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Country Road PR
2012 Cowtown 5K
by Nancy Marak
Photo by Nancy Marak
Published March 1, 2012
I grew up with severe asthma, being excused from running activities throughout my childhood; never did I imagine from all running I could run over 3 miles. I began running in my late 30’s, only running a few 5Ks here and there, but got distracted raising three kids alone. I came back to running about a year ago, now in my late 40s, but after a recent surgery and minor complications from that surgery, I have had a hard time getting back to it. I am very much enjoying my Arlington Striders Club friends and the extra push and encouragement from Coach Troy, Coach Carolyn and all the longtime experienced runners.
I did the Cowtown 5K for the first time last year, walking mostly and running very little. Cowtown 2012 5K was awesome! My brother and I arrived in the area 45 minutes before the race. We were not expecting the traffic issues we encountered. After being at a complete stop for about 20 minutes on University, I jumped out of the drivers’ seat, leaving my brother to park the car. I ran past the 10Kers, through the crowds, through and around the Expo, all the while, texting and calling my cousin who had picked up my race packet the day before. The race was about to start when I finally found her in line about to put my folded up race number in her pocket. With cold, shaking frozen fingers my cousin and I pinned my number on as the crowd of racers were moving to approach the official starting gate. Knee braces on, iPhone in the armband and set to “iMapMyRun”, I was ready to take off!
Since I am a returning runner, Coach Troy advised me to run one mile, walk two minutes, run to the 2 mile marker, walk another 2 minutes, and then run the rest of the way in. I very much love the man that stood in his front yard singing and playing his guitar; since I don’t use headphones or play music while I run, the song, “Country Roads” he was playing, as I passed by, stuck in my head. I was singing to myself and never heard the one mile notification go off on my phone. Since this was not my first time to run Cowtown, I knew that big hill was coming up and what a great time to hear my iPhone say, “Distance 1.5 Miles”!! Hallelujah, I ran further than I thought and now I get to walk up the hill! I’m not sure how long it took to walk up the hill, but I started running again after the hill and pretty much ran the rest of the way in. I’m very glad I found my cousin or I would not have a race time. My time of 34.45 is a PR for this old gal!