Feeling HOT HOT HOT in Houston

The Houston Marathon was on January 30, 2011. Marathon #3 of the Season and #7 of my liftime. I had such high hopes about Houston because I heard that it was fast and flat and that lots of people PR on this course. Considering the dismal season I had been having, Houston did turn out to be a PR for the season at 4:32:08.

Sheri and I started out together with plan to stay together unless something went wrong. I wore my CWX tights because that's all I had with me and decided to wear a short sleeved shirt and leave my waterproof jacket and arm warmers in my belongings bag. Pre-race was inside the air-conditioned Convention Center with tons of port-a-potties. Outside, where the starting corrals were, it was warm and humid with a bit of drizzle while we waited for the start time. Once we got to the starting line, there was no room to warm up and stretch. The whole course was pretty packed for a long time. There were 16,814 runners for the Marathon and Half Marathon although 21,300 registered for the race. I started to feel tightness in my calves and shins early on and urged Sheri to go on without me. I thought I would be able to slow down and warm up and then try to catch up to Sheri a few minutes later but I felt the first twinges of a cramp in my left leg and that was it. I couldn't run any faster without the risk of cramping the rest of the race.

The heat only increased as the race progressed. It rained on us and although my socks and shoes were wet, they weren't water logged - a good thing. The crowd support in Houston was phenomenal. People were out cheering for all the runners, even in the rain. I think it helped that the weather wasn't cold. The crowd and volunteer support really helped with my motivation.

My name was printed on my bib: KIMG. Some people got it right and called me Kim G., a lot of people just didn't call out my name or got me giggling and called me KING. With 3 miles left, I felt another twinge of a cramp and I knew I just had to do my best and be happy to finish. I tried to sprint towards the finish line like I've done in so many other races but my legs would not go. Sigh!! It was just not my season this year. I have one more marathon - Austin.

Although this was not my best race, I would totally try and run Houston again. It was definitely one of the best marathons that I've been in. Post race was back indoors with lots of food and drinks for hungry runners. There was no rationing going on here like some races that I had been to. Finishers claimed a shirt and a beer mug. The medal was pretty snazzy too. Another bonus, our hotel check-out time was 3:00 p..m. instead of the usual 11:00 a.m. or noon. That meant, I could sit in a recovery ice bath  and shower before heading back to Austin. That was nice! I would definitely sign up again.