The Mo' Cowbell Half Marathon Results:

 Greetings from Iowa.  Yes, we are back home after a long day.   I'm tired after a long day of driving and waking up super early!  But I must continue on... with blogging and pictures...  While Cheryl relaxes in the bath.   Must be nice to only have to run 13.1 miles in the moderate heat and high humidity.  So pampered!

But on with the excitement of the day:   The Mo' Cowbell Half Marathon.   It was a fairly large race! ( over 4000 runners!)   Most of them were the half marathon, as usual.  But there were also the full marathon and the relays that were kicked off at the same time.  There was rain predicted for the race day.  100% chance!   But guess what.   Not a single drop during either the 5K last night OR the half Marathon.  ( It is possible that the Full Marathon also remained dry.)  Lucky us!  And I did not have to break out the emergency Poncho after all.

It was, however,  Hot!  And 99 % humidity!  Which made things feel cool in the early morning when the temps were only in the mid 60's.  And there was a gentle breeze that took the edge off most of the sauna.  I think the temps flattened out around 72 degrees, which made things comfortable for the spectators.  I did not get sweaty while waiting for the runners to finish.  But then again, I was not running!

It was noted that the port-a-jon situation was an issue in previous years.   I thought there were enough last night, but changed my mind this morning.   Luckily,  Cheryl and I arrived early enough to get through the lines early.  Other folks were stuck waiting and had to start the marathon about 5 minutes later than everyone else! ( Bummer!)   But luckily,  the race is based off of chip time and not actually gun time. 

Cheryl was in the front at the start, and I was able to capture a few shots of her as she ran by.  And then all I could do was wait until she came back.   Had she run the full marathon, I would have had a mid point spectator spot, since the full marathoners ran the half marathon and continued on past the finish line to the second half of the race.  Folks said that was rather depressing, watching half of your fellow runners finish and enjoy beer while you had to continue on with an additional 13.1 miles.  As a result, I tried to cheer them on every time one of them passed by on the trail that was parallel to the finish chute.  

Cheryl came in strong and fast.   Despite all the hills, humidity and high temps.  In fact, she was only 1 second slower than the Quad Cities Half Marathon.  She was very pleased with the results, given the conditions. 

But she placed 4th in her age group.  Meaning,  no trophy this time.   4th place is basically the first loser since most races only celebrate the top three for each age group.   But surprisingly, she was not disappointed.   She had been wishing for "better competition" after the last few races.   Looks like her wish came true.   To bad she did not win another $100 bucks! ( So, basically, my wish did NOT come true....) 

But there was free beer at the end of the rainbow.  And the usual treats of bananas and granola bars.   Cheryl noted that the food situation was minimal, though free beer definitely kicks things up a bit in my book.   No one mentioned any trophy for the 5K last night, so Cheryl comes away from this race with two medals, and a nice jacket.   No trophy, no extra award for the "challenge" ( Doing both the 5K AND the Half Marathon) and no watermelon... Or pie...  OR $100 bucks!   ( Money!!!!) 

But the City was pretty.  Clean and friendly.   They brag that it is historic, and the old Victorian houses look as new as the day they were probably built. A feat the Iowans have yet to master.  Cheryl says that Hype probably did the race a dis-service as the expectations were high.  I would say it was a good race.  I would think it would even be one that we would revisit in the future.   But, like Cheryl, I think it was not as "Magical" as the literature promised.  Still, I would recommend it to anyone wanting a fun and friendly race with LOTS of crowd support and scenic beauty.  And a really cool Mascot! And there were these really cool Lewis and Clark statues!  Cheryl looked like Thumbelina along side them.

One last thing.   We visited a Grocery store and found Schlafly Pumpkin Ale!  We bought a case of it!   Schlafly is a local brewer here in Missouri and since they no longer carry the brand in Iowa, Cheryl said we could "horde" some if we managed to find the Pumpkin version.  ( seasonal... and delicious!)  Given Cheryl's failure to win us anything blogworthy,  I figured this would be the highlight of the trip. After all, one of the perks of traveling to distant lands to race is the cool and exotic local brews we get to sample along the way.

We got roped into some advertisement. 

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend this weekend.   Time to relax and sample that special brew!  And thanks for stopping in.