Houston Chevron Marathon and Aramco Half Marathon:  The first big U.S. marathon and half marathon of the year U.S. took place on Sunday in Houston. (Normally, the Houston Marathon and Half is held on the Sunday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but this year's race was held one week earlier. In 2027, it moves back to its traditional day.)  There were about 9,000 official marathon finishers (before the 6-hour cutoff), and about 14,300 half finishers (before the 4-hour cutoff).  The race continues to remain popular.  Ten years ago, when interest in running was peaking in the U.S., this race had about 7,000 marathon and 11,600 half finishers.   

The large prize purse always brings out some fast runners.  The men's races had new course records, with the winners finishing in 2:05:45 and 59:01 in the marathon and half, respectively.  The women's race winners crossed the line in 2:24:17 and 1:04:49.

If you're interested in a mid-winter marathon, gives this race a look.  The flat course winds through the nicest, most scenic parts of the city.  Check out lots of photos taken at the 2015 race.

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RACE PARTICIPATION UP SLIGHTLY IN 2025

Interest in running grew a little last year, using the total number of half marathon, marathon and ultramarathon finishers at Missouri races as our gauge. There were 32,957 finishers at such races in 2025, in Missouri, up 3% from 2024. It still falls 8% short of the 35,731 finishers in 2019--the last year before COVID reared its ugly head.

Will we ever see participation reach the record levels of the early/mid 2010s?  That's looking less and less likely as time goes on.   

Here's a graph for the years 2012 through 2025.  (Click on it for a larger image.)

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Weekend race results (January 1 - 4):

Lots of runners across the state crossed a finish line this past holiday weekend, although I didn't see the names of any Lake-area runners among them. (Similar to those first newborn baby of the year announcements, I'm always curious as to who among our locals will be the first to race in the new year. In 2025, it wasn't until January 26th that we finally crowned our first finisher.)

There were 1,670 total finishers at the five races held this past weekend. Here's the list, ranked by size.

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