Cowtown Half Marathon

On February 27, 2011 I did the half marathon at the Cowtown. I wrestled with the idea for a long time, but registered at the last minute

I still do not consider myself a runner, but I believe this was my 5th half marathon. I do admit that this was my first one I ran with the goal beyond just finishing. My weight loss had motivated me to want to get below two hours. My PR was for a half is 1:50:29, set in 2007 at The Dallas Whiterock Half, so I know that I could get there.

One of the signs that I was motivated was that I actually looked at the course map. I noted that mile nine was going to be a very long uphill up Main Street, so I even planned to make that an eleven minute mile.

This was the first time I had run the Cowtown, so the fact that it was a new course did not matter to me. It was a neat course that started at Will Rodgers, took us through the stockyards, up Main Street, through downtown, down Lancaster (by Carol’s work) and back to Will Rodgers.

Mile nine did suck. I took an informal vote of all those around me at the time and it was unanimous. As I was recovering and checking my watch to make sure I could make my goal, two of my long time cycling friends Mark and Liz Wessels were at the Mile 10 marker. They had come out on their bikes to cheer on everyone they knew that was riding. The picture above was taken by Liz and I was going to “give five” to them.

It helped me stay motivated and finish with a 1:58:16