Cowtown Half Marathon 2008

The Hamster lined up this morning unsure of the performance to unfold over the next 13.1 miles. In order to understand fully my uncertainty, we have to get into the "way back" machine and travel to yesterday morning. Hammy went to the Big Crush in the Amador foothills. Basically, you purchase a ticket for $30 and get a wine glass you can use at almost any winery in Amador. I was the DD, so I dumped a whole heck of a lotta wine. Luckily for me, most of it was marginal at best. I was really disappointed by the quality of the wine I was tasting. The best part of the afternoon was at the last winery "R", they had the best wine, vegetarian soup, and a component aroma test. They added herbs/flavors to 26 glasses of wine and you had to see how many you could guess correctly: soy sauce, olive, dill, cherry, strawberry, etc. I got 19 of 25. Not good, not bad. So, after wine, I enjoyed an alfredo pasta dinner and a little too much dessert: apple crisp and smore brownies.  Yummm! I woke this AM with my tummy talking to me. Why is it that tummies never have anything nice to say? Groan.

Okay, now you know what I did yesterday and why I was nervous about the run. I wanted 1:35 (7:15/mi) as a finish time and got out of the gates at about 7:10 per mile and, sure enough, visited a potty at about mile 4. That tends to kill one's average pace because the clock doesn't stop just because you're in the potty, wouldn't that be nice? Nuts. I got out and caught back up with the 3:10 pace group and, after a 9 minute mile got back to 7:05/mi pace. The tummy still was not 100% but I wasn't about to get off the course again. Short story long, I came in at 1:33:30 (or about there), 7:08/mi pace. I'm pleased.

Notes and observations:

• The porto potty at mile 4 was very well kept. :-)
• The Cowtown half is very, very well supported: the water stops are plentiful and easily accessed, traffic control is great, and the organizers (Rich Hanna) are very organized. I give this run high marks!!!!
• Way to go Carlos! I almost saw Carlos' backside as he galloped away from me at the start and, other than the turn-around in Miller Park, I never saw him again. I think he came in at 1:30 or less. Nice wheels.
• Thanks to Abby for watching my Team Chaos so I could run. And also for herding them to the finish.
• Thanks to my girls for getting up early and getting ready quickly.
• Thanks to my parents for cheering me on.
• Thanks to the Fox and Goose for some GREAT post-run food! (we were going to go to Tower, but the line was insane and they don't do anything fast).
• Thanks to Greg for running in with me.

I'll post some actual times after Cowtown posts them.