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☰
Houston Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Houston Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.5 
Organization 4.7 
Spectators 4.6
Number of comments: 365 [displaying comments 301 to 311]
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D. S. from St. Louis, MO
(1/21/2004)
 "Worth the trip" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my 5th marathon (Chicago x2, Columbus, Sunburst). As I was told, it was flat. The support was great! (I was surprised they announced my name as I rounded for the finish!), and was a great size (I was close to the start, was able to get a good pace going right away, and the 1/2 had a separate start). But, the streets had lots of potholes! The weather was good, but had been hot and humid the day before (and rainy). Overall organization was good with the exception of the 'meeting area' at the end was impossible to find and the crazy set of shaky stairs that you had to climb after the race to get out. | |
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Jeff Wang from Humble, Texas
(1/21/2004)
 "Wonderful again" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Third Houston Marathon for me, and it is still as great as ever. Wonderful job for all of the organizers, volunteers, crowds, and runners. I will echo the other runners' compliments on the wonderful course and the enthusiastic crowds. On the other hand, I don't agree with the comments about the road condition. Having run other marathons elsewhere, I don't think the concrete road here is that bad. In fact, some of the other marathons are done on the highways, which bank to the right and then to the left and are even harder on your body than Houston Marathon. Houston Marathon is done on regular roadway, with good scenic route all along the way. There are a few overpasses, but there is no other highway involved. I think Houston Marathon has at least average, if not above average, road condition. If you buy a proper shoes, concrete is no problem. As for the main complaint of this marathon, it is definitely the medal size of this year. After the marathon, we all looked at the medals and said, 'that's it?' It seems that the medal gets smaller every year, which is contradictory to the Texas motto of 'everything is bigger in Texas'. The organizers need to work on that so we the marathon finishers get HUGE medals to go along with the wonderful prizes of glass mug, finisher sweater, and certificate. Kudos to the organizers for everything from real-time update to cell phone/pager/email, personalized bib, fun expo, good organization before the marathon, 6 separate time-pads, wonderful breakfast at the end, LOTS of water and Gatorade stations, and loads of fun. Elvis was there, so were belly dancers, crowns, and even Houston Texans mascot Torro. I do miss the post-marathon party that they had sponsored before - would have been fun to see a bunch of people limping and celebrating and getting drunk. A wonderful marathon! Will be there again next year! | |
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M. W. from Matthews, NC
(1/20/2004)
 "Hats off to Houston" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Superb organization, fast course, perfect weather, great crowds, awesome expo, tons of perks. Seems to be evolving into one of the premier marathons in the U.S. The concrete streets are hard on the legs, but not terrible, offset somewhat by the flat course. I strongly recommend this race; it was well worth our trip from N.C. | |
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Mark Sillitoe from Washington NC
(1/20/2004)
 "26.2 miles of CONCRETE... arghhhhhhh" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 My 4th marathon... the race itself was great because ALL marathon runners are great. This was a 26.2 mile slog on old delapidated concrete roads (and cracks and potholes). Saw a few people fall on the course which I have never seen before in a marathon. The quote in some of the official race material of 250,000 spectators is way off. There were not 10,000 per mile along the streets, more like 25,000 total watchers (at a guess). The crowds though were very energentic and vocal, especially at the finish which was wonderful. I found the organization lacking and for some reason with all the downtown space available, all the runners and spectators and family members were penned in an area between the finish line and conference center with only a makeshift rickety set of steps (made from scaffold) made available to get through the mass of people. If you're used to running on black-top or a softer surface, then this is a tough race. I've never run on that much concrete in my life. The roads are more like those found in a city from the Northeast. Got the medal though and looking for another city to run in. I won't do this one again, nor would I bother to visit Houston again. I was expecting it to be like SW Texas... it wasn't. Its just a big city. | |
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J. C. from New Orleans, LA
(1/20/2004)
"I LOVE HOUSTON!!!" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Houston - you are the best. You are proud of your city and it shows. The spectators that came out to cheer the runners really helped a lot. They were great! I enjoyed the course. There were a few slight hills which varied it up a bit. The food afterwards was great. A priest, I think it was a priest, threw some holy water at me around mile 10. Even the religious folks get involved!!! Everything was organized so well from start to finish. Houston, you should be so proud of your city. Thank you for extending that famous Texan hospitality to the runners. If you are expecting good ol' Southern hospitality - do not come to the N.O. Marathon in February. None of the residents even knew that there was a race that day (in 2003). It did not even start on time (30 min late). When I confronted the people at the race expo in Houston for the N.O. Marathon they said that they 'would start when they felt like it.' Is it any wonder why I packed my bags to drive to Houston? It was worth it!!! You are the BEST!!! | |
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David Trevino from Arlington, VA
(1/20/2004)
"Houston ROCKS!" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 My 1st Houston Marathon, and I plan and hope to run this race in the future. The organization of this event was superb; the crowd support was superb; the Hilton-Americas Houston was superb; the expo was superb; and overall - THE HOUSTON MARATHON IS SUPERB!! I had only one minor complaint and that was running the course on mostly concrete - it took a toll on my legs after awhile, but despite that I had a great time, and recommend this race to anyone looking for a great race during the winter months. I had my sight on a PR, but the total involvement and enjoyment I had in Houston made it an all worthwhile great time. HOUSTON, YOU ROCK! | |
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J. S. from OAK FOREST, IL
(1/19/2004)
"AWESOME!!!!!" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I have only read great things about this race and they all hold true. 1st let me begin w/ my one negative comment: the course is almost completely on cement streets, and this pounds your legs which take a brutal beating. Houston is just this way - very little or no asphalt. I DO NOT recommend flats for this course; you will pay for it, in the 2nd half of the race. The organization was awesome from the race expo to the start, to the host Hotel Hilton American which is fabulous. They even had messages that were sent by e-mail, cell phone, pager to your loved ones to update them on your progress. The post-race breakfast and other amenities like finisher sweatshirt, glass and certificate were great, however the medal was on the cheap side. Why put on such a great event and cut corners on the finisher's medal? Lastly the spectators and people of Houston ROCK!!! There were only a few points along the course that had no one lining the streets. Wherever you stood, you all cheered, clapped and rang cow bells etc... you truly motivated me. The people in Houston are very friendly. I always run the last 5K of the course the evening prior to the race. I met a great couple at the hotel who after brief discussion offered to drop me off so I could get my run in. The city has a beautiful downtown area and new baseball, basketball and football stadiums. Houston you have earned the right to host SUPER BOWL XXXVIII ROCK ON!!! | |
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R. A. from Houston, TX
(1/18/2004)
"Great race" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Houston was a great marathon. Nice course, fantastic spectators, good weather. Start and finish at the GRB convention center keeps you out of the elements. Overall a great time. Only complaints: (1) finisher certificate given to you at the finish so you have to fill it in and (2) small medal. Pluses: nice finisher sweatshirt and participant t-shirt, as well as glass finisher mug. Overall I'd highly recommend this race!! | |
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R. L. from Seattle
(1/18/2004)
"I'd give six stars if I could..." (about: 2004)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 What a great race. Solidly organized, interesting course, amazing fan support. The fan support was SO great, that I'd like to reconsider what I used to think 5-star-support meant for other races. You should run this race; you will NOT be disappointed - the crew won't allow it. Tidbit - in addition to the medal (which, ahem, is pretty plain), you get a t-shirt, a finisher's sweatshirt, AND a big glass finisher's mug. The expo is pretty good too. But back to those spectators... wow, the city of Houston should be proud. You may have the country's worst pollution (which wasn't a factor in the race because it had been raining during the days before), and you have gnarly traffic - but your people are friendly as heck and everyone showed up to say howdy and wish runners well by shouting our names at us. Oh - did I mention that our bibs had our names printed on them? Or the fact that at various milestones on the course (5k, 10k, half, 30k, 20m), your chip times could be automagically broadcast to all your friends' cellphones, email, and pagers... while you were still running? Or that they had water/Gatorade every mile and a half? And enough porta-potties for a giant army? And bananas/oranges not once on the course, not twice, but at least five different places? Plus crowd-provided treats. And - apparently - various water stops had scales so you could weigh yourself to track dehydration? They are SERIOUS... some years it can be warm (the Hawaii races should learn something from this), though this year the weather was perfect. I didn't try a scale - I was too busy running and checking out the sites. The route is a loop that sends you all around houston. Very cool. And it is pretty 'flat', although they should really offer an elevation chart: it ain't 'flat' like a pancake or New Orleans. Between mile 8 and 14 are a series of slow inclines... and after 6 miles of this, your body knows it even if you don't want to believe that they were there. And the occasional highway overpass... these are hills in disguise. Meanwhile, the police and volunteers provided SPECTACULAR traffic control. I will definitely run this again. | |
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S. S. from Texas
(1/18/2004)
"Tiny Medal" (about: 2004)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Well, as always the Texas folks come out and cheer even in the wind. The food after the race was great, thanks HEB. It was also nice to get a sweatshirt, but what about that cheap medal... Oh my, the half and the full are the same except for the color of the ribbon. Come now, Texas folks, you can do better than that. |
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