This is the third year that I have run the Urban Cow. The race is managed by Capital Road Race Management so it is very well organized with great aid stations, plenty of vendors, and beer after the race.

The race starts and ends at William Land Park, across the street from Sacramento City College, which is a beautiful park in Sacramento. You run through Downtown Sac, near the Tower Bridge, through Old Town Sacramento, and then you run along the river on the bike path.

The packet pickup is at Fleet Feet in Downtown Sacramento and there were no lines when I when Saturday morning. It also gives you a chance to pick up some last minute fuel or gear that you might need. There is also same day packet pickup and race registration at the event itself.
The race starts at 7:30AM and it was easy to find the pacers (in 5 minute increments). Some pacers banked time while a few were behind from what my friends said, but it is a nice feature to have at a race.

They had several bands along the course, tons of spectators to cheer you on, and aid stations about every 2 miles. There were several locations that had port-o-potties as well. There are some hills on the course, but nothing larger than going over or under a freeway overpass.

The temperature started in the low 50’s and when I finished (a little before 9:30) it was in the upper 50’s. Perfect temperature for racing.

At the finish line you could pick from granola, milk (chocolate or regular), strawberries, bags of healthy chips, several types of granola bars, a packaged lunch tray (pretzels, cheese, grapes, and carrots), and organic yogurt. They kept telling me to grab as much as I wanted and there were people taking small boxes of goodies with them.

You get a great medal (cow bell) and awesome tech-tee. I really don't have a bad thing to say about the race. It is a nice, fairly fast race, that’s all paved. I'll be back next year for year number 4.