2016 Aramco Houston Half Marathon

I made it back to the Aramco Houston Half Marathon again. We had "chamber of commerce weather" with an overnight low right around 40F, sunny skies and little wind. As for my own two feet, I can say I've been in better shape in the past as I rumbled myself around the course in about 2:40. Each year, I grow to appreciate the experience itself  more, especially since I knew I wasn't chasing a fast time. Impressions from 2016:

Most visually entertaining spectator group -- The group that dressed up like Robert Palmer and his band of pale-faced, black-dressed ladies from the "Addicted to Love" video. It was such a ridiculous sight in the Museum District and I had 80s flashbacks!

Loudest spectator group -- It's too easy to give this to the large finish line crowd. But earlier in the course the Katy High School band made quite the big sound. Yeah!

Biggest delight and annoyance -- These both goes to Metro. With the advent of the New Bus Network last August, this was the first Marathon Sunday where I could put expanded weekend service to the test. Prior to race day, they advertised that runners wearing race bibs would get free rides on bus and rail. Unfortunately when I boarded my early bus for downtown, the driver claimed that she was not notified of this, so I ended up using my Q Card because I wasn't going to let $1.25 hold me up from getting to the start line. The post-race went better, as the fare inspector on the Red Line train looked me over and called my fare good. In the days following the race, Metro customer service responded to the complaint I made online and made up for the early AM confusion with ride credit.

Overall, however, using public transit was great. Thanks to the marathon-related street closures, my driver was on a detour that conveniently took me to the side of downtown near the convention center, saving me several blocks of anticipated walking. When I stepped off the bus next to a lot that was charging $30 for parking I knew I had made an excellent choice. I could see myself leaving my car behind next time too.

Second-biggest delight: Post-finish-line crowd management. There was a noticeable meandering stroll from the finish line to the interior of the convention center, but it looked to me as a way of dispersing runners so no bottlenecks would form. After getting a banana and water the third and fourth items I was offered were ice cream sandwiches. Even before sitting down to the HEB-sponsored hot breakfast, I had taken dessert from one of several volunteers roaming around bestowing ice cream sandwiches upon us finishers. Yum!

Bottom line: I got my ninth Aramco Half finisher medal. Next year I'm coming back to claim Legacy status.