I ran the Cowtwon Marathon yesterday. This marathon had only water on the course. No Powerade, no food, no gel - nothing but water. Some water stops had plastic cups so when you squeezed the cup to not spill the water, it just fell apart in your hand.

There were stretches of several miles that I saw no more than 10 spectators. After mile 4 I ran the next 22 miles alone. No decent food at the end, but there was plenty of beer (Miller Lite is a sponsor) to help you forget about the race. The marathon is an afterthought to the kiddie 5k, the regular 5k and the 10k. Same management for almost 30 years - please get some new blood in here with some vision. Austin, Houston, Dallas, Abilene, San Antonio put on great marathons - why does this have to be such a mess every year? Every year I complain and every year it gets worse; I have no one to blame but myself at this point.

I?d have given ?organization? 5 stars but they didn?t have any Gatorade at any of the official water stops. A private running club had the only Gatorade and it was a mile 18! Oh well, crap happens I guess. I did learn that I do very well on just plain water.

However, had the temp been other than the mid-40?s to the low 50?s, things could have gotten ugly. I had ten bucks in my shorts and there were 7-11?s going by so I had a ?Plan B? if I needed it. All of that said, no Gatorade or Powerade is significant.

This was my 6th marathon and I had a ball. Cowtown had a very variegated urban course; you never got bored. It starts in downtown Ft. Worth, meanders out of the skyscrapers into light industrial sprawl, goes through some lower income housing areas, then shifts gears and goes through the Arboretum and I think some sort of park next to that. Then it?s through the high-rent district and then back to downtown.

Net ascent over the 26.2 miles is 791 feet. Don?t get excited about that. Yes, the course has some hills to it, but nothing to make you groan. They?re very gradual and spaced out over the whole course. In comparison, the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham has 922 feet of ascent between miles 17-19!

Despite being downtown, this is a very easy marathon to get to. Plenty of free parking right at the starting line. A really nice touch was that several of the restaurants right at the start line opened up and let runners stand inside and/or use their restrooms. No long lines at porta-potties.

There were few spectators, but those who were out were vocal and very supportive. I don?t need cheering masses. After-race amenities were on par. This was however the only marathon I?ve been to that, in addition to everything else you?d expect, had a BIG cup of hot turkey noodle soup in their food line! Nice.

The finisher?s medal has evolved nicely from prior years. I?ll do this one again.

Kamikaze

PS: It?s not the race organization?s fault, but the hotel prices are no bargain for out-of-towners.

Cowtown time limit needs to extend to help marathon walkers, beginners and long-timers to continue to participate. A 6.5 hour cut off makes it hard for first-time walkers and older marathon walkers to complete. Many of us need 7 to 8 hours. We need water stops, snack stops and port-a-potty's out until ALL WALKERS/RUNNERS cross the finish line. EVERYONE who enters and completes, no matter how long it takes, deserves a medal and support. I am not doing the marathon this year at Cowtown, I am going to AUSTIN for this reason, and I live in Fort Worth area. I would much rather do Cowtown, but the time limitations and lack of support for walkers changed my plans. I hope next year you will extend the time so more walkers can participate in this wonderful event.

Thank you, Joanne McDonald, wishing the time limit was 7-8 hours or longer - so more walkers can participate and enjoy!

I ran 4 times, and last 3 were after the Austin Marathon (one week back-to-back). I do not want to miss Cow Town Marathon. Stockyard is a real Texas history. I hope you continue make this marathon a Texas, country-style marathon even though you move starting line to Sundance. Thanks a lot!

Eunsup Kim

The caption says it all. The course is moderately difficult, has few spectators and is desolate for 6 of the last 6.2 miles (when you obviously want people around). There is little or no food at the end. Skip it in favor of Austin or run White Rock or Houston.

In the 7/9/03 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there was an article stating that the 2004 Cowtown Marathon will start and finish downtown in Sundance Square. It was also stated that the start will be moved to 7:30 am and, of course, the course will be changed. These changes should result in significant improvement for the Cowtown. Will definitely run the Cowtown again in 2004, but would not have if there had been no changes from 2003. Way to go, Cowtown organizers!!

Fort Worth has much more to offer than what the 2003 course shows. Although it is called the Cowtown Marathon, it should be called the 'Cowtown 5K and 10K, and, oh by the way, there happens to be a marathon scheduled also'. It seems that The Marathon needs to start earlier than it does, well before the 5K and 10K and the course should be improved and include a portion of downtown. Scheduling it on Sunday would help avoid some the traffic problems encountered. Incidentally the official Marathon T-shirt is the same as the 5K/10K shirt but there is a cheesy orange stamp on the sleeve, saying 'Marathon'. Fort Worth could and should have a much better marathon and attract more than 750 runners.

This was my first marathon, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but here are my observations:

Parking was no problem, we were able to park about two blocks away and only arrived about 15 minutes before the race.

The course does have a number of roads with potholes and the recent rain made portions along the Trinity Trail impassable without having water come over the top of your shoes or sinking in the muddy grass (which is bad any time, but especially at mile 23). It seemed like there were a lot of hills, but no one ever claimed it was supposed to be an easy course!

The organizers did a great job in terms of having roads blocked, volunteers to point out the turns and call out times at the mile markers. Even if there weren't many spectators, the volunteers along the course were very enthusiastic and encouraging and really made the difference. There were enough water stops along the way, although some that had signs that said 'Water/Electrolytes' only had water available.

My biggest complaint is that if there was food at the end, we never found it. All we got was a bottle of water.

This was my first marathon, so I have nothing to which to compare. That said, my assessment is that the weather was perfect, people are friendly and supportive, course is interesting, and food & liquids are abundant. The only downer was that there were not enough signs at finish to direct runners to where they want to go: to the food. All they needed were signs telling us to keep walking down the street to get to the food. Once I found it, there was lots of it. Also better signs or maps for other attractions (massage, kids area, etc) would have been helpful. Parking info and a site map of the Stockyards with all of this on it in the runners packet would have been nice as well. Overall, a great race, but room for improvement.

This was my first marathon, and it was a very good experience (my only other road race was a 1/2 marathon in Dallas)... I thought that the course was well-marked (the volunteers did a great job!), and come on, there are not that many hills -- there are many, many turns... The web site needs to tell newcomers where to park, and the food/beverages at the end were lacking -- only water at the finish... I'll be back.