The Missouri Cowbell race is a very well-known event that has been hosted for the last 12 years. During this year’s race, three teachers from our school have set out to run the half marathon all with different perspectives and plans.

David Range, Ellie Ulsas, and Jennifer Strathman all ran a successful races on Oct. 6. Each one of them had their own goals to hit and they all definitely succeeded in their own respective races. Range and Strathman, who are brother and sister, decided to sign up and run together.

“My brother Mr. Range had signed up and I try to do a half marathon every year and the Cowbell is one of my favorites and I didn’t get to do it last year so I was excited to do it again,” Strathman said. “It was really fun running with him as well.”

Range and Strathman both had great mindsets and a great attitude going into it, and they both ran very well.

“The last time I ran the race, I messed up my ankles and knee, so I wasn’t going as hard this time. So I recommend enjoying the race and the exercise,” Range said.

Range ended the race with a half-marathon time of 2:20:59 and Strathman ended with 2:10:12, which is very impressive for both of them taking the run relaxed. While Range and Strathman took it easy, Ulsas had a particular goal in mind.

“Last year I ran the Cowbell just because I wanted to challenge myself to run a half marathon just for fun,” Ulsas said. “Then I ran it and my official time was 2 hours and 3 seconds and that just didn’t sit well with me. I gotta get those four seconds back, so I was thinking I’m running this year’s race and I’m getting under four hours and beating my time.”

Ulsas started training and did well. She even helped coach the cross country team so she could run with some of the athletes to get her mileage in and do some hard workouts with the team.

The week of the race though, she got sick and was not feeling well at all.

“I had been training really hard, but I was sick the whole week before the race so that threw a wrench in my plans but I knew my training for the race was there,” Ulsas said.

After all of the training, Ulsas ran a time of 1:57:26 beating her goal, which was very impressive, especially since she was sick during the race.

All three teachers did well showing that if you want to take it slow and enjoy the experience you will still be able to get a great result as well. If you want to push yourself, putting in the training will really help you get to the goals you want to achieve.