My blog post for today will cover my experience with the Cowtown Ultramarathon in two parts. The first will be what I expect to experience and how I think I will see nature show up. The second will be what I actually experience.
Part 1: I think my favorite part of the Cowtown race will be running through Overton Park. This is consistently my favorite place to run because it actually feels like I am out in nature. I love reaching the duck pond at the end of the park, as well as how clean it remains. I believe this will be the final third of the race. That being said, I will probably be struggling a lot. I expect this to help rejuvenate me for the final few miles. On the other hand, I think running on the Trinity Trails will be the hardest for me. While I do enjoy these trails, it is hard for me to run on them. Being able to see a half mile in front of me, or more, makes it feel much longer than it is. Also, we do switchbacks near the end. This is especially brutal because we basically stay in the same spot for a long time. Overall, this is not even close to a "nature run" but I look forward to the pockets of nature that I will experience.
Part 2: Overall, the race was really great. My previous predictions were profoundly perfect. The brief stint in Overton Park quickly gave me back a bunch of energy. While the Trinity was hard, knowing the race was almost over made it much better. This class has helped inspire me to check out some trail runs near TCU and my home in Seattle. Unsurprisingly, Seattle has a massive amount. My goal is to start incorporating these runs into my race schedule.
