I wasn't going to, but someone backed out of one of our corporate teams. Can't pass up a chance to run for free.

Only doing the HM. Ran a HM last week of January and been doing speed work since then. My longest run since the HM has been 7 miles, so this should at least be interesting.

Anyone else gonna be out there?

Running with my girlfriend since it is her 1st half.

Cowtown HM 2014 was my first "real" race and got me hooked. Maybe it's the nostalgia but it's at the top of my race list. The other racers are awesome, always great volunteers and pretty good spectator support and call me crazy, but the last 4 miles starting with the long hill are my favorite part.

3rd full, 2nd Cowtown.

I'm not excited, at all.

Unthought Known said:

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3rd full, 2nd Cowtown.

I'm not excited, at all.

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Someone holding a gun to your head?

wbt5845 said:

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Unthought Known said:

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3rd full, 2nd Cowtown.

I'm not excited, at all.

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Someone holding a gun to your head?

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I guess not. But the money has been spent. Might as well go out and do it.

Bib #21 if you can beleive that *****

I'll exchange my bib Friday. Do you happen to know the speed for the various corrals? I'd like to stay with the 10 minute pace runner as long as I can stand it.

The corral for the bib I have is corral 4. Not sure if they'll leave me there when I exchange my bib.

No clue. I thought I would be in 1 with an 8 minute pace for the full. Who knows.

7:00-8:15 per mile is what I put down.
I'm in corral 2.

MEENag said:

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I'm also running my first full after doing the half last year. I'm pretty excited/ nervous. I really want to finish under 4 hours but worry about bonking in the last 10k. All of my long runs (up to 20) have been on pace. I plan to try to stick with the 3:55 pacer.

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Typically you should run your long runs 20% slower than pace and run pace on shorter runs.

You will be awesome.

I guess I'm missing where to find the corral assignments. I've got my bib number but not finding any corral info. I'm guessing it's staring me in the face but I'm missing it.

mattmb917 said:

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I guess I'm missing where to find the corral assignments. I've got my bib number but not finding any corral info. I'm guessing it's staring me in the face but I'm missing it.

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I only know because I have my bib.

Running the half for Spoken Worldwide, one of the sponsors.

Trying to PR but my legs just haven't been 100% since the Dallas full. If I end up just cruising, that's ok.

Weather looks pretty good.

Corral 2 with a sub 8min pace?

Either corral 1 is small or I'm way out of my league this year. Guess I'll play dodge-the-runner the first .5 mi.

Just got mine through email and got corral 5. Figured I'd end up in 3, or at worst 4 with 8:45 pace. Kinda disappointed with that one.

rasher said:

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Corral 2 with a sub 8min pace?

Either corral 1 is small or I'm way out of my league this year. Guess I'll play dodge-the-runner the first .5 mi.

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Just came here to post this. I've never not been in Corral 1 and I always put in 7-8 minutes.

Not that it matters because I'm moving back to run with my girlfriend.

I can only imagine "Corral 1" is really just a new Elite corral

wangus12 said:

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rasher said:

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Corral 2 with a sub 8min pace?

Either corral 1 is small or I'm way out of my league this year. Guess I'll play dodge-the-runner the first .5 mi.

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Just came here to post this. I've never not been in Corral 1 and I always put in 7-8 minutes.

Not that it matters because I'm moving back to run with my girlfriend.

I can only imagine "Corral 1" is really just a new Elite corral

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You can pay to be in 1. I'm shocked at my 3:30 goal time is corral 2. It should keep me from going out too fast.

You can pay or have to pay? And is that new this year?

wangus12 said:

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You can pay or have to pay? And is that new this year?

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I dont know if you have to pay but you can pay to be in corral 1.

Maybe I am wrong. I could've sworn I saw a program that that was one of the perks.

I was in corral 1 last year for the half (7:20ish pace). I'm in corral 2 for the full this year. I expected to be in 1 again - oh well. I too am hopeful it will prevent me from going out too fast!

Probably a VIP deal or something.

crowag said:

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I was in corral 1 last year for the half (7:20ish pace). I'm in corral 2 for the full this year. I expected to be in 1 again - oh well. I too am hopeful it will prevent me from going out too fast!

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Glad I'm not the only one

People paying their way into corral 1. that's bs

At MCM they don't police the corrals at all so some people who are worried about making the time cutoff line up near the very front.

That was my one complaint about Marine Corps. I think I started near the 4:30 sign because it was tough trying to push forward in the corrals. Took nearly 5 miles to get out of the massive group and get into a good pace. Loved that race, but it was a frustrating start.

mattmb917 said:

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Just got mine through email and got corral 5. Figured I'd end up in 3, or at worst 4 with 8:45 pace. Kinda disappointed with that one.

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Oh boy - I hope I get to stay in Corral 4 then. Guess when i do the bib exchange I need to tell them I plan on an 8:30 pace.

I can do that - for a mile!

crowag said:

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I was in corral 1 last year for the half (7:20ish pace). I'm in corral 2 for the full this year. I expected to be in 1 again - oh well. I too am hopeful it will prevent me from going out too fast!

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What did you put down as pace for the full?

crowag said:

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I was in corral 1 last year for the half (7:20ish pace). I'm in corral 2 for the full this year. I expected to be in 1 again - oh well. I too am hopeful it will prevent me from going out too fast!

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Yeah, no offense but a 7:20 pace for a HM is probably rightfully a Corral 2 time in a large run like Cowtown - especially when people can buy their way into Corral 1. I hope those people at least have the courtesy to stay to the sides and let the faster runners pass through.

2016, I put down 3:45 as my projected finish time. I was in corral 2.

The 3:35 pacer was in coral 1. I caught site of him but never caught him. My final time was 3:33, the 2nd person to finish from coral 2.

If I remember right it just asked for predicated pace when I registered and the time gaps were very large. I put 7:00-8:15. Seems like last year I actually typed in my exact expected pace but I may be misremembering.

crowag said:

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If I remember right it just asked for predicated pace when I registered and the time gaps were very large. I put 7:00-8:15. Seems like last year I actually typed in my exact expected pace but I may be misremembering.

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That is how they did it.

Not really. For instance, based on last years half-marathon stats, just under 2% of Cowtown Half-marathon participants finished at or under a 7:20 pace. 7.5% finished at or under a 8:00 minute pace.

Those percentages hold across all the distances (7390 total finishers) for Cowtown last year. 570 runners finished at or under a 8:00 pace across all distances.

Cowtown has 8 corrals and splitting that evenly based on total participants would be 924 runners per corral. They have a separate corral for Elites prior to the start.

Even if you wanted to make Corral 1 more exclusive, they would still easily be able to fit runners under 8:00.

I was bored today.

I can't wait to get someone to explain it to me Saturday at the expo.

This is what I thought as well. Figured the cutoff for Corral 1 was 8:15/8:30.

This board obviously trends towards the faster runner, but the vaaasst majority of people are 8:30/9:00+.