Health & Fitness

Chron • 12th March 2024

Tour de Houston is really happening, open for registration

The event, which includes 20-, 40- and 60-mile routes, will take place April 7. The race is an officially recommended ride for those training for the MS150, which happens the last weekend of April.

The Tour's website does not yet feature a route map, but the race starts and ends at Discovery Green, where finishers will be greeted with music, free food and beverages.

The future of the Tour was uncertain following the city's surprising announcement in late January that the 2024 event was being c

Chron • 9th February 2024

Houston's only outdoor roller rink reopens for spring

Houston's only outdoor roller rink, The Rink at Discovery Green, will reopen on Feb. 9 with a party featuring skate instructors, lessons and music by DJ Yung Chris.

During the winter, Kinder Lake, the artificial, shallow body of water on Discovery Green's north side, is transformed into an outdoor ice rink. Then for a few weeks in the spring, the ice is converted into a roller rink. The Rink at Discovery Green will be open every day from Feb. 9 to March 31.

Roller skating saw a huge resurgence

Chron • 8th February 2024

Houston museum wants you to cut open a real heart this Valentine's

That's right. Couples will get the opportunity to dissect a real sheep's heart, as part of the museum's ongoing educational programming. In fact, the "offbeat" Valentine's celebration, as the museum is calling it, has proved so popular that tickets to the $100 pasta dinner have already sold out.

But don't worry, there's still an opportunity to celebrate the organ associated with love this month. The Health Museum will host another dissection event—without the pasta dinner—on Feb. 17.

The disse

Chron • 13th January 2024

Sorry marathoners, but this is Houston’s best race

For years, there was a sign at about mile 3 of the Chevron Houston Marathon race route, hanging on the railroad bridge right next to Arne's Warehouse. It read something like, "If you were doing the Rodeo Run you'd be done by now."

Thousands of Houstonians and visitors will participate in the marathon and half marathon in Houston on Jan. 14. And while the popular and well-organized race is known for its "fast and flat track," on which many runners are able to set personal records, the Rodeo Run

Chron • 12th December 2023

Austin-based climbing gym is opening a Houston location

Crux Climbing Center has announced that it has signed a 22,000-square-foot lease at 3100 Canal St., also known as The Plant in Second Ward. The new location will be Crux's fourth and the first to open outside of Austin. Houston is currently home to two other climbing gyms: Texas Rock Gym, near Spring Branch, and Momentum Indoor Climbing, a Utah-based company with locations in central Houston and Katy.

First opened in 2016 by a duo of Texas-based rock climbers, Crux is known for its bouldering,

Chron • 3rd October 2023

ACL Festival teams up with nonprofit to provide free Narcan

The Austin City Limits Music Festival is teaming up with a nonprofit organization to give out free Narcan to festival-goers, as well as education on how to use the opioid overdose-reversal medication.

Harm reduction is a collection of practices and public health care policies that aim to minimize the negative consequences of substance use and addiction. In addition to making overdose-reversal medication readily available, other harm-reduction practices include clean needle programs and providin

Chron • 10th July 2023

Cyclosporiasis outbreak hits Harris and Fort Bend counties

Health officials are warning Houstonians about an outbreak of an intestinal parasite that can cause severe cases of diarrhea.

Doctors have seen a rise in gastrointestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite in recent weeks in both Fort Bend and Harris counties. The parasite, called Cyclospora cayetanensis, can cause flu-like symptoms, including watery diarrhea, bloating, fever, stomach cramps, and muscle aches. Cyclospora lives in feces and feces-contaminated foods and waters and is often

Chron • 28th December 2022

A walking group for women has created a new Houston community

Every Sunday morning, a diverse group of Houston women gather at Buffalo Bayou Park with a single goal: to walk. Just a few miles, no more than an hour, each woman moving at her own pace. There's no need to talk, no need to count steps, no expectations other than to walk together, as a community.

They're called City Girls Who Walk, and in half a year, the group has grown to more than 200 members. The goal may seem simple—and it is, says founder Tiffany Nelson. But through that simplicity a sort

Chron • 28th February 2022

No longer 'Reeking Regatta,' Buffalo Bayou race celebrates 50th running

In 1970, a group of hobby canoeists in Houston decided to organize a group paddle down Buffalo Bayou. At the time, the waterway was not yet lined by verdant parks, and conservationist Terry Hershey was still fighting the government's plans for channelization of the bayou.

The paddlers, who typically had to travel to the Hill Country or the Gulf Coast for what were considered "suitable" waterways, decided to take advantage of the resource in their own backyard and to help bring awareness to Hers