The Houston Marathon is a great race. This was my first marathon experience, and the on-point organization at the EXPO and starting corrals made it easy to navigate. The course itself is great as a local--you get to run through so many parts of the city like downtown, Rice University, West U, the Heights, and the Galleria area. The support crowd here is also top-notch. It's a great race for spectators if they know the city and have a car as there are many places you can catch the runners you're supporting. This is a great, fast course, but you have to consider the wild card of TX weather with this one as it can be hot and humid even in mid-January.