Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Last weekend was marathon weekend! We started Saturday off with a trip to the expo to pick up our packets. The runner's expos are some of my favorite parts about marathon weekends. Everyone there is excited about the upcoming race, so the atmosphere is always lively. I personally like to go to check out the different types of running gear the vendors have. I've been doing a lot of my runs right around dusk lately, which isn't the safest thing, but it's when I have time. One of my favorite new "toys" from the expo is a light up wrist band. It's made out of reflective material and you can turn on some flashing lights should it get dark outside! I had been wanting one forever- and they were giving them out for free! (winner).

Saturday night was our annual carb-loading extravaganza. We invite friends and family to get together to eat (whether they are running- or not)! Last year's carb loading location was a bust- Olive Garden- with about a two hour wait- with a reservation. In an attempt to not experience the same wait time as last year, I racked my brain for a new place. Houston has some amazing restaurants, but most of the italian restaurants are packed around marathon time. We finally decided on Buca di Beppo. I hadn't been there in years, and it's located a bit further from downtown, so we figured it wouldn't be super crowded. On top of that, their family style portions are perfect for carb -loading.

We went to town on that food. It's the one night of the year, where I can eat as much as I want, without feeling guilty. Sadly- I am always kind of anxious about the race, so I can't fit nearly as much in my belly as I would like :( Here are Kim's giant meatballs.

 I woke up at 4:30 the next morning. Last year, I learned my lesson, and even though I live close to the start line, there is always tons of traffic and they start closing streets early. We had to rush to our corrals last year, with little time for stretching and bathroom breaks. I didn't want the same problem this year. I ate my usual coffee, with some almond butter and a banana on a piece of toast, and we were ready to go.

I love race-day mornings! I love to people-watch- looking at people's race outfits is one of my favorite things to do. I chose to go with some neon on neon. :) It was supposed to warm up into the 60's, so I went with short sleeves and some shorts. Before I knew it, it was time to line up in our corrals. We headed over to B, and lined up in the 9:15 pace. I looked next to me, and I saw my friend, Tatum - who just happened to be running the full.

Me and Tatum before the race!

The gun went off, and we were on our way. Around mile two, Aaron's ankle started hurting him (he had injured it earlier in the week), so he told me to go ahead. Without him. Now, I was not mentally prepared to run this race by myself. Granted, I had been doing all of my long training runs solo, but it made me a bit nervous. I went on ahead, and was doing pretty well on time. The course was completely different this year, so I had some different scenery to look at. I saw our friends John, Jessica and Aaron's parents around mile 6- always nice to see a familiar face in the crowd. I was in a good place until about mile 10, which had been my longest training run this time around. I had three miles remaining- and was targeted to finish around 2: 04. Three miles are like a normal distance on any given week night for me, but after you've already run 10, it can seem like a lot. I had to remind myself to just keep moving, and every step forward is a step closer. I struggled a bit through miles 11 and 12- and walked through the water stations, but pulled it together for the very last mile. I finished in 2:07, which was a personal record for me. I'm running the Austin half in February, and I'd like to see that time decrease even more. Eventually, I'd like to see it under two hours!

Resting after the race.

Running toward the finish line!