Warm, balmy weather conditions along the Gulf coastline that let runners compete in shorts and without shirts if they like are the norm at Corpus Christi’s Harbor Half Marathon & Relay, which is perhaps most well-known for taking runners along the big, gradual uphill and downhill stretch across the Harbor Bridge of the Nueces Bay Causeway over Corpus Christi Bay.
Runners start the out-and-back course for the half marathon on East Port Avenue near Whataburger Field, the home field of the Corpus Christi Hooks, the AA minor league affiliate club of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.
From there, the field follows the course down Port to Hirsch Street and turns right on Chaparral Street, followed by turns on Fitzgerald, Water and Power Streets before turning again onto North Broadway, which becomes Highway 181.
Runners follow the highway across the first, smaller bridge over into the North Beach area, and then remain on the highway as it rolls through these neighborhoods on its way to the much larger bridge over the Nueces Bay, which is its claim to fame as the “highest half marathon in Texas.”
