Cowtown 50k
My first official race of 2011 is an official finish. My finish time of 5:46:46 is 10 minutes better than last year, yet still 46 minutes slower than I had anticipated. I was trying to beat 5 hours. I suppose my training was not quite where I thought it was. However, the first 16 miles were awesome for me. Then somewhere between 16 and 17 I hit “the Wall”. I kept my legs moving and kept telling myself I’d be re-motivated once I hit 20. Finally I hit 20. I felt better at this point. I popped some Advil's I stashed in my camelbak, and a few endurolyte caplets. It was also very encouraging hearing all the fans yelling “only 5 more miles”, “only 3 more miles”, “almost finished” even if I did know they were yelling to the Marathoners and I could add 5 miles to anything they yelled. The 25 miles mark is roughly where we split off from the marathoners. It was at this point I felt that “toughness” I feel during an Ultra. That knowing I am going further than most. Somehow this drives me to keep truckin’ along. Seeing the other Ultra runners walking in front of me is also a driving factor, perhaps it’s my competitive spirit kicking in 26 miles into a run. So at this point I am shuffling, music playing, feeling good. I pass maybe 6 runners. My quads and calves start cramping nicely, and the sun finally pops out and warms it up to about 80, which does not help the cramping. The weather turned a bit warmer than I was used to running in, especially in February. Then the “extra” 5 miles for the 50k runner met back up with the marathoners. This placed in with all the “walkers” and those who could no longer run and were just praying for a finish line. I received some odd looks I ran by, stop to massage out a cramp in my calf, and start running again. Finally I turned the corner and see the last stretch to the finish line. In full sunshine I push through some nausea and head for a strong “looking” finish. So 50 yards from the finish line I push on with 2 cramping calves(so bad my feet were no longer flexing, just flat foot stomping), 1 burning quad, 1 crampy quad, a queasy stomach, and a big cheesy grin on my face because I just crossed the finish line. 3 years completed. Also a very real outlook of where I am as far as training. I think if it were a 50 miler, I would have paced myself better at the beginning. I would have eaten better, stayed hydrated better, and all in all took care of myself a little more. That being said I think I would have had a 11 hour 50 mile finish time, which ain’t half bad if ya ask me!
A comment on the venue for Cowtown since it was all new this year. My only complaint was packet pick-up. The fitness expo seemed lacking like several vendors did not show or want to participate this year. Also, they forced you to pay for parking. Sure it was only $5, but come on I’m only going to pick up my race packet. 20 minutes tops. Other than that I heard a lot of complaints about corrals and race starts but I think it was ok. They had 5 corrals, and delayed starts for each corral. For example I was in corral 4. It took 14 minutes for me to cross the start line. Normally this would bug me, but with a chip timed event who cares! If I was going for a PR or an attempt to win I would have been lined up in corral 1 anyway. I think the new start/finish location really opened it up for the fans to be able to see the finish. This year made things less crowded, and parking was way more manageable. The course was nearly the same with the downtown portions cut out, and some “ghetto” portions added. The ghetto was cool though because even they were outside supporting us and every kids seemed to enjoy seeing all the runners.
Good Run, Good Day -Jeremy
