Leading up to the full marathon, we had several fun events including some of my favorite routes in the city.
One of my favorite routes was called the taxi run, we meet at a local coffee shop and then we ran to the George R Brown, this was the actual starting point for the marathon. Once we made it to the GRB, I was informed it was good luck to run up to the red doors and kiss them. So that’s exactly what we did.
The day before our big race, several of us meet up at the GRB for the 5k shake out run.
The day had come, January 19th the Houston Chevron Marathon! Could not explain how excited I was to be participating in this race.
It was a full 26 weeks of dedicated training that lead me here. We all meet in a specific location and took a group picture before we all went to find our corals.
Running the Houston Marathon was an incredible experience, that day we had absolutely perfect weather.
It was amazing to see how many people came out to cheer everyone on. This was especially helpful once we passed the halfway mark.
About halfway through the race, both of my feet started cramping. This was not the first time this happened to me. Since I have high arches I experience pain in my metatarsal, basically it feels like your middle toe is shooting you the finger. It’s super painful. Did that stop me from completing the race? Absolutely no! You power through it, and you focus on the finish!
When I was approaching the finish line I have never felt more excited. I honestly could not believe I actually finished. All that hard work, dedication, discipline and sacrifice paid off! I did it!
The journey to get to the finish line was a long one. All the early Saturday morning runs, track and hill workouts and lots of sacrifices along the way.
This did not come easy, but it did come with growth, friendships and an incredible adventure.
TriathleteRaquel 