2008 Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon (50K)

Held on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Finish - 4:59:14

This is a race I've wanted to run for some time and had sort of forgotten about until this year. It was a unique situation since this was the 30th anniversary of the race. They directors decided to include a 50K Ultra in conjunction with their normal marathon, half, 10K and 5K events. "30+ miles for 30 years" was the unofficial slogan the 50K. I had not initially planned to run the 50K, but since they were coincidentally offering it this year, of course the first thing to go through my mind (and most ultra runners' minds) is, "Well what's 5 extra miles to make it a 50k?"

I had also convinced my roommate to finally run his first half marathon, so we drove from College Station to Mesquite (where I live) Friday evening and had a lasagna dinner. We woke up at 0500, left at 0530 and arrived in downtown Fort Worth at about 0640. We parked, checked-in and got to the start just in time for the national anthem before embarking on our race.

We were able to do the first 8 miles together before our courses split, and we had been training and planning to run the same pace at least until the course split. We kept an even pace running for 10 and walking 1. When we finally split, my next 5 or 6 miles were well under 9 minutes. I knew I would have to stay disciplined and keep it slow and steady if I didn't want to end up cramping towards the end. I hit every aid station and even had a beer while still feeling strong the whole way. I got the most demotivated when the ultra course split onto a trail for a 5 mile out-and-back before returning to the marathon course at the same spot we left from. It was slow and painful and I wanted it to end when I saw the 26mi marker come and go on the trail, but somehow I managed to keep my run up for about 90% of that out-and-back. The final miles on the marathon course passed with ease and I flew into the finish chute.

I finished in 4:59:14 and the medals and shirts for this race were sweet! Afterwards, we drove back to Mesquite and soaked our legs in the pool, took a nap, ate an early dinner and drove back to College Station to get ready for our Sunday race!