It’s the ropes and the reins, and the joy and the pain, and they call the thing a rodeo.

Sorry for the blurriness!

This weekend we traveled up to Gordonsville to visit my best friend and go to the rodeo at Oakland Heights Farm. The rodeo is put on by BLM Bull & Rodeo Co. They put on some of Virginia’s finest professional bull riding events. And since my bff rides horses at this farm, we get to sit in the VIP section! That means we’re close enough to get the dirt kicked on us by the bulls while they’re in the arena. Oakland Heights plays host to the rodeo the second Saturday of every month from May to September.



Bulls waiting in the pen to get the show on the road

The evening started off with the first round of bull riding. They had 30 professionals and 10 amateurs, so we got to see a lot of action. They also had two junior bull riders who rode steers. I think they were 10 and 12 years old.

One of the professional riders

The rules are simple. Bull riders ride with one hand and cannot touch the bull or themselves with their free hand (the one they hold up in the air). Two judges give the bull and the cowboy each a score from 1-25, so 100 points would be the perfect ride. The main goal is to stay on for 8 seconds, and you only receive a score if you do so.

Pictured above is one of the judges from Saturday night. I think he looks EXACTLY like Robin Williams when he played Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum:

[Source]

Do you think so??? Either way, I think he does! I also took to referring to him at “Teddy” for the duration of the evening. Once they finished the first round of bull riding, they took a break. This is when the mutton busting takes place! Mutton busting is something for kids to do at rodeos, but instead of riding raging bulls they ride sheep. Most of them just lay on the sheep’s back and hang on for dear life, but a few will use a rope and ride the way the bull riders do (with one hand).

The picture is a total blur because the sheep just take off like a shot when the gate opens. The object is to stay on the longest and the top two kids won gift certificates. Here is a better picture (not from Saturday’s rodeo):

[Source]

During the break they also had barrel racing. Barrel racing is judged solely by the clock, so fastest time wins. Riders complete a clover leaf pattern around three barrels (55-gal drums) set out in a triangle pattern in the arena. At the professional level it is an event for women.

Again, sorry for the blurriness.

Riders receive a 5 second penalty for each barrel they knock over. We also found out that riders are required to make it into the arena with their hat on. If it falls off during their run, that’s okay, but one of the girl’s hats fell off before she came in. The announcer gave her a warning at the end of the run and told her it was her only warning of the season. After the barrel racing, they moved into the short round for bull riding. The short round is where the top 6 riders get matched up against the top 6 bulls. It’s the championship round, and everyone wants to see who will win.

Cowboys watching the final round

Two riders rode for the full 8 seconds in the last round. I think one scored 92 and the other scored 80. In the first round the former scored 86 and the latter scored 80. They took first and second and earned their money. Barry and I had a great time together. He was especially happy because VIP tent = free food!

We try and go to the rodeo at least once each summer. We always bring our camper, which allows us to bring the dogs along (they don’t come to the rodeo, though). This was Scout’s first camping trip, so I wasn’t sure how she would do. She did really well and overall it wasn’t too bad with three dogs in the camper! Mainly because they all did this the entire time:

Scout

Toby

Hank

Have you ever been to the rodeo?

Doesn’t that judge look like Robin Williams from Night at the Museum??

If you have pets, do you take them with you when you travel?

We got all of the fencing done, apart from the top rail on the short side of the fence. We were missing two extra braces we needed to attach the top rail to the end posts, but Barry picked those up later in the week, so now we have what we need.

Once the fence was complete we let the chickens out to explore their new run area. This is as far as they strayed from their coop. 🙂

They were a little hesitant about it, but it was also pretty chilly outside that day.

We also have plans to bury chicken wire in the ground around the perimeter of the fence, and attach it to the bottom of the chain link to keep the dogs (and other predators) from digging under. The dogs, Scout in particular, have also been really bad about going under the chicken coop. So we have plans to bury some hog wire in the ground and attach it to the bottom of the coop.

In order to do this, we had to dig a trench around the building to bury the wire. I dug the trench all by myself! I’m proud of my work.

In the process of digging the trench I found lots of interesting things. Apparently the people who lived here before us just threw whatever they wanted to get rid of under the building. I found lots of bricks, a car battery, and lots of scrap wood with various nails and screws sticking out.

This morning I did my long run at the campground where we are stayin.  It is right off of a 4 lane 55 mph highway, so I was limited to staying within the campground itself for my run.

They have a nice little trail that runs along one side of the campground called the Hay Wagon Trail. It sounded promising, but unfortunately it was 0.3 miles long at the most.

The campground itself is only 0.5 miles around when you run the perimeter. I almost lost my mind today. I think I did close to 20 laps. I know common sense tells you it should have been 20 laps exactly to get to 10 miles, but I did little out and backs on dead end roads (that went to places like the pump house, propane tank, RV storage area, etc.) to try and save my brain from melting.

Two or three times I ran through the tent camping area, which is currently empty. The grass was tall and my shoes got soaked. It was pouring down rain last night when we rolled in (a little after 9pm) and everything was still wet and drippy this morning.

I’m not sure why my pictures are kind of fuzzy and blurry. I guess it’s from the humidity that’s in the air. It wasn’t too hot during my run, but it was very humid. I drank an entire bottle of water/Powerade mix in the last 5 miles alone during my run. I also said good morning to Snow White and her six dwarfs (yea.. one is missing) at least 15 times.

After 6 miles or so I was just done with this run. My legs started to feel fatigued, but mainly my mind was just way past running any more loops around the campground. So I had to start making small goals for myself, like “Ok, run 3 laps around and then you can go do an out and back on this little path”.

More of the Hay Wagon Trail

I guess this run can kind of count as a trail run? Even though this trail was short, I probably put in between 4 and 5 miles on it. There were lots of roots and rocks and I tripped numerous times, rolled my ankle three times, and fell once. Am I an official trail runner now? 🙂

During my last mile I ran past the rec area where they were having a pancake breakfast. Barry was there and had gotten me a plate. He said he called out to me, but I never heard him. I had 0.2 miles to go and was headed back to our camper, which was in sight just down the road. I think I was in some kind of tunnel. But he lovingly brought my plate back to me at our campsite.

Pancakes, sausage links, bacon, and syrup with some peach mango Fuze

I’m glad that one’s over and I never want to do a long run that involves running the same loop 20+ times again. One funny thing to note: After about the tenth time I ran by, the people who were sitting outside in their campsites stopped waving. I think I may have started annoying them by running by so much. They probably also think I’m crazy. One positive note about running in a campground: the bath house is never far away, and I was happy for that around mile 4.

Tell me about a mentally tough long run or workout that you have had. How did you power through?

Do you go camping?
We try and go several times a year. We have a fifth wheel camper that we tow with our truck. It lets us bring the dogs along on our adventures!

Pancakes or waffles?
Waffles are my favorite!

Can you name the seven dwarfs? No googling.

Today is my 100th post! How about that!

This evening Barry and I headed to the Dora trail (the bike trail in town) for a 5 mile tempo run. I had a tough run today and struggled to hit a 9:04/mile average for the middle 3 miles. I think it is going to take some time for me to adjust to doing track work and a tempo run in the same week.

We had a lot of rain Sunday evening through yesterday and the low water bridge was underwater again. They had barricades blocking the trail, which is right where the 2 mile turn around is. So we turned around, finished the tempo part of the run at the car, and did our cool down mile around town.

Photo from the last time the bridge flooded

At least the June issue of Running Times came today. I can wallow in self pity after today’s less than stellar run while I read my magazine 🙂 I will be icing my shins at the same time because they are still really bugging me.

Happy pre-Friday! We have some exciting weekend plans involving boots, spurs, and 8 seconds being the longest 8 seconds of your life.

Any guesses what we’re doing this weekend!? I don’t think my hints were too mysterious 😉

What are your weekend plans?

If you do speed work, did you have a hard time adjusting initially?

Fly by post tonight because it’s already past my bedtime!

After work Barry and I headed up to Blacksburg to go by the running store so that he could get new shoes. I managed to walk out without buying anything, but it wasn’t easy. Since we were already up in the ‘burg, we decided to run on the Huckleberry Trail. This is the trail I used to run on for almost every run when I was in college and for the first year or so after.

When we got over to the trail there was a group from the running store meeting up for their weekly Wednesday run. They were planning on a mile warm-up, 4 miles at tempo pace, and then a mile cool down. Barry decided to run with them (about 8 people in all, including him) and had a great workout! They did their WARM-UP mile in 7 minutes, holy cow, and then did their tempo miles at or below 6:30 pace, and then a 7:30 mile cool down. So speedy!

I, on the other hand, ran a 4 mile recovery run watch free. I ran by feel, and I think I was a bit below 10 minute pace. My legs were a little tight and sore from yesterday’s track workout, especially my calves, but it felt great to be back on the Huckleberry.

It was a great night for a run. It rained most of the day, but the rain had stopped by this evening. It was nice and cool (mid-50’s) with low humidity. Perfect!

And just because I think they’re cute, here’s a picture of Hank and Scout napping from this weekend.

A minute after I took this picture Scout switched to a new sleeping position.

And she stayed that way for the next hour or so.

What time do you usually go to bed?
10 or 10:30 on weeknights. Sometimes earlier on Friday nights before my long run 🙂

Is there a running group that meets weekly where you live?

If you have pets, do they have a funny way of sleeping?