Whitney's Cowtown 2009

Last Saturday Ben and I ran the Cowtown half and full marathon respectively. For those of you non-Texans, Fort Worth is referred to as Cowtown because during the long/large cattle drives that used to take place in TX the cattle would end up in Fort Worth at the Stockyards and thence the railroad to be sold/butchered. We talked my sister Lauren and her husband (who moved here last July) into coming with us to watch the kids while we ran. (BIG thanks by the way because it was Lauren's birthday sort of, being born on Leap Year its as close as she gets most of the time.) I'll let Ben write about his race but here's a recap of mine.

We left the hotel an hour before the race started-we were staying about 10 min. away. We got caught in race traffic. We sat on the exit ramp for 35 min only moving 1/4 mi. I was getting nervous because I wanted to run with a pace group to help with my attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon. As I watched the minutes tick by and the yards stand still I started getting nervous. Ben and I started discussing options...I ended up getting out of the car still on the exit ramp and running to the start line at 7:10 (the race started at 7:30am). Ben didn't really have a time goal so he said I should run for it literally so I could at least have a shot. I did. I ran the half mile to the start line, jumped in the shortest line I could find for the port-a-pottys then stuffed my warm up stuff under a bush and began to fight my way to the start line. There were tons of people everywhere because the 10K started 30 min after the half and full marathon so all those people were watching our race start. I literally elbowed my way to the start line and into the crowd. Just by sheer luck I spot the 3:40 pace group banner and muscle my way to the pacer with 7 min to gun time. Not a great way to start. BUT I was there so I was ok. By the way, while I was doing this it was windy and cold. The temp at race time was only in the 40s and it was really windy so the wind chill made it a lot worse. I was glad to be smashed within the humanity of other racers because it was warm. It was clear and beautiful but windy and cold. So the Star Spangled Banner is sung and the gun goes off. I'm excited I just made it there but hope that Ben isn't still stuck in traffic.

I was able to run with the pace group for the first 18 miles and we were keeping a pretty good clip. We were averaging 8:17/mi. The course was beautiful-we ran through neighborhoods, the Arboretum, along the Trinity River trail and had great scenery. The sky was clear but the wind was still there. We were running into the wind a good part of the time and the course had rolling hills. Nothing terrible but enough that you didn't want to push it too much to soon. After mile 18 I could really feel my legs start to fatigue. I had been taking water every mile or two and had 2 Gu packets (gel packets that have about 100 cals and electolytes-easy to digest). I fell behind the pace group a bit but could still see them. I didn't want to push too much because I knew we had some built in cushion. We had been running at an 8:17/mile pace to finish in a qualifying time. Anyhow, by mile 20 I knew I probably wouldn't qualify to run the Boston Marathon. (To run the Boston Marathon you have to qualify by running a previous marathon in a given time for your specific age group. My age group has a qualifying time of 3 hrs and 40 min which is running each mile in 8 min and 23 secs. I attempted to qualify with a few friends by running the Kingwood Marathon on Jan 1 but had a terrible race. It was awful, so I tried again.)

When I realized I wasn't going to qualify, I was disappointed for sure. I have been training for this since September, I have been getting up at 5am 2-3 days a week to do speed work and long runs. I have been working my fanny off literally to accomplish this goal and I really wanted it. However, the time at the end of the race is not the whole story. As I was running mile 20-26.2 I kept thinking about my quest to qualify. I got to train with 3 of my closest friends. I had a great time running with them at 5 am and pushing ourselves to run faster and to run long hard miles. We had great talks and got to know each other better than we could have otherwise. I wouldn't want my boys to think that setting lofty goals are only worth it if you accomplish them exactly in your time frame. The whole point of setting goals is what you learn along the way and that you give it 100% effort. You can't always control the entire equation and you may not get to the goal at the first or second attempt but you should keep trying. I knew it was a very lofty goal to try to qualify for Boston within 7 months of having a baby. It doesn't give your body much time to build up the stamina to endure 26 miles of pounding at a good hard pace. I'll train to qualify for Boston again but not until I'm done having kids and I won't train until I have been able to put in some time just running and building my fitness and strength post baby.

I ran a really hard race on Saturday and finished my 4th marathon in 3 hrs and 55 min. I have run each marathon within 10 months of having a baby. Cowtown is a great course, beautiful, challenging and I was smiling and enjoying every minute of the race even when I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal. I would run it again and I'm not sorry I tried to qualify again. The wind and hills took their toll and my body was just not able to handle the pace for the full 26 miles. Most of those running with our pace group (about 15 runners started with the group) didn't finish with them. Ben said only 1 other person crossed the finish line with the pacer and I passed or saw several others fall behind. It was a tough day but in the end I had a great race and a good time.

As you can see from the pictures the boys were freezing by the time I finished since they had been there to watch Ben finish the half marathon. After the race, we cleaned up and went to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. The 6th Floor refers to the assassination of JFK from the 6th story of the Texas Book Depository. Then we headed home. A fast weekend but fun. Owen was disappointed we weren't flying. Most of the way to Ft. Worth he kept asking where the airport was.