The Life and Times of Sam Luna

This year marked Sarah’s twelfth Aramco Half Marathon, and it was a special one—it was Chloe’s first half marathon! Since Chloe qualified for Corral A , we all got to start together, which made the whole experience even better. We had a blast the night before, laying out all our race gear and making sure we were ready for the big day.  With an incoming Enzo cold front , we knew race day would be chilly —temps feeling like the 20s and plenty of wind to keep things interesting. Race Morning – The Early Grind Alarms went off at 4 AM , and we were up and fueling for the long run ahead. Once we took care of the essentials (yes, emptying the bladders is a must), we headed downtown, following our usual race-day routine. A quick walk from the Toyota Center garage to the GRB Convention Center landed us in the middle of thousands of nervous and excited runners. This was the moment it hit Chloe—this was a BIG deal. The night before, over our traditional pre-race dinner at Ciro’s , we came ...

This marked Sarah's 11th Houston Half Marathon! I provided coaching and pacing duties. I did pretty well if I say so myself. So did Sarah! I have not run the half in a LONG time, and was a bit nervous to attack the half with Sarah. She put in alot of hard work leading up to the race and had a really great taper. We got to the convention center early to park and stretch. With us both being in the A Corral it was a nice walk to the corral and a couple of blankets kept us warm. Race start temp was 58 and dropped through out the race to 52. I work multiple layers for the run, long sleeve, short sleeve and my Houston Tank (GO COOGS!) Once we crossed the start line the plan was to run 7:45-7:50 pace for the first half and then drop down to 7:40 pace for the second half. Sarah nailed the pace with me and was feeling and looking strong. We split from the full marathon and had fewer runners around us and so the wind kicked up a bit with the cold front rolling in. I made sure Sarah behind me...