14 Jan 2018 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon

February 05, 2018

When they say everything is bigger in Texas, believe them! On my birthday this year I ran the Aramco Houston Half marathon in Houston Texas and it was huge. The expo was huge, the race was huge and the finish area was huge. This was the 19th state I've completed a half marathon in and was by far the huge-est race I've run in. This race was especially fun for me since Julie (my wife), Tyler (stepson) and Abbey (Ty's girlfriend) were there to cheer me on. It was so cool that they made signs for me and were along the course at different spots to cheer me on.

We stayed in a condo in the same building where Tyler and Abbey live. The picture above is the view from their condo. Incredible view of the city of Houston for sure!

The Expo was held at the George R Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. As I already said, both the convention center and the Expo were huge. There were over 100 vendors there offering all kinds of running goodies. Personally I didn't find any great bargains other than the throw-away gloves I bought for $2. The picture above and below are from the expo.

Race morning was cold! In fact I hated to do it but decided the tights were my best option. 30 something degrees is just too cold for someone my age to be running around in shorts! In the picture below at the start line (before the race) I am emphasizing how everything is huge in Texas! The start line was at San Jacinto and Congress streets. Security was tight at this race. Probably tighter than any other race I have attended. I felt this was a good thing with all the terrorist threats these days.

This race was huge with about 18,000 runners in 4 corrals. Each corral was assigned to either a street or section off of Congress. We started lining up shortly after 6am as the corrals filled quickly and the porta potty lines backed up quickly. I was in corral B along with several thousand other half and full marathoners. My sub 2 hour hopes were higher than my physical condition but confidently I jumped in with the 9 minute per mile runners. Interestingly enough the 3 hour marathon pace group was also in this section. That is significantly faster than 9 minutes per mile!

Shortly before 7am they played the national anthem and then the fast runners in corral A were off. My wave made it's way to the start line and we started about 707am. We were all glad to get started as it was really cold standing around and waiting. I felt really good in the beginning of the race and also was cold so went out too quickly. You'd think I would know better after all the races I've done but the mind seems to think the body can do more than it is capable of sometimes...

Shortly after the start I spotted by lovely bride holding up this sign.

A couple miles later I saw Ty and Abbey holding up these signs. Needless to say it made me feel special that they were our there freezing their butts off to cheer me on.

To be honest I really don't remember seeing too much other scenery during this race. I remember the Sam Houston monument and running through some nice and different neighborhoods in Houston. My two favorite parts of this race were finishing and seeing the smiling faces in the picture below at the end. One other highlight was a dude cheering everyone on by announcing the name on their bib (example "Great job Fred") as they ran by. He apparently couldn't read my bib so looked down at my rather large orange shoes, looked at me and shouted, "Go little foot!" It cracked me up.

As far as the race, I went out too quick and slowed down after about mile 8. My legs became tired and I just hadn't built up the stamina to continue the same pace for 13 miles. The course was mostly flat and there was plenty of room to maneuver around people when needed. The course support and fans were fantastic. I don't remember any part of the run where I did not see someone cheering us on. There were plenty of water stops along the course. Here are my times per mile:

mile 1 - 8:47
mile 2 - 8:56
mile 3 - 8:52
mile 4 - 9:10
mile 5 - 9:02
mile 6 - 9:16
mile 7 - 9:10
mile 8 - 9:13
mile 9 - 9:46
mile 10-10:00
mile 11-10:22
mile 12-10:55
mile 13-11:21
overall: 2:05:57 (9:36 per mile)

As I approached the finish line I saw Julie again and raised my arms to show my excitement! Once I crossed the finish line the production began. Going back to the "huge" theme, we were corralled towards the convention center. Each section had a purpose. One area was to get your medal, another to get your water, another to get your finishers shirt (yup they gave us 2 shirts for this race!), another for food, etc. They kept us moving until we were inside the huge convention center. I had to walk quite a way before being able to find my family. Along the way, I couldn't resist the temptation of the HEB ice cream station. I happily devoured my ice cream sandwich feeling this was a reward for my hard work and it was my birthday too.