Houston Running News

Of course, the city of Houston will be the scene and the Houston Marathon Committee will be the host of the first Olympic Trials Marathon for both men and women in the same location.

Just this week, Houston2012.com was launched and it will serve as the official source for event information for media and fans as the top marathoners in the U.S. prepare for the Olympic Trials Marathon and the Road to London! Did you know that 129 men and 166 women have already qualified for the Trials? For the men, 68 qualified at the marathon distance while 47 and 14, respectively, punched their tickets to the Bayou City with qualifying times in the half marathon or 10K. The women have seen 145 qualify at the marathon distance with another 11 and 10, respectively, in the half marathon and 10K.

Those who ran all three of the Warm Up series races (the Houston Half, the HMSA Metric Marathon and the 30K) will receive a handsome glass mug, available for pickup at the HARRA booth at the Houston Marathon Expo. If you ran two and volunteered for another, you are also eligible. The next opportunity to get IronFoot awards from last year will also be at the Marathon Expo.

Sections of the trail will be closed during daylight work hours so that crews can safely cut down all dead trees from the drought. Work has already started on the west side of the park. Runners will be re-routed to the outer loop trail on that side, in the street in other spots and it is possible that the trail will be completely closed at times. For your own safety and that of the workers, please be mindful of the detours.

HARRA Runner of the Season Standings have been updated with results from the Metric Marathon. Results are here. HARRA members who participated in any of the Fall Series events should check the results to make sure that they are included.

Planning for the 35th Annual Bayou City Classic 10K and 5K Fun Run is moving ahead and runners may want to put this race on their calendar. It is Saturday, March 10, 2012 in downtown Houston. Recruit your centipede team and/or get that costume out of the closet. Featured are live music at the start, on the course and at the post-race party.

New for 2012 is the addition of a 5K Fun Run in order to encourage all runners and walkers regardless of age and ability to participate in the event.

Proceeds benefit improvements in Houston Parks. Apache Corporation has joined the event as a title sponsor with other generous sponsors. In addition to age group awards, there will be cash prizes for the top male and female runners. DesertView Services will award cash prizes to the “runner’s choice” for the Best Art Car.

For more information or to register early, visit the Bayou City Classic web site.

Maybe you've noticed that there is a tree stump at the zero mile marker in front of the Tennis Center. That is actually a collection bin for the Memorial Park Conservancy. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that works with the City of Houston Parks Department to maintain and manage the park. As we all know, money is tight with the City right now, and it has incurred unexpected costs cutting down all the trees that have died in the drought. If we, the runners who use Memorial Park, want to see improvements to the Lieberman Trail, we'll probably have to provide the funds ourselves. Some estimate that more than 10,000 people use the trail at the park daily. If just half of those people dropped one dollar in the slot in that tree stump, once a week, it might not take too long to raise enough money to upgrade the trail. Note how wonderful the trail is between the driveways in front of the Tennis Center. Wouldn't that be nice all the way around? Stick a dollar in your shorts and drop one in the slot every few days. We can afford that can't we?

Ironfoot Awards for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011.
The list of winners of HARRA's Ironfoot awards have been posted. See which of your fellow runners have earned this prestigeous award.

HARRA Membership list - A list of active members, HARRA membership numbers, and their HARRA affiliated running clubs.

Running in Houston - Great places to run in Houston; Locations and times of daily training runs; and Links to HARRA affiliated running clubs.

Calendar of Races, Events, and Race Results - Links to upcoming races, events, and race result web sites. We track over 100 races per year in the Houston area. That's a lot of races!

HARRA Clothing - Now available. Order now and pick up at the next HARRA Race!

Get in the game. Join HARRA now! - What are you waiting for? Be an active part of Houston's vibrant running community.