This was originally posted on January 18, 2018. I am importing it from my old site.
This is the third year I participated in the Houston Marathon Weekend. The first year was 2015 during which I ran both the ABB 5k and the Chevron Houston Marathon. I did pretty well, it was cherry popping marathon. In 2016, I ran the 5k and bitched out on the marathon because running sucks. In 2017, I didn’t do much of anything during this weekend. And in 2018, I ran both races again.
For those that don’t know, the ABB 5k is ran on Saturday. This year it was on January 13. The race is usually full, but goes pretty well. There’s just something about thousands of people dragging their asses out of bed to go run 3 miles so they can eat 1000 calories worth of peanut butter M&Ms that afternoon while watching the wild card games. Packet pickup was a mess. The volunteers were very disorganized. This was not typical in previous years. You run this race out one street, go over a block, and come back on another into the same finishing chute as the marathon. There wasn’t a lot to say about this race except that it started balls early at 8:00am. Not really that bad, I suppose. That, and the streets in downtown Houston suck, so you have a pretty good chance to roll and ankle and ruin your marathon. Oh, and the entire race is pretty much lined with homeless camps. Always classy. This year it was in the 30s (deg F), and that’s REALLY cold for Houston. Got a cool medal. Swag FTW.
After the race, Lunchbox and I went to the Marathon Expo, usually held in the George R. Brown Center. In 2015, they had all kinds of cool things like gloves, samples, various swag, and other things that one could get for free just for visiting a booth at the expo. Now all these dicks want you to provide your name, address, email, and left nut before they’ll decide to give you a little plastic bracelet. It’s almost pointless to walk around unless you’re looking to buy fuel for the marathon or shoes or something. But, if you’re doing that for the marathon the next day, you’re obviously not a golfer.
The marathon starts at 7am…however, Coral A (where I typically seed) closes at 6:45. And, this year, Lunchbox was in Coral D. She didn’t get started until about 7:50. That’s how long it takes 30,000 people to cross the start line. F-ing crazy. I was about half way back in A and it took me 4:30 to cross. Crazy. And it was freezing cold again.
The first 6-7 miles are the same as the half marathon course. The result is a shit ton of people for that part until it kinda disperses when the races split. But, until that happens, it’s hard to know if you’re slowing down or if the people who only have to go half as far are ripping ass past you. Also, the people who don’t bother to seed in the right coral come running past you like the wind after B, C, and even D hit the start line. My point is that it’s hard to keep a steady pace when those around you keep doing this stuff.
The course is mostly flat with 1 overpass and 2 underpasses. But, due to the rest of the course being flat, these “hills” are more difficult to negotiate than they should be. The 2 underpasses are in the last 4 miles or so and you’re just dead by that point. It’s a cruel joke by the organizers!!
Miles 1-13.1 went pretty well for me and were uneventful. I got to the halfway point at about 1:51+/- but I was ready to be done at that point. My training had suffered from a distinct lack of long runs (or any runs, really) and it was starting to show. After I crossed the halfway point, I had to stop and walk for a bit. I took off my long sleeve shirt and tied it around my waist, took a salt stick, took some go-juice, and started running again.
After this, I ran for 2 miles and walked for a few minutes 3 times. I could feel myself slowing down and fading, but quitting never crossed my mind. I was eventually going to get to the end. I think that the ultra-running training has spoiled me. If I were in a trail race, this method would be not only be acceptable, but is the norm. People don’t typically run the entire race, even if it’s this short. Anyway, this put me around mile 19.
At this point, my hips and groin were really bothering me. But, the walking was helping. I switched to running one mile and walking for a few minutes. This got me to about mile 24.5. The only problem was that, for some reason, people tended to congregate near the mile marker signs…so I was walking in the crowds and running without people. Kinda embarrassing. But, whatever. Those bastards weren’t in the race.
For the last mile or two I ran walked off and on until I got to the half mile finisher’s chute. Of course, there weren’t a lot of empty spaces that weren’t taken up by screaming fat people in this area, so I made myself run past the half marathoners that were slogging in. I even sprinted the last quarter mile for whatever reason.
I finished in 4:20:11 or so. My PR is around 3:38 set in 2015 (not in this marathon). Not great, but not too bad for as slow as I was going. I guess I need to train more. Especially the longer distances. Got a finisher’s shirt, a mug, and 2 medals (one for the marathon and one for doing both races).
After that, I messed around in the finisher’s area for about 2 hours for Lunchbox to finish. She didn’t have a good race at all. Lots of pain and other issues. But she got there in 6:00:15…which DQ’d her by 15 seconds. Bummer. However, she was the one that wanted to sign up for 2019! So, I guess we’re doing this again.
For some reason, I wasn’t really sore in the days after. I got stiff, but none of the dehabilitating soreness I’ve had in the past. No blisters, only a little chafing on my back from my race belt, and no bonking. I felt pretty good after I stopped and was one of the few not limping at the finish line. Fun race. Need to get off my ass and train. Here’s some race reports we did for her YT channel.