Expo, schedule and race morning

Packet pickup

• Friday, January 15, 2027: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Saturday, January 16, 2027: 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• MANDATORY EXPO PICKUP, NO RACE-DAY OPTION: "There is no packet pick-up the morning of the Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon. If you do not pick up your packet at the Health & Fitness EXPO, you will not be able to run in your race." The expo closes Saturday, January 16 at 5 p.m. — that is your last chance for Sunday's races.
• NO MAILING: "Packets will NOT be mailed." There is no mail-out option and therefore no mailing deadline.
• ID REQUIRED: bring a government-issued photo ID plus an electronic or printed copy of your final confirmation email. Photo ID is not required for children 17 and under.
• CONFIRMATION EMAIL: final confirmation with your bib number arrives by email in early January; the site warns to check your spam folder. Corral assignment is emailed separately in December.
• PROXY PICKUP ALLOWED, WITH PAPER: a friend may collect your packet, but they need a HARD COPY of your final confirmation with your signature in the designated release area. One person may pick up only ONE other participant's packet in addition to their own.
• LAYOUT: packet pick-up is in Hall B3; the expo floor is entered on the 3rd Floor at Hall A3 after leaving packet pick-up in Hall B3.
• 5K RUNNERS: the Saturday expo session is listed as Marathon and Half Marathon packet pick-up only. 5K packets are listed under Friday (10 a.m. – 6 p.m.) or at 5K race-day pick-up, which opens 6:30 a.m. Saturday at the 5K start.
• Expo is free and open to the public; 100+ vendors with official Brooks Running race merchandise.
• SCAM WARNING (aimed at vendors, but worth knowing): the Houston Marathon Committee says it never requests payment or financial information by email and never corresponds from Gmail or other public email domains; official expo payments run only through EventHub.

August 2026

The published weekend schedule

The hard gate is Sunday morning inside the George R. Brown: South and North entry doors shut at 6:45 a.m. and Halls C, D, E and part of B — including Gear Check — close completely at 7 a.m., after the 6:55 a.m. open-field start. The race's own wording is slightly self-contradictory here: the heading reads "7:00 a.m. – GRB halls partially closes" while the text under it says the door closures begin at 6:45 a.m. Treat 6:45 a.m. as the real deadline to be inside and 7 a.m. as the deadline to have checked gear. The site's own advice: "Participants should plan their morning with their corral time and the GRB closure time in mind." One other contradiction worth noting: the EXPO page presents Friday and Saturday as one undifferentiated two-day packet pick-up, while the Schedule page labels Friday as Marathon/Half/5K pick-up and Saturday as Marathon and Half Marathon only — if you are running the 5K, plan on Friday. Separately, corral rules allow moving BACK to a friend's slower corral but never forward.

Getting there

Two clocks matter and they conflict slightly in the race's own coverage: police are expected to begin shutting streets in and around downtown at 5:30 a.m. (ABC13), while the formal all-lane closures on the route streets are described as beginning at 6 a.m. Sunday (KPRC). Plan to the earlier one. METRO is strongly recommending riders use public transit during race weekend (KPRC), and METRO routes may be adjusted, so check schedules ahead (houston.com). The three measured stops (Preston, Central Station Capitol, Central Station Main) all sit in the downtown core, so rail drops you inside the closed zone rather than outside it, which is exactly what you want when cars cannot get through. Afterwards, expect to walk: streets stay shut until roughly 2 p.m. (houston.com), long after most finishers are done.

• Preston. A downtown-core stop within the closure footprint, which makes it a workable arrival point when driving in is not an option. Use it only if you have confirmed the line's actual first train that morning, as METRO routes may be adjusted for race weekend (houston.com).
• Central Station Capitol. Sits in the heart of downtown near the start and finish area. Because all lanes close on dozens of route streets from 6 a.m. (KPRC), rail is the only vehicle that reliably crosses the zone. Confirm the first departure against your corral time before relying on it.
• Central Station Main. The main downtown interchange point and the most useful stop if you are staying outside the core and riding in. METRO is explicitly recommending transit for race weekend (KPRC), but you need to be through the cordon before 5:30 a.m. either way (ABC13).
• Driving in. Possible only if you are parked early. KPRC tells drivers to use designated garages and surface lots outside the race footprint. Downtown streets including Congress (Crawford to Smith), Smith (Congress to Franklin) and Washington (Congress to Waugh) close to all lanes (KPRC), so a car left on a route street is a problem; assume you cannot retrieve it until the roads reopen, roughly 2 p.m. (houston.com).
• Getting back after you finish. Walk. The closure window runs to about 2 p.m. (houston.com), so no car is collecting you near the finish and rideshare pickups will be pushed well outside the cordon. This is the single strongest argument for the 2-4 minute hotels: the recovery walk is a few blocks, not a mile of detours.

Parking near the course endpoints

These are mapped garages near the course, not a promise of race-day access. Check closures and pre-booking rules with the organizer.

• Christ Church Cathedral Garage3 minute modeled walk to start
• Harris County Garage3 minute modeled walk to start
• Binz Garage4 minute modeled walk to start
• One Market Square Garage5 minute modeled walk to start
• Sax Garage5 minute modeled walk to start
• Market Square Tower Garage6 minute modeled walk to start
• 1110 Rusk Garage7 minute modeled walk to start
• Bank of America Tower Garage7 minute modeled walk to start
• Block 94 Garage7 minute modeled walk to start
• Alley Theatre Garage8 minute modeled walk to start

Published entry tiers

Checked 2026-08-27; fees and tiers can change.