Wow! Houston Marathon Now Sold Out!
It is 12:43 a.m. on November 29, 2006 and the Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon is now sold out!
Monday night the website was posted at 98%, which meant that there were 300 spots remaining. Sometime during the day today, it went to 99%.
I hope all of you who expected to get in where able to do so!
If you really have to run a marathon that weekend, there are four (4) other ones going on. They are as follows:
1/13 - 11th annual Musuem of Aviation Foundation Marathon, Warner Robins, GA, $40
1/14 - P.F. Chang Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon, Phoenix, $110 (Ouch!)
1/14 - Legg Mason Funds First Light Marathon, Mobile, AL, $50
1/14 - Redding (California) Marathon, $54
I'd be curious to find out your thoughts - posted in comments (with your name please) - on Houston's decision to have a cap when others in the state, such as San Antonio, White Rock, Cowtown and AT&T Austin don't.
Earlier this year, I couldn't make plans to run Austin because of my project situation in Vancouver, BC. But, thank goodness I was able physically to run it and then go over to Austin and register the day before. Granted I'm in the minority (even among 50 staters), but I'm glad that I had that option -- which I was able to turn into my best marathon ever!
Monday night the website was posted at 98%, which meant that there were 300 spots remaining. Sometime during the day today, it went to 99%.
I hope all of you who expected to get in where able to do so!
If you really have to run a marathon that weekend, there are four (4) other ones going on. They are as follows:
1/13 - 11th annual Musuem of Aviation Foundation Marathon, Warner Robins, GA, $40
1/14 - P.F. Chang Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon, Phoenix, $110 (Ouch!)
1/14 - Legg Mason Funds First Light Marathon, Mobile, AL, $50
1/14 - Redding (California) Marathon, $54
I'd be curious to find out your thoughts - posted in comments (with your name please) - on Houston's decision to have a cap when others in the state, such as San Antonio, White Rock, Cowtown and AT&T Austin don't.
Earlier this year, I couldn't make plans to run Austin because of my project situation in Vancouver, BC. But, thank goodness I was able physically to run it and then go over to Austin and register the day before. Granted I'm in the minority (even among 50 staters), but I'm glad that I had that option -- which I was able to turn into my best marathon ever!
posted by WalkSports.com | 12:59 AM
6 Comments:
I'm all for a cap given the crowding I experienced last year in the first few miles.
I'm ok with a cap, especially if it means a better experience for all.
Houston is the largest Marathon in Texas, with almost 13,000 runners last year, so it's not surprising that it does have a cap. I guess the question is where or how that cap should be set. I've heard a lot of complaints about the majority of registration places being taken up by half marathon participants. Of course, those full marathoners had just as much opportunity to sign up in September as everybody else did.
Since I like crunching numbers too, here's the breakdown:
Event Total Half Full Half Full
Houston 12760 7350 5410 58% 42%
Austin 9740 4090 5650 42% 58%
White Rock 7210 3900 3310 54% 46%
San Antonio 2070 1350 720 65% 35%
Cowtown 1480 900 580 61% 39%
There's not a lot that one can glean from these figures except that Austin appears to buck the trend with regards to the ratio of half to full runners.
I'm sure the 15,000 cap was decided upon by some rational means. I'd be interested to learn what the larger marathons do to ensure that people have an enjoyable run, and whether any of that could be applied to Houston.
An alternative would be to cap both events separately, 7500 each. If one of the events doesn't meet it's cap, release those spots in the final two weeks to all comers. Of course, you'd still get people signing up for the other event when theirs fills up.
I guess I can't participate this year? Darn. :-)
Maybe Austin is a different percentage because it has the longest time limit at 7 hours.
The other events
Houston & San Antonio are 6 hours.
Dallas & Cowtown are 6-1/2 hours.
Gerardo,
There's always the invited runner spot at the 30K!
Jon
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