recovery drink my wife had ready, stretching, walking, pick up medals and finisher shirts, ate post race foods, stretched some more, walked to car. After letting the kids shop at Urban Outfitters to spend my money we went to a deli to eat.

Home:
Left knee pain was really bad and continued to be all the way home. Iced 15 minutes on the lateral side and 10 minutes on the medial side really helped. ICE ROCKS!! 18 minute soak in Epsom salt bath with a Shiner beer because I can!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Left knee pain. Maybe, just maybe, due to running on the right side of the road a lot today. I hardly ever run with traffic but a significant part of the race had us on the right. This would put extra pressure on the lateral side of my left knee, pressure it's not used to!

Event comments:

Saturdays race was right on time, 7:00 am. Sundays race was about 4 minutes late but I think they had technical trouble. the announcer started the race over the speakers with a, "Ready, Set, GO!" This is a hilly and winding course. I went ahead and gave it a "just right" but the course if difficult imho. And this was my first Fully Mary!




Last updated: 2012-10-24 12:00 AM
Running
03:58:43 | 26.2 miles | 09m 07s  min/mile
Age Group: 41/135
Overall: 339/1479
Performance: Good
Garmin: 3:58:23 Time; 26.34 Miles; 9:03 M/M; 480 Elev Gain; 162 Avg HR (top of Z2); 92 Avg Run Cadence; 3,465 Calories
Course: Lots of turns; Some big hills at miles 9 & 14; Some of the older roads have been refinished so many times the run off slope is steep; Last mile is up hill, just cruel.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5