The Cowtown Marathon does take you through some beautiful parts of Ft. Worth. However, brace yourself for the hills. There were a lot of them. Also, I noticed that the first one or two water stations had Gatorade, but probably the next 8 or so, only had water. At about mile 10, I started cramping, which I had not done in a very long. I do believe this was a direct result of the lack of Gatorade. I hope in the future that each water station contains Gatorade or some other sports drink. This was my third marathon, but my first Cowtown. Given the difficult course and lack of needed fluids, I probably will never run another Cowtown Marathon, even though I do live in the area.

I had a blast running in this race.

I love Fort Worth. I was worried about the weather - for nothing. I enjoyed everything about this marathon: the course, the people, and the location of start and finish. I'll be back.... Oh, I loved and wore my "I'm back" T-shirt all day on Friday. That is a good touch. Save me a beer at the finish for 2008.

This was my first marathon and because it is hilly in the second half it provided an additional, but welcome, challenge. It is is not a big marathon yet (fewer than 600 runners completed the marathon), making it a little lonely after the split between the half marathon and the marathon. Having run the Chicago Half Marathon recently, with more participants and a bigger spectator turnout, this was somewhat of a letdown but overall a very good and well-organized event. The people of Fort Worth and the support staff showed the true spirit of Texas and that made for a very enjoyable run - and more than made up for the lack of spectators in the second half.

Some of the residents in a few sections of the course actually showed their Texas hospitality by handing out fresh orange slices, bananas and even Tootsie Rolls! That was greatly appreciated. The aid stations were plentiful and well staffed. The bottled water was a real nice and welcome touch. The finisher's shirt and medal were exceptionaI; the weather, the wind not withstanding, was perfect. I will definitely run this marathon again next year (hopefully without the gale-like winds that battered the runners through the second half)!

Well done, Ft. Worth Cowtown, and see you next year!

Great, scenic course! Inclines near the end on Lancaster St. and 7th Ave. are killers. Disappointed that they ran out of sporst drinks way too soon. Wasn't until I got to 11th mile that I found a station with sport drinks still available. I was forced to delay my start by 18 minutes after the gun, but it I shouldn't be penalized by stations not storing enough Gatorade. I passed a couple hundred by the time I got to mile 8, craving salts and electrolytes. Let's stock more for next year. OK?

The cheering crowds and residents who have their streets closed were great and cheered us on. Love the final leg through downtown.

I flew in and out to do the half marathon. This is a small race, so don't expect a major expo or every bell and whistle, but the Southern charm makes up for it.

The volunteers, spectators, and fans (while not out in super numbers) were all top-notch. The police are out in force (state troopers and local) to protect the race and control the traffic. I even had some registration troubles, which I only mention to note how quickly and kindly they took care of this for me.

The race has hills (said the Midwesterner), but it adds a lot of charm to the old downtown area, beautiful homes, and greenery on the course.

The marathon and half split in the middle (must be tough to pace as a full). It did not seem like the other races (5K, 10K, half, full, kids) detracted from the quality of my run.

How moooooooo(valous)!!!

The weather was not bad during the race, but what a horrible storm they had all the way up to the start. The tent leaked, the streets were flooded, the creeks were running over their banks and course had to be rerouted out of the river's path. Nice job by the race team! Ice cream, hot food, a race shirt and a finisher's shirt for a great price! A true delight. I loved the course, people were out in that lousy weather cheering us on... why I have no idea. A great smaller race! Being put on the big screen for the finish! So many nice touches... tents to stay warm and dry, race distances for everybody. Very well done indeed.

Okay the world is never a perfect place. They used a slick - but totally ineffective - timing chip technology. I am not sure if it would have worked even without the rain... and any system that is just programmed to give you a gun time is just nice for getting times out quickly, but most runners are spoiled and want chip time, not an electronic gun time.

I think I will forever be partial to this marathon because this was my first one that I did to qualify for Boston, so even though there were a few quirks, I don't have anything bad to say about this marathon.

The weather was perfect: I loved running in the drizzly rain, it enabled me to not get hot and salty. Race day temp was perfect, I overdressed slightly, but made adjustments.

The spectators were good, the ones that actually stood out in the rain (including my hubby and kiddos) were enthusiastic for them and the ones that weren't there.

I actually liked the chip being in the race number, but I also would like it to get a bit more advanced to show chip times and gun times. I've been to races where you pick your chip up on race day and you fumble around trying to get it on your shoe and it becomes a hassle. So, I think that the ChampionChip technology being attached to the race number would be the best of both worlds. No messing around with those little zipties that don't look like they would hold anything in place anyway.

I came in from out of state and I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't pick up my award the week after the race because of some computer problem. I had to wait for it to be mailed to me and I was pretty excited to get my 'hardware', especially since I had just qualified to go to Boston. I was staying with family and they wanted to see my stuff too, but couldn't.

I hope to see this race again in the very near future (depending on what races I do this next winter). I do recommend the Cowtown Marathon to anyone who just wants a fun race.

It has its little foibles for sure, but it is a nice local marathon. At least they improved the medal to something you can be proud of. The Cowtown is my standby marathon for February. I live in Dallas and if I can't get out of town to run one, I drive over to Ft. Worth and do this one. No race is perfect and this one isn't either, but it does have its own unique flavor. The organizers try very hard to make sure you are taken care of.

I see all of the other comments but I don't agree on the course comments at all. It is a varied course and well marked and controlled by the police. I like the fact that it isn't just a long straight line out and back. It goes through the Ft. Worth Arboretum and that was just amazing because tons of spices were in bloom and very fragrant. Because of what we do, I think a runner's sense of smell is in high-gear anyway, and that was a nice sensory experience. The rest covers city streets and suburbs, high-rent and low rent, and ends back in downtown Ft. Worth. I like this course a lot; it is a very comfortable marathon to run.

It rained the entire time but the temps were about 48, so it was comfy. The weather has seemed to be drizzly the last couple of years and I kind of like that for running.

Spectators were sparse but who the heck stands out in the rain? Those that did were enthusiastic. I run pretty much zoned-out, so spectators aren't a big deal anyway.

Only two gripes:

1. The timing device. There is a local company that developed an RFID bib. Unfortunately they don't have all the kinks worked out and using that on a race of this size as an "experiment" is NOT good. Posting of times took days and even then they had to do it manually from video tape of the finish lines because the RFID system got wet and failed. I'd like to see the ChampionChip used.

2. No pasta dinner! They really need a pasta dinner the night before the race. I like to hang with my fellow runners and that is always something I look forward to. Even the smallest marathon in the middle of nowhere has a pasta dinner.

This was marathon #18 and I recommend it.

I liked it, despite the rain and the low spectator turnout. The course was well managed by Ft. Worth PD. The spectators that did show were very positive and vocal. My wife and I both ran our personal best. It's a nice race. Yes, it needs to improve. For example, try to get more fan support, like bands and such, the Dallas White Rock is a great example. Another complaint of mine is: why Miller beer started packing up at around 12:00? You don't know how many runners came in looking for some relief, and there was nada. We ran the White Rock, San Antonio, Oklahoma Memorial this past year or so. The Cowtown ranks just above the San Antonio, and way behind the other two. All the San Antonio needs to do is improve that crappy course and the Cowtown is in last place. But since we live in Ft. Worth, we will run this race again.