From my blog review:
I live in Lubbock, TX which is pretty much a 5+ hour drive to get to any cities holding full marathons (with the exception of the Lubbock Mayor’s Marathon which unfortunately falls on the same weekend as Revel Mt. Charleston this year). A lot of my running friends go to Fort Worth in February to run the Cowtown. It is a festival which includes a 5k and 10k on Saturday (along with numerous kids races) and a Half Marathon, Marathon and 50k Ultramarathon on Sunday. It is also only a 4 1/2 hour drive away. I have never run this race before because it always falls on the same weekend as a gala that I’m usually involved in. But, for some reason, this year’s gala was moved to later March. My weekend was open!
I sheepishly mentioned the possibility of running Cowtown to my husband and being the sweet, supportive man he always is, he told me to go ahead and do it. We would make it a nice little getaway weekend. When I mentioned the challenge (running a race on Saturday and Sunday and getting some nice extra swag) he didn’t miss a beat and told me of course you should sign up! So, on February 5 (two and a half weeks before the race) I pushed the button. I was in!
Now, most people would probably train a bit longer than just over two weeks for a marathon, but seeing as I just ran one on January 1st, I was still in marathon shape. This race was to take the place of a training run, so there was no real pressure to get a particular time. My training buddy came to the same conclusion and I invited her to ride down with us.
Friday, February 22nd rolled around and I woke up with the biggest head cold I have had in a long time. I was coughing, sneezing and totally congested. Well, that was just glorious. I had managed to stay nice and healthy until the day we were leaving!? So, I loaded up the Airborne, Alka Seltzer Plus and Mucinex and we were on our way.

The expo was held at The Will Rogers Memorial Center and we pulled up at 6:30p.m.. We had 30 minutes to grab our bibs and shirts before closing time. There were no lines and it was so easy to pick up the bibs and gear bags. Shirt pickup was a little more crowded, but the wait was not long at all. There was time for a quick photo opportunity before piling back into the car and heading to the hotel.

I booked a La Quinta about 13 minutes from the start. We were traveling with Max, our 2 year old dachshund, so our choices were a little limited. This particular La Quinta was really quite nice. It had just been remodeled and was clean and in a good neighborhood. Traveling with the dog poses some problems, namely eating out. We don’t want to leave him in the room or in the car unattended, so whatever we eat has to be taken out. So, carb loading proceeded in the form of a lovely Caprese Salad, a capellini with pesto dish and all the bread! It wasn’t stellar, but it did the job.

I laid out my gear for the morning 5K, guzzled down some Mucinex and hit the sack. I could have picked up my bib Saturday morning before the race, but didn’t want to chance anything going awry, so it was great that we got to FW before the expo closed.

The 5K started at 8:30 a.m. so, Bill, Max and I piled into the car at 7:00 a.m. and he dropped me off at the starting line. I grabbed some eggs and toast from the complimentary breakfast at the hotel before we left. There was a drop-off place that was very accessible and I got out and had about a 5 minute warm up walk to the Will Rogers Center. I was able to drop off a gear bag and go to the restroom inside and stay nice and warm until the start of the race. I headed out about 8:00 a.m. and got in Corral 1. Before the race, a man was honored for his 100th birthday and his 20th year participating in the Cowtown.
You can find his story here on the Runner’s World site!
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a26569647/100th-birthday-5k-cowtown/
We all sang Happy Birthday, a student from a local high school sang the National Anthem (pretty well, I might add) and the gun went off.
The route started with a downhill and we ran towards the Trinity River. There was a beautiful little park there and we headed uphill right as my Mile 1 alert went off. Mile 2 was fairly flat, still in the park and the sun was out with not a cloud in the sky. It was a little warm, but bearable. Mile 3 had a hill on the way back to the Will Rogers Center. I was playing cat and mouse with a woman just ahead of me and in the last tenth of a mile, I poured on the gas and left her in the dust. I checked the Cowtown app for my results and it said 25:21 and 3rd in my age group. When I checked the official results online a little later, my place had moved up to 2nd. I had managed an 8:10 pace with a head cold and not pushing too hard before my marathon. Not bad at all.

The medal was quite cute.

There was a nice spread of food at the finish (containers of mandarine oranges, bananas, small protein bars, yogurt, Blue Bell ice cream, beer and several other snacks). My only qualm was there was no bag to put it all in, so I was dropping everything! I didn’t use my beer tickets because it was only a 5K and it was a little too early, even for me. So, I went inside and retrieved my gear bag, changed clothes and browsed around the expo for awhile before Bill came and got me. I spied a pair of capris that I HAD to have and found a matching headband too! Also, I was also able to trade my race shirt in for a smaller one. The Women’s Mediums were huge and I had no problem trading it in for a small.

Bill and I had lunch at Whole Foods, walked the dog a bit and went back to the hotel to down some more Mucinex. I laid out my clothes for the morning again, had some dinner and hit the hay.

Marathon morning, I went through my whole pre-race routine, ate my egg sandwich, got ready, met Sharla downstairs and Bill dropped us off again. We were a little early, but the restroom lines were quite long, so it was ok. Our Corral was Number 3 this time. It was a bit chilly as we posed for a pre-race pic.

We ran into a couple of Lubbock friends too. The pre-race music was upbeat as we moved up to the start and with a confetti canon blast, we were off. I took off and darted around people for a good mile or two. Again, the first part was downhill, my specialty, and then some rolling hills. I was determined to get away from the pace groups because I never have any luck running with them. The 2 hour half marathon group was crowding me for about 8 miles and I was so glad when we got to mile 10 where we finally split. Those 2 hour pacers were a bit fast for their projected finish time. I reached the half at 1:58 and some change. I felt pretty good. It was chilly, but the sun was out. The rolling hills became more prevalent. Aid stations were great, although the tables could have been longer. I never stopped and by the time I got to a break in the crowd to grab a water, the end of the station was there and I didn’t get any at times. Also, volunteers could have been on both sides of the street. This would alleviate some of the congestion.
Miles 22-25 were in the park by the Trinity River and the headwinds picked up dramatically. We were running straight into the wind for about 3 miles! At mile 26, there was yet one more hill! Then, we finished right where the 5K finished the day before. The announcer called everyone’s name as they crossed. Volunteers gave us finisher jackets, heat sheets, medals and pretty much the same food as the day before. Of course I partook of the beer this time! Because I raced both days, I got a special challenge medal (I like it even more than the marathon medal) and a great coffee thermos.

I checked my app again for my results and my finish time was 4:01:33. Again, not bad for a training run! I didn’t run the tangents very well though as my Garmin registered 26.50 miles! My AG place was 6th out of 46.

Bill picked us up again and we showered and packed up our things to head home. I had a rehearsal at 6:00 p.m.. He even surprised us with pizza! My favorite post-marathon treat!

Sitting in the car for 4 1/2 hours after a marathon is not my favorite thing to do, but we got home, I got in the car for another 30 minutes, drove to rehearsal, stayed for 2 hours and then drove home and collapsed on the couch!
So, though I don’t recommend running a marathon in place of a twenty-miler for a beginner marathoner, I personally would do it again. I’m on marathon 29 and know that I can run the distance. I don’t have to slog along putting in an unproductive twenty. I think at this point in my training game, they are overrated.
Cowtown was a great race and I think I will run it again sometime in the future.

Here is my overview:
Course: Beautiful, mostly shady and not flat by any means! The brick in the Historic Stockyard area was cumbersome and with me being the clumsy person that I am, I thought for sure I was going to trip. But, not this time! Yay!

Crowd Support: Not a huge crowd, but the people in the neighborhoods throughout were very supportive and encouraging.

Aid Stations: Plenty of stations and they were well stocked. I just would have liked more people on both sides of the street handing out drinks. Nuun was an official sponsor of this race.

Race Photos: No free photos. Not a lot of photographers along the course, but there were finisher pics and a few shots along the course available. They were up about a day after the races.

Starting Area: Great building to wait for the race to start. Plenty of port-a-johns outside. Lines were long inside. Corrals were monitored well and organization was super.

Finish Area: Loved the Ice Cream and Beer at the finish! There were bags available on marathon day to carry everything in.

Swag: Great swag! Three shirts for two races, very nice medals and extras. Shirts were soooooo huge!

Race organization: Excellent communication. Love the app. Runner Tracking was available and results were immediate.