McKale Montgomeny, a TCU professor and 41-year-old mom of two, made history at the Cowtown Marathon, winning overall at the ultra-marathon distance.

FORT WORTH, Texas — McKale Montgomery likes to win.

And she’s won a lot and gotten some interesting prizes, including but not limited to a coyote skull, a $300 bar tab and a pack of discontinued beer from the 80s.

Recently, she got a big win: First place in the Cowtown Ultra Marathon, making history as the first woman in the race’s history to come in first overall. At the finish line, she was awarded a black cowboy hat to add to her collection of trophies and prizes. 

When she began training for the race, she was still working to manage a neurological issue that affects her balance and leg muscles. After she first resumed running in 2025, she entered the Cowtown Marathon, and despite winning in her age group, she fell short of her goal: crossing the finish line first. So, the next year, she thought, if she can’t run faster, she’ll run farther.

In the end, on a balmy Sunday at the Cowtown Marathon, she went faster and further than anyone else running the ultra. She came first, beating every man and woman in the race. The 41-year-old ran over 31 miles in 3:33:11, or an average mile pace of less than seven minutes per mile. The second-place finisher, 43-year-old Dustin Darakhshan of Richardson, notched a time of 3:34:02. 

“I was enjoying myself,” Montgomery said. “It hurts less when you’re winning.”

Watch McKale Montgomery’s full extended interview below

It’s not the first time Montgomery has come first in the Cowtown Marathon. She won the full back in 2018. And she’s beaten men before, too, setting the Kansas state record in the marathon while also breaking the tape first.

“I mean, it’s good to beat anybody,” Montgomery said. “It just reminds us that, you know, we can, you can just compete… You don’t have to look at who’s on the start line and say, ‘Well, I’m not gonna win because she’s here, he’s here.’ Every day is different, and you just have to give yourself the chance.

Montgomery, an assistant professor studying nutrition at TCU, said she loves the process of both science and running. She begins every day with a run.

“People ask me sometimes about how I do it,” Montgomery said. “It’s not really so much about the outcomes, but the process. I think I’m just in love with the process, and the outcomes are the byproduct of that.”

She’s also a mom to two young girls. Her supportive family is key to her continued success in running, she said. 

“It does take a lot of support and just planning and a little bit of craziness,” she said.

She isn’t the first North Texas mom to come first in a race at the Cowtown Marathon. In 2025, Rena Elmer came in first place at the 10K distance, beating everyone else in the field.

Montgomery’s win marked the second year in a row that a woman made history in Fort Worth.

Winning a race at the Cowtown Marathon holds special significance and, she thinks, gave her a special advantage; she saw people she knew along the route and felt comfortable running the same trails she had trained on.

“Once I hit those Trinity trails, I was like, oh, no, I own these trails,” Montgomery said. “I run these trails every day. Nobody’s gonna beat me on these trails.”