On Sunday October 1, N and I participated in the 4th Annual Cow Run 10 Miler. It was a lot of fun and we did a great job. I will get into it more in just a moment but first, let me start with a little history about the race course.

In 1778, brigadier general Anthony Wayne, went to Salem, NJ to get cattle. Though he was chased by British soldiers attempting to cut off all food and aid to the revolutionary army. General Wayne succeeded, and he led the cattle drive from Salem, to Pennsylvania to feed the starving troops from the revolutionary army fighting in Valley Forge, PA. The 10 miles of the run follows the path that Wayne took in what is locally remembered as the Great Cow Chase.

Here is a video of the run from 2016.

Ok, so on to this year’s race. Sunday morning bright and early, N and I got up and had a breakfast of our new standard pre race fuel. One of the suggestions from last month’s Runner’s World Weekly. Four frozen pancakes with a Tablespoon of Maple Syrup, a banana, and a cup of milk. I added coffee powder to mine. It was a great way to add caffeine to my breakfast.

Then we drove the hour and a half to Salem, NJ. We arrived around 8 am with an hour to go before the race.

It was quite cold, around 50 degrees when we arrived. We collected our shirts and bibs and after a bathroom stop, we headed back to the car for last minute prep. N used KT tape on my ankle and knee, and I taped up his IT Band.

Then we hopped on the bus which took us from Salem to the start line in Cowtown, NJ. The start line was at the rodeo in Cowtown. The race started a bit late so we got to know a few of our fellow runners. Just like with a Disney race, there were people dressed up. In this case the theme was cows, but there was also one runner dressed in a kilt.

At 9:20 we were off. The race started off on the rodeo grounds. Feed was left on the path so the cows were on the road. We had to run around them, it was pretty cool.

After we left the rodeo grounds we ran on the road. For the first 2-3 miles, the road was quite hilly. But the rest of the race was fairly flat.

We ran past many fields both empty and full of corn. At one point we ran through a row of trees. It was really beautiful and the changing landscape gave us a lot to look and enjoy. There were water stops every two miles and a bathroom stop around the halfway point.

The race went really well. At around mile 8 it got a little rough due to a broken toenail, which snagged on my sock with every step I took. This made the last two miles a little difficult and painful. Despite that, we finished well within our desired time and even PRed!!

After we crossed the finish line, we received our medals and a goodie bag. We also got a voucher for a free beer at a local pizzeria. Sadly, we were only able to have a sip each as we had to head home.

After we got home, we realized that we had been in the sun for a long time. And I had forgotten the sunscreen at home. How did we realize? Poor N burns so easily in the sun and he got an awful sunburn!

All in all a highly recommended race. The people were so nice, both the other runners and the race organizers. The race was well organized, affordable and fun. The t-shirts and the medals were good quality and very well themed. We definitely plan to do this one again.