MO Cowbell Half Marathon Race Recap

On Saturday morning I was ready to make the four hour drive to Saint Charles, MO for the MO' Cowbell half marathon.  I went to my car, opened the back hatch, got ready to put my suitcase in the car and guess who jumped in the back before I even had a chance to get the suitcase in?  Jack....that's who!!  He was ready for a trip.  That dog makes me so sad sometimes, how was I supposed to leave that sweet face?  But alas, I gave Mr. Jack a kiss on the snout and headed out.




I arrived in St. Charles right around 2pm for packet pickup.  When you think about endurance sports, what's the first thing that comes to mind......drinking, smoking, and gambling???  But of course!  So naturally, packet pickup was at the Ameristar Casino.  When I got inside Coy of First in Philly was waiting for me!!  Yea!! I finally got to meet her.  We chit chatted for a minutes and then picked up our packets.  Easy peasy!

Me & Coy doing our best running pose,



We decided to try our luck...and headed into the casino for a few minutes.  I have literally gambled maybe 3 times in my life.  I'm not good at losing money. We walked around and took a few pics until we got asked politely to stop.  Yes, we were trying to steal the layout for our own casino.  We finally settled on a couple of slot machines.  I told Coy I had a $20 limit.  I would play $20, but when it was gone, I was done.



Coy sneaking a pic of me & my cashout voucher

I pulled the lever and won like a $1.20 or something,  Then I lost a few rounds, but then I hit some kind of mini jackpot.  The machine started ringing and chiming and suddenly I had $40.25.  I said that's it.  I'm done!  I'm cashing out!! And I did!  I made $20.25 - go me!  Coy lost her $20, but hey we still had an overall payout of .25 between us.  Take that Ameristar!!

We then headed to the hotel to check in and hang out for awhile.  Coy is AWESOME!!  Seriously, she is so funny in her blog, but she is truly a great person - in person!  I just loved getting to know her!

We then headed out to get some pre-race fuel.  We landed a Pia's - an Italian restaurant.  The first thing they gave us was a lovely basket of club crackers and a plate full of butter.  Classy touch!  Stay Classy St. Charles.  We immediately started dying laughing thinking it was the funniest thing we had ever seen.  I mean seriously, they give you breadsticks at flippin' Fazolis.  What restaurant gives you cracker and butter?



Delicious huh?



Fast forward to Sunday morning.  Race day!  It's time to go.  We wake up to 36 degree temps, not exactly the mid 40s that were projected.  It was COLD.  I had brought tights and shorts, but luckily decided to opt for shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  I was glad I did because the race didn't start until 8:30 am and it warmed up quickly.  The sun was bright, not a cloud in the sky.  It was a beautiful day, but was definitely getting warm by the time we crossed the finish line. 

My goals for the race 1) Have Fun!!  2) Set a PR.  My previous best half marathon time was 2:50:45.  I was hoping to be around 2:45.  The course was mostly flat, but you encountered two pretty big hills at miles 10 and 11.  Way to put the hills at the end of the race.  Going into this race my longest run had been 10 miles, so I knew those last 3 were going to be tough, especially with the hills at the end.  Plus I was still dealing

with some back pain, although it was much better going in to the race.  I knew if I wanted to get a PR I would need to bank some time in those early miles.  I know it's not the best race strategy to go out fast, but I took a chance.  The first few miles were pretty easy.  I had planned to run the first 3 miles, and then start my run/walk plan.  By the end of mile 3 we were at about a 10:52 pace per mile which is very fast for me, and I was ready for that first walk break.  It was probably a little bit too fast, but I had "banked" some time.  We maintained a pretty consistent pace from miles 4-9 of around 11:45 - 12:15.  But as anticipated, miles 10 and 11 were much slower and were closer to a 13 minute pace.  Mile 12 was downhill and we really picked the pace back up and finished it in 11:56....but then I just fell apart during the last mile.  I was tired and my back started cramping badly.  For the first time during the race I couldn't complete my 3 minute run (it was just 3 minutes...you should be able to do anything for 3 minutes, right?).  I just couldn't do it.  I should have been excited and invigorated.  I was at the end of the race, I only had one mile to go and it was mostly downhill, but I was struggling, big time.  Coy was awesome!  She kept say it's ok take a quick break, you are almost there, are you ready to start running again?  She could have ran this race, much, much faster, but chose to run it with me.  She was awesome, I know she helped push me through that last mile.  She kept saying come on, I know we can get you to the finish line in under a 12 minute pace, but it's going to be close!  I finally see the finish line, and I'm ready to run it out.  I look at my Garmin and think I can do it!  I can finish in under a 12 minute pace.  I crossed the finish line in 2:37:21!!  My fastest time by just over 13 minutes!  The pace on my Garmin is 11:54!!  Unfortunately, once again, the Garmin was slightly off.  My race distance on my Garmin was 13.23 so my official time was 12:01!  I was bummed, for just a second, but then I remembered that I just set a 13 minute PR on a half marathon - that's a minute less per mile.  I was still super happy!

After we crossed the finish line we were awarded with an AWESOME cowbell finishers medal.  We also got to take our pic with the cow.  They gave you 3 copies - FREE!!  Seriously, it was the little touches in this race that were just great!  They also had one of the best race shirts I've gotten yet, a very nice gender specific long sleeve technical tee.  For an inaugural race, they really had their act together.

I had one of the best race experiences ever. It was great to PR, but it was also great to run with my new friend Coy.  I loved every second of my day.  Give me MO' Cowbell next year for sure!




They even had decent finish line photos.



My race recap is a bit delayed because I'm currently in DC for work.  After driving the 4 hours home from the race, I had to pack for another trip.  I got up at 3:30 am to head to DC on Monday morning.  But more on this later..........