This was my 5th time completing the MO' Cowbell half marathon:
MO' Cowbell has been my 21st half, my 45th half, my 51st half, my 54th half and 1st virtual half marathon, and my 55th half marathon. Of all of the St. Louis are half marathons, MO' Cowbell is my favorite! If you haven't read my previous MO' Cowbell race recaps, I will just summarize by telling you exactly what I told the runner from Southeast Missouri and the runner from Dallas, TX in the VIP tent on race morning:
- The course is mostly flat
- There is plenty of race day parking and the parking and start/finish line is easy to get to
- The course, hotels, and restaurants aren't far from the airport
- Gorgeous fall foliage! (Apparently the trees aren't starting to change in Dallas yet)
- A scenic course including downtown St. Charles and the riverfront, the countryside, and a variety of neighborhoods including NEW TOWN (my personal fav)
- Great crowd support
- The most reasonably priced VIP area
I am also a fan of this year's swag as it was a very lightweight, tech, long-sleeved, hooded shirt with a front pocket and thumb holes. You also received a swag bag, a sticker for your race distance, and a cowbell. This year's medal had a spinning piece that showed '22 on one side and 13.1 on the other.
This year's experience was similar to last year's in that I walked over 50% of the race BUT I used the Galloway Method for the first 10k or so. This combination shaved 29 minutes off of last year's finish time!!! I still finished over three hours, but I was SUPER excited about my finish time and look forward to actually training for the 2023 race.
Here are some other pictures I took on the course, mostly approaching and within New Town.
I hope that you will consider running (or walking) this race in 2023, especially now that they offer a 10k option as well. Check out their website and save the first weekend in October for a trip to St. Charles, MO.