Miles and Miles of Marathon

I ran and finished my 6th Houston Marathon on Sunday. Our neighborhood running group meets up in the George R Brown to get all our gear on & do our bag check.



We stash our stuff, make one last bathroom break, bundle up & head out to the start line.



I gave in & went with the disposable trash bad this year. It was about 40 at the start line, but luckily there was not much wind.



I was so excited to be running with my best friend- we've never ran together before. The first mile or so is on this elevated bridge heading north out of downtown.



We spent the night downtown, but H met us at his usual route stops to provide kisses & food. Here we are around mile 5 in the Heights.



Next stop was mile 10 around Rice University.



Time for a PB&J and to lose that outer layer.



The infamous "Houston Hill" (ie an overpass) around mile 14 is one of the most boring & ugly parts of the course with all the freeways and utility lines around.



There is about a mile & half stretch in West University where we counted approximately 475 American flags lining the road.



H's next stop was in the Galleria around mile 16...still looking good!



We ran though Tanglewiled without seeing former President George H.W. Bush, but Stephanie was soooo excited to see him sitting down & greeting runners around mile 20.



Our final meet up with H was on Allen Parkway around mile 22 & Stephanie was practicing her finish line jump.



In the home stretch with downtown Houston in our sights!



We made it all 26.2 miles together at a rather leisurely pace- finishing in 5 hours & 7 minutes.



Yes, Stephanie ran rouge & ran using H's bib since he failed to do the proper training.



My step-mom and training partner finished in an awesome 4 hours & 47 minutes- maybe next year we can run it together.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: 70 and sunny here- gotta love Houston winters.