I dragged myself out of bed at 5:30 am to be at the race site ready to go by 7:00, when the event started. It was pretty cool, in the mid-30's, and the temperature eventually rose to 46 degrees - clear, cool, and sunny, which made for great conditions.
The mayor of Houston opened the festivities, joked about Houston's recent status as #1 fattest city in the country, and then led everybody in a prayer to Jesus. Shawn Colvin sang the Star Spangled Banner and encouraged audience participation, and as the anthem ended, two Air Force jets flew overhead. I half expected celebratory gunfire and several "Yee Haws!!", but there was none to my surprise.
The course was lined with an impressive number of spectators, and I passed 5 bands over the 13.1 miles. I'm sure the full course passed several more! Two bands sounded like Metallica wannabes, two more were laid back lounge-type music, and another was a band covering current hits. There was also an Elvis impersonator or two, and some people even ran in costume (i.e. I ran near Superman for a mile or so, until I hit the half-marathon turnaround).
During the event I run up to a woman wearing a shirt with a catchy quote from the bible: Isaiah 40:31 ...they will run and not grow weary. Seems fitting enough!
I finished at 2:02:26, which I am pretty happy with given I did minimal training for this. Inside the convention center finish area, I grabbed some water and picked up my finisher's sweatshirt.
I noticed a key difference in race food between Seattle and Houston. In Seattle, the end-of-race banquet generally includes bagels, bananas, oranges, and clif bars. Here in Houston, there were bagels and a variety of other breads, along with eggs, sausage, and hash browns. Yes, that is correct, no fruit of any kind!
Giant Gecko Lizards!!
These two were at the pre-race expo.
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