Rodeo Run 10K - Yeeehawwww!

It's rodeo time here in Houston. This basically means that every Texas stereotype will be on display for the next few weeks.

Yes, I have even become one myself. Check out those sweet boots!

Yes, they even had a live longhorn for a photo op after the race. I swear we aren't all a bunch of hillbillies.

Going into this race I just knew it wasn't going to be a good one. My legs were tight from continuing to break in my boots the whole day before. But I'm not one to give up, so I figured I'll show up, take it nice and slow, and make it a respectable finish...Yeah.

The weather was great for running and I listened to "Proud Of You" by Drake on repeat most of the race with "Cracks (Flux Pavilion Rmx)" by Freestylers Ft. Belle Humble mixed in a couple of times. Who knew Drake was such a good running buddy and so proud of me. He's so sweet!

This is the first race where I have been really irritated with a few things.

The Cons:

• Since we are downtown, you have to show up early and park far. Really, NBD. The problem is that even though I went to the bathroom twice before I left the house, I still needed to go again by the time I drove, parked, walked to the start. And this isn't a problem due to my dislike or port-a-potties, but rather because I could only find 1 at the start line. ONE! There are 15,000 people running this race, surely they didn't figure one would cover it? The line was too long, so I started the race and hoped for the best. There was def a moment in that first mile that I thought, "Great, today is going to be the day that I pee my pants." Luckily There were 2 right after the first mile. And there was a line. I waited in it because I didn't know when I would get another chance, and being that we were in the city, I couldn't just squat on the side of the rode.
• The race was so crowded. There was a 5K and a 10K, so they them 15min apart. Totally didn't help with the congestion. It was so crowded that I started behind the 10:00 corral. I figured this would only be annoying for a little while, but I basically ended up dodging people for all but the last mile. It was really hard to have room to find my stride and it really made me grumpy. And if you decided that you are going to need to take a walk break, that's fine, but please move to the side because dodging these constantly stopping bodies is like navigating a mine field.

The Pros:

• Good water station spacing.
• Great volunteers. It was great to see their smiling faces handing me water and cheering us on at the mile markers when really I just want to shank the guy that just stopped in front of me.
• Good after party. They had bananas, bagels, candy (heck yes!), ice cream, soda (WTF?), games for the kids that ran, Cliff Bars, etc, and tons of port-a-potties (they probably could have spared a few for the start...), etc.

Would I run this race again? Totally because when I finished and saw they had a live longhorn, it made it worth it and I hope they will have one again next year! He was so cute and soft. I wanted to hug and kiss him, but was afraid he'd get scared and stab me with his horn.