Urban Cow Half Marathon 10.03.2010

Where to begin? Well first off I finished! My official time was 2:30:30. Not my best time but not my worst either. Urban Cow was my 18th ½ marathon and yet I was as nervous as I was at my 1st back in October of 2006. It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve run so many of these events in such a short period of time. When I looked at my results to see how I’ve finished these 18 half marathons I found that I ran the EXACT same time at Urban Cow (then the Sacramento Cowtown) on October 7, 2007. It was the first time I ran this event. I then went on to PR at Cowtown twice with a 2:12:46 in 2008 and a 2:08:05 in 2009. Late last week Heather and I agreed to run the race together. I’m so happy we decided to stay together. Heather’s goal was to beat her finish time from last year and my goal was to just finish. We were both successful! Heather took over 6 minutes off her time and I made it to the finish line!
I started the morning off early picking up Kim and Heather and then heading off to the annual pre-race get together at Bill’s a few short blocks from the starting line. Bill is my friend, mentor and at times my coach.  As it has been for the last few years Bill and his wife Andrea invited a great group of runners of all levels to start the morning together. They are the most gracious hosts providing strong, hot coffee, bananas and the use of their bathroom.  I am so thankful for great friends like these!

Bill’s wife snapped this photo of Bill, his “harem” and Dave. Good times!

Walking to the start the air was chilly against my skin and the sky was filled with early fall cloud cover. Perfect running weather! What a relief! When the temps reached 100° early last week I was worried. It has been unseasonably cool here all summer and I haven’t spent any time training in the extreme heat.

Waiting for the race to begin

We ticked off the miles taking in the scenery and people watching. Let me tell you a race is a great place to people watch! We moved along at a fairly even pace for the better part of 10 miles. I was pleased that I felt minimal discomfort in my foot except for the first few warm up miles. After mile 10 we decided to run harder and take a few walk breaks. It felt good to stretch my legs out and push myself.

As we approached the finish line I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride. Even though I am no where as fast as I was just one year ago I was able to train for and run one of my favorite races. While the tendon surgery has taken its toll it hasn’t completely debilitated me and for that I am grateful.

The next two or three days will be recovery days. Days to let my body rest from the stresses I put on it during those 13.1 miles. As I take it easy I will be taking a long, hard look at how my foot feels and make the final decision about taking on CIM.