2024 Houston Half Marathon Preview: Galen Rupp Tunes Up & Weini Kelati Debuts
Coach Stephen Haas thinks Kelati will eventually be a "world-class" marathoner
By Jonathan Gault
The 2024 Aramco Houston Half Marathon is on Sunday and it’s a big race for a number of reasons. Some athletes, such as Kenyan star Hellen Obiri, will be using it as a hard effort to gauge their fitness and break up training before launching into a spring marathon build (Obiri headlines April’s Boston Marathon field, which was announced Wednesday). Others, like American Weini Kelati, will be dipping their toes into the 13.1-mile waters in their debut at the distance. And then there are runners like Galen Rupp and Sara Hall, who will be using Houston as a tuneup race just three weeks out from the US Olympic Marathon Trials. A great race for Rupp could even unlock the third and final men’s Olympic marathon spot for the United States.
Canada’s Moh Ahmed, who was initially scheduled to make his half marathon debut in Houston, is a late withdrawal due to a hamstring/hip flexor injury.
Update: Sara Hall has also withdrawn after experiencing some recent hip tightness.
The races will run simultaneously with the Chevron Houston Marathon, which starts at the same time: 8:01 a.m. ET. Current weather forecasts paint a good picture for running fast: temperatures in the 50s and overcast during the race with wind around 5-8 mph. As usual, you can stream the races live online at abc13.com. Race details below, followed by a look at the biggest storylines in Houston on Sunday.
What: 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon & Aramco Houston Half Marathon
When: Sunday, January 14, 8:01 a.m. ET
Where: Houston, Texas
How to watch: Stream the races live starting at 8:01 a.m. ET Sunday on ABC13
Does Galen Rupp go for it?
Galen Rupp is running a half marathon three weeks before the Olympic Trials, just as he did in 2020. But unlike four years ago, when Rupp cruised to a win at the Mesa Half Marathon in 61:19 before crushing the competition at the Trials, Sunday’s Houston Half potentially carries higher stakes. While Rupp’s 2:08:48 in Chicago in October was his best marathon for two years, he came 38 seconds shy of hitting the Olympic standard. That means, as things stand, the US has only unlocked two of a possible three spots in the 2024 Olympic marathon.
Kevin Morris photo
But Rupp’s 2:08:48 was fast enough that if he runs another fast race on Sunday in Houston, he could vault into the top 64 on the Road to Paris list — and if he’s still there on January 30, he’d lock down the third Olympic spot for the USA. Every American marathoner should be rooting for him to run fast on Sunday.
How fast? We laid out the math on Wednesday. A 60:01 would move Rupp into 64th. But since the current 64th placer is suspended for doping, Rupp may only need to be in the top 65. That would require a 60:47. There are more moving pieces involved — Rupp could earn bonus points by finishing in the top six and it’s possible other athletes could bump him down the rankings before January 30. But the basic thing to know is that the faster Rupp runs, the better chance the US has of securing that third Olympic spot by the Trials.
Of course that’s assuming Rupp even cares about running fast. Rupp is guaranteed to be on the Olympic team if he finishes top two at the Trials. If we had to guess, we’d say it’s more likely Rupp is 100% focused on the Trials and is merely using Houston as a tuneup race as opposed to an all-out attempt to raise his world ranking.
Rupp’s return in Chicago wasn’t what he wanted — he was beaten by two Americans — but it was his healthiest buildup in years and he made it through the race in one piece and without pain. The fact that Rupp feels confident enough in his body to run Houston just three weeks out from the Trials suggests things have gone well since Chicago. If he can make it through Houston healthy, it’s fair to assume he’ll be even fitter than he was in Chicago — which is bad news for the rest of the field.
By the way, Rupp isn’t the only American who could unlock the third spot. Sam Chelanga finished just two seconds back of Rupp in Chicago and is also running Houston. He’d have to run faster than Rupp in Houston — 59:46 to move to #64, 60:32 to move to #65 — but Chelanga, who ran 60:37 in 2018, has been rejuvenated of late and will be worth watching in this one.
How does Sara Hall look?
Update: Hall’s agent Josh Cox confirmed to LetsRun on Thursday evening that Hall will not race in Houston on Sunday. He said that she is currently working through some hip tightness and did not want to take any chances with the Olympic Trials just three weeks away. Here’s what Cox wrote to us in a text message:
“Had the Trials not been around the corner she would have raced but it’s out of an abundance of caution that she’s skipping the event. It’s unfortunate, as she’s very, very fit but she’s keeping the main thing the main thing.”
Sara Hall can tell you firsthand that a strong run in Houston doesn’t guarantee a top finish at the Olympic Trials. Four years ago, many Trials contenders ran Houston during their buildup, but you’d never have been able to project the Olympic team based on the Houston results:
Top Americans at 2020 Houston Half/2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials results
| Athlete | Houston result | Trials result |
| Sara Hall | 9th, 68:58 | DNF |
| Molly Huddle | 12th, 69:34 | DNF |
| Molly Seidel | 13th, 69:35 | 2nd, 2:27:31 |
| Katy Moen | 14th, 69:35 | N/A |
| Lindsay Flanagan | 15th, 69:37 | 12th, 2:32:05 |
| Becky Wade | 16th, 69:40 | 16th, 2:35:12 |
| Aliphine Tuliamuk | 19th, 69:49 | 1st, 2:27:23 |
| Keira D’Amato | 20th, 70:01 | 15th, 2:34:24 |
| Maggie Montoya | 21st, 70:06 | N/A |
| Laura Thweatt | 22nd, 70:12 | 5th, 2:29:08 |
Obviously a few things have changed in 2024. Houston and the Trials were six weeks apart in 2020; this time that gap is just three weeks. In 2020, the flat, fast Houston course was vastly different than the hilly Atlanta course that hosted the Trials. This time, the Trials are on a flat course in Orlando. But the caveat remains: don’t read too much into Houston if you’re trying to project the Trials.
Hall set the American record in Houston two years ago © 2022 Kevin Morris
That said…if there’s one athlete who could use a strong Houston performance, it’s Sara Hall. Hall typically recovers quickly between hard efforts — remember when she ran 2:22:16 in Berlin in 2019, then won the US 10-mile champs the following week? Even if she’s not fully tapering for a max effort here, she could still try to run fast.
It’s been a while since Hall’s last great race. She ran an American record (since broken) in Houston of 67:15 to kick off a brilliant 2022 season that also saw her run 2:22:56 in Tokyo and 2:22:10 to finish 5th at Worlds. Since then, Hall has dealt with a couple of notable injuries — one major one to her IT band during the fall of 2022, then an SI joint issue that prevented her from running the World Half in the fall of 2023. Her only marathon finish last year was a 17th place in Boston in 2:25:48.
If you put the Hall from the first half of 2022 on the start line in Orlando, she’d be among the favorites to make the team. But what about the 40-year-old version that will run next month? Has she recovered enough from the setbacks of the past 18 months to be a factor? Houston could give us an idea.
Who wins?
As interesting as it will be to see how Rupp, Chelanga, Hall, and the other Americans run in Houston, it’s unlikely any of them contend for the win. A US man hasn’t won Houston since Leonard Korir in 2017 and a US woman hasn’t won Houston since Kim Conley in 2015.
On the women’s side, the favorite has to be Hellen Obiri. The 34-year-old won eight of her nine races in 2023, including half marathon victories at RAK and NYC and marathon wins in Boston and NYC. She may not have the pure speed that carried her to two world titles at 5,000 meters, but her kick is plenty dangerous (rewatch the NYC Marathon finish) and no one in the field is strong enough to drop her (Obiri’s 64:22 HM pb is #5 all-time). If Obiri falters, Israel’s Lonah Salpeter (3rd Boston, 4th Worlds in the marathon last year, plus a 66:56 half in Rome) or Ethiopia’s Mestawut Fikir (66:44 at the Antrim Coast Half in August) are next in line.
On the men’s side, two of the past three champions will be in Houston in Jemal Yimer (58:33 pb, 2020 champ) and Milkesa Tolosa aka Milkesa Mengesha (2022 champ, 58:58 pb). On form, Yimer should be favored — he ran 58:38 at the Antrim Coast Half in August, then was 4th at the World Half in 59:22, though his year ended with a slighly disappointing 9th place finish at the NYC Marathon. Tolosa, meanwhile, focused on the marathon last year, winning Daegu in April (2:06:49) before finishing 6th at Worlds in August.
There is quite a gap on paper to the rest of the field — Rupp, at 59:47, is the only other guy who has broken 60:00. But NAZ Elite’s Wesley Kiptoo came one second shy of the win last year in a controversial finish and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him near the front again.
Wow!! What a finish!! @BanguriaK second at the #HouHalf in 1:00:34, a PB, and a team record. Way to go Wesley!!! pic.twitter.com/9T9fFoO2AJ
— HOKA NAZ Elite (@NAZ_Elite) January 15, 2023
How will Weini Kelati run in her debut?
It was inevitable that Weini Kelati would eventually run a half marathon. The 27-year-old was a long distance star at the University of New Mexico, winning NCAA titles in the 10,000 meters and cross country in 2019. Since turning pro in 2020 and joining Under Armour’s Dark Sky Distance team in Flagstaff, she has had some near-misses on the track (4th in the 5,000 and 5th in the 10,000 at USAs in 2022; 8th in the 5,000 and 4th in the 10,000 in 2023) while flourishing on the roads (two US 5k titles, one US 10k title, and three straight victories at the Manchester Road Race).
Kevin Morris photo
What’s interesting is that Kelati had accomplished all that on relatively low mileage. For most of her professional career, Kelati had run 50-60 miles per week in six days (she takes Sundays off). Her long runs rarely exceeded 13 miles with most of her workouts consisting of 4-5 miles of quality.
“I have been trying to push Weini to do a little bit more volume in her training, a little bit more mileage,” says her coach Stephen Haas. “I think it’s something she could respond to very well. She’s been very apprehensive because she’s always been very low mileage…The exciting thing I thought was there was a lot of room to grow. But at some point, you actually have to grow.”
During this most recent training cycle, Haas says, they have gradually built Kelati’s volume and he’s been encouraged by the results. Kelati has done long runs of 15, 16, 17, and 18 miles, and she’s gotten up to 8-10 miles of quality in her workouts. Haas says one of Kelati’s last workouts before Houston (4-mile tempo, 1 mile float, 3 mile tempo, 1 mile float, 2-mile tempo, 1 mile float) was one of the best he’s seen her do — not because of the times she hit but because of how relaxed she looked while hitting them.
And while Haas believes Kelati is fit and ready to run well in Houston on Sunday — and again six days later at the US Cross Country Championships in Richmond — he says the biggest aim of this cycle has already been accomplished: Kelati has proved to herself that she can handle a higher level of training, something Haas believes will help her moving forward.
“This isn’t built necessarily to have this big massive breakout half marathon in Houston,” Haas says. “The intention was to slowly increase her volume, her intensity, her workout volume so that she can feel more comfortable with this. Hopefully we can maintain this volume throughout the spring and with her knowing she can do it.”
As for Sunday, while Kelati will have a male pacer accompanying her, Haas says he isn’t focused on a specific time goal and does not want to put limits on Kelati.
“I’d like to be pretty conservative and try to close hard,” Haas says. “But if you’ve ever watched Weini race a road race, conservative is not really in her vocabulary.”
The focus for Kelati this summer is the Olympic Trials, where she will run at least one event out of the 5k and 10k and perhaps both. But next year, she plans on moving up in distance on the roads, and Haas has already thought about what it would look like to have Kelati training with Dark Sky Distance’s biggest star, 2022 NYC Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi.
“I think they’re both going to be world-class marathoners,” Haas says. “Obviously Sharon already is. I think that’s where Weini is going to have a big impact on the sport.”
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