Aramco Houston Half Marathon Recap!

Happy Monday friends! I hope your weekend was nice and warm since it sounds like most of the country was dealing with crazy heavy snow and low temps! The temps started dropping Friday night and it was a cold and windy mess all weekend. Luckily, there was no rain so race day. On Sunday, I had the privilege to run the Aramco Houston Half Marathon! The Chevron Houston Marathon is the biggest race in town each year. There are so many countries that have representation and the city is just awesome. Since I had done the Chicago Marathon and wasn’t really up for another training session so soon, I opted for the half marathon!

Since it was so chilly, this was the first race at home where I actually had to think about throwaway clothes. My sister-in-law was so awesome to give me a blanket she had actually gotten for free during Black Friday. I had an old sleep shirt that I layered on as well. I honestly went back and forth on whether to wear pants or shorts. I LOVE running in shorts even as it gets cold but the thing that really got me was the wind. I took Snowflake out for a shakeout run on Saturday before the expo and it was definitely windy!

I decided to hit the expo quickly Saturday afternoon. I had plans that morning and I was fading fast. Also, not many people know but I was actually not feeling so great all weekend. I got my flu shot and have been super careful but I woke up on Friday with the chills and feeling some congestion in my chest. I nipped it in the bud and functioned on Friday. Same with Saturday morning, took some pain meds and sipped on warm drinks all day. No new symptoms popped up and other than being tired, I went to bed feeling better. I was hoping to hold off whatever was trying to happen until after the race.

The plan for Sunday was to run with a friend. Since my training had been lackluster due to coming back from the calf strain and then the random ankle/foot thing, I was mostly worried about having the endurance to get through the race. However, running with Tamra has always been run so I knew it would be good to stay together. By Saturday night, I still hadn’t decided if I wanted to wear pants or shorts so I just set all my options out in a pile for the morning!

My alarm went off VERY early and I checked the weather. The “feels like” temps were in the 20s/30s. Yeah, I made the decision quickly to wear pants after seeing that! I’m stubborn but just seeing that made me change my mind. I didn’t hear the crazy wind so I was happy that it had died down a bit from Saturday. The wind was so bad on Saturday that I got my hair stuck as I was closing the car door, true story.

Health wise, I was feeling okay. I grabbed my coffee and ate my quick breakfast before getting on the road. A group of friends was going to meet in the convention center for a quick picture. I also wanted to get good parking and find a bathroom so I wouldn’t be rushed.

I looked so snazzy in my throwaway clothes. At the last minute, I threw on my Buff neck warmer too because I just didn’t know how things would feel. It was so fun to see all my friends and their creative ways to keep warm!

The race started at 7 and I was in corral B. I was going to run with my friend Tamra for the whole race so we made our plan as we were moving toward the finish line. I would fuel just like Chicago and planned on running through the water stops and taking sips but not changing my pace too much. The wind has calmed a bit but we would later find out that some of the parts of town still had big gusts.

Once the race started, all my negative energy went away. It felt good to be running outside in the cold weather. My legs began to chug along and they knew what they were doing. It felt like Chicago all over again (minus the rain). About a few miles in, I stripped off my final layer and just settled into my race and breathing. At this point, I started feeling really good.

I made a promise to Tamra that unless I had to bail, I would stay with her for the entire race. She began to have issues and her legs were just not moving. I am a woman of my word so I shifted my focus from my race to hers. Being by her side was absolutely more important to me so I became her cheerleader. I made sure she matched my stride and we kept chugging along for as long as possible. Having her support me through last summer’s training meant the world to me and I wasn’t going to just leave her behind. We ran through the streets of Houston and chatted and just focused on the end goal.

Our pace was steady and even the small hills toward the finish line weren’t bad. My legs felt strong through it all and I was so glad to have my girl by my side. It was great to see my friend at the finish line as well! Crossing the line side by side with one of my good friends truly made me happy. I would be lying if I said that I was happy with how the rest of my races went after Chicago. However, running and finishing the half marathon without any pain or hiccups has inspired me to chase distance again. We finished in 2:15 and I’m happy with that time!

I’m glad to report that I’m not too sore today and I’m hoping the remnants of this cold, or whatever this is, goes away soon! I’m running the Hot Chocolate 15k in two weeks and I’m ready to see how my legs do! Overall, I had an absolute blast running this race and running through the streets of Houston again!

Did you run the Houston Marathon or Aramco Half Marathon?