The Rodeo Race

Racing Day, it's Racing Day....

Any Backyardigans fans out there? I have probably seen that racing episode a thousand times so of course the song popped in my head as I went to blog about my race.

I did it! I survived! Okay, it was only four miles, but I've realized something. I thought of this as an insignificant race, but really it is anything but. This race is the beginning of running journey. It marks the starting point for (hopefully) many races to come. We all have to start somewhere right? I started at four miles...

I woke up at 5:45am on Saturday morning. I had butterflies in my stomach, but I was also very excited. I had laid everything out already the night before because I didn't want to forget anything. I had my watch, my clothes, my GU and my number all ready to go. It was pitch black out when I left the house and a balmy 40 degrees. I was wearing shorts because I hate running in any kind of pants. I had on one of my tech shirts and the race shirt I had been given at check-in (it was long sleeved). I figured I would decide whether or not I would wear that later, depending on if the temperature rose a few degrees. I arrived in the parking lot around 6:50am and was among the first there. I always stress about these kinds of things and wonder if it's going to be super crowded, if I'll get a parking spot, etc. So my motto is "better to be early than late!" I ended up sitting in my car with the toasty heater going, listening to music and people watching. I got out of my car at about 7:15 to go the registration table and pick up my chip (so I could have my exact time recorded). It was still freezing and I decided to wait in my car for a little while longer. Around 7:40 I got out and started walking around (at this point it was still only 40 something degrees and I decided to keep my long sleeve shirt ON) to get my muscles warm.

After what seemed like forever, things finally got under way. A couple of speeches, the national anthem, people yelling "start the race!!" and we finally lined up at the start. This race is tiny compared to what my half marathon will be I'm sure, so although everyone started in a pack, it quickly thinned out and I was able to find my pace. I hated not knowing where I was going. Of course everything was marked, but I didn't like that I had never seen the course before and didn't know if there would be hills, where the turns were, etc etc. The first two miles flew by and I maintained a 9:45 pace. There was a decent hill during the first mile, but I paced myself and made it up with no problems. Then came the really bad part of the route (seriously, who designed this trail??). I found myself on some kind of grassy hill, on a path only a few feet wide trying to maintain balance so I didn't go toppling down the other side. It was muddy as heck because of all the rain we had gotten the week before and there were huge tree roots sticking out of the ground. What a smart place to make a running trail for a race so we can all trip and break our ankles! I slowed down for this part because 1) I really didn't want to trip and 2) the trail was so narrow that I couldn't pass anyone and didn't dare try lest I go rolling down a hill.

I was happy to get out of that part and back to the street. At the end of mile three we reached the AT&T Center and spent the next mile running around in the parking lots and around the building before finally coming to finish at the entrance to the rodeo. Silly me, I didn't even think to check my time as I crossed the finish! I knew I had that chip on so I was just thinking about that. I did have my watch and knew I finished somewhere around 40 minutes, but didn't know my exact time until later that day when I was able to go online and find out. Turns out I finished in 40:09. I pretty much met my goal so I am happy with that. I finished 26/64 in my age group and 269/559 overall.

After the race was over Richard and the kids met me there. They didn't get there in time to see me finish, but at least they made it! I paid $20 for the registration fee to do this race and for that money I got: TO RACE, a shirt, free breakfast (for my family too!), free Starbucks coffee, free beer (at 9am I think I'll pass!), and free admission to the rodeo grounds. If you add all that stuff up, it comes out to way more than $20 so what a great deal! It was also nice being at the rodeo early because it wasn't crowded at all yet. It was VERY COLD however and I am so glad that I remembered to ask Richard to bring me a pair of jeans to put on after the race or I would have frozen to death. After the strong winds died down it was a decent day and we all ended up with sunburns! When it's been raining the last week or so nonstop sunscreen is pretty much the last thing on your mind...so needless to say, that was forgotten! I was very happy that the heavens opened up and let the sun shine just for that one day. The very next day it was cloudy again and then the rain started up on Monday. But I was offered a brief respite on my race day and couldn't have asked for more!

I can't put the actual photo on my page, but if you want to see me crossing the finish line you can go here.

So this is me after changing into my jeans and getting my Starbucks, yum!

We passed by a (sort of) puppet show and decided to stop and watch. It was ending so we only caught a couple minutes, but I always think it's so cute how the girls like to sit together and be all sisterly.
Right next door we saw that a farm animal show was starting up (okay, maybe I should have prefaced this post by saying RODEOS ARE SO NOT MY THING. So I don't really know the terminology for all the things we saw and did...). The girls enjoyed seeing the goats anddddd...other farm animals whose names escape me at the moment.

Jameson was having a grand old time too!

We left that show and came to a Kidgets stand. Kidgets is a program that Simon Malls (located all over the nation) has for kids. For $5 a kid you get some cool things, which vary depending on when/where you sign up. Since we signed up at the rodeo, the kids got cowgirl hats, a shirt, a free photo taken, and some other things. Each month we get to go to the information stand at the mall and get coupons!

The next area we went was the Inflatable Wonderland sponsored bounce house place. They had four bounce houses set up and it was free to play. The girls could have stayed here the whole time, but I was ready to move on after awhile...

We ran into H-E-Buddy (do other grocery stores have mascots? This is kind of weird). Ahhhh, Calli is standing with my sworn enemy!! Hehehe.

And of course the best place of all in the rodeo is THE CARNIVAL GROUNDS. We got Calli an armband for $25 and she could go on unlimited rides. Serena was too small for 99% of the rides so we got a couple coupons and let her ride on the trains a few times. Calli couldn't wait to go on the carasol (amazingly enough they wouldn't even let Serena on if she was WITH an adult. Not even to sit on the bench they have on there for LITTLE KIDS TO SIT ON. And then at the carasol on the other side of the grounds she could go on. Seriously, what is up with that??)

Richard took the girls on this train. Calli wanted to ride so she ran up to it and when Serena saw her sister get on and heard me tell her that she was too little, she started crying that "my feelings are hurt" cry. That one breaks your heart! So that's when Richard went to buy some coupons so she could ride too.

Calli on her cool PINK car!

We wandered in and out of the carnival area a few times, doing other things around the rodeo. I have no interest in the actual rodeo part of it so we just stuck to walking around and seeing the different boothes, etc. We had some really gross lunch and I realized how nasty fair food is. Cheesecake on a stick anyone? Even funnel cakes, the ultimate fair food, look nasty to me. We had yucky corn dogs with fries that weren't even all the way cooked and looked and tasted like someone had dumped a gallon of canola oil on them AFTER they were done cooking. We really wanted hamburgers, but we weren't going to wait in the long line to pay $12 a burger (yes you read that right. I could get twelve junior bacon cheeseburgers at Wendys for that price). Lesson for next time: pack your own lunch? Or find better food options there. We did LOVE the exhibit that handed out free ice cream. We all got an ice cream cone of soft serve to enjoy. Then a few hours later in the same place there was an ice cream social going on and we stopped in for some more ice cream (we chose from Nutty Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake). So here are the girls enjoying their ice cream and playing in a house thing.

All in all it was a fun day. I was wiped at the end of it though and was happy to get home and take a much needed shower and eat some real food! So now we can say that we went to the rodeo this year...check!