Time in Texas

When people asked Z why he was flying to Texas for a weekend, he would tell them it was "to see the Houston Rodeo of course".  Then as a side note he would mention that he and I were running road races with my parents.

He's a city boy.  But to say he embraces the country boy life and culture is an understatement.  So as you might have guessed, he was ecstatic to see the Houston Rodeo.  

The arena -- in the Reliant stadium {I think they said it seats 80,000 people}.

Sure we didn't have the closest seats, but we loved it.

If you look closely in the next three photos, you can see the cowboy riding the bucking horse and eventually being bucked off...

Then they setup for the concert that followed, which was Luke Bryan.  We didn't think we knew who he was, but turns out we knew almost every song!  

 Spending some time outside Sunday afternoon

Once Zuriel flew home on Monday, I got to go on a couple lunch dates with mi madre since I stuck around Houston for a few extra days.  The first day was to the delicious Cheesecake Factory, it's one of my favorite restaurants.  The salad may not look as appetizing in the picture, but goodness it is delicious.  I also can never get enough of that bread...yum.

The second day we went to Pei Wei for lunch.  If you like PF Changs, you like Pei Wei.  It's practically the same thing, but a fraction of the price and in a more casual atmosphere, which is perfect for lunch dates.  Love me some curry...

My loving younger brother also took me to lunch one day to Le Madeline.  It is a cute, little french bakery place that has yummy comfort food type items...it was delicious.

Can you tell I got pampered by my family?  Well I did.  They made it a tiny bit less miserable for me to be away from Z by feeding me yummy food and spending other quality time with me.  Gracias!

Pre-race

Yesterday Z and I flew into Houston, TX and we felt the humidity the second we stepped off the plane.  It was bittersweet {and I was so tempted to type 'bittersweat'...I'm so funny...}.  

Today consisted of lots of food, water, gatorade, the race expo, a few errands, and now it's bedtime.  

I have my race day outfit laying out, ready to be worn and sweated in tomorrow.  Pre-race jitters are present, but miniscule compared to the jitters I felt before my first marathon.  

More than anything, I'm excited for the memory I'll have of me and my dad running our first road race together.  Bring it on!

The day finally came

Well, before I give you the punch line and tell you "what finally came", I'll tell you the story leading to my obligatory actions...

I was driving through town {population about 27,000 people} north down a road that was 25mph.  Now, the posted speed limit was 25mph, but miss speed demon over here was driving 27 or 28mph...I know, I'm beyond daring.  When miss speedy notices a cop driving south down the same road, she panics a bit, stomach rolls once or twice {I don't have a guilty conscious, promise} and she slows down to EXACTLY 25mph...  Then, suddenly, sadly, and somewhat surprisingly, the cop turns around and gets behind miss daring speed demon.  Annnnnd...can you guess what happens after that?  Nope, he doesn't immediately pull me over...he WAITS.  I was a mess the entire minute and a half he casually drove behind me.  And THEN...he pulled me over.  I know, he's heartless isn't he?  My first thought was that he saw my dog sitting on my lap and for some reason it is inconveniently illegal to have your dog sitting on your lap while driving...  I soon learned my thoughts were completely unreasonable because he never mentioned my dog let alone acknowledged she was even in the car.

Long story short {let's be honest, it is extremely difficult for me to keep stories short}, the officer ended our 'traffic stop' by reminding me of a few things... 1. Watch my speed  2. Fix my back tail light  3. Renew my vin number  4. Get new license plates because mine were beyond 'just expired' and were now approaching disciplinary action {an apparently "pretty hefty fee" he claimed} for 'neglect of registration'  5. Do not delay registration of my vehicle...or else.  

The obvious question here is, why did I neglect to register my vehicle all this time?  The officer asked me the same obvious question, especially after seeing my Idaho driver's license with Texas license plates.  I embarrassingly, but honestly, answered that I "forgot".  Initially, after getting married a few years ago my husband joked that I would eventually have to surrender my Texas license plates for Idaho ones and I joked back that I would NEVER switch over in a pure act of rebellion.  No, I didn't tell the officer that story.  But as some time passed, I was not still consciously thinking about my act of blatant rebellion, I had simply forgotten and hadn't made it a priority.  Besides, I liked my Texas plates...  Lesson learned and I have now suffered the consequences.  

Once I left the DMV with my shiny, new IDAHO license plates, I sent a text to a few people about the sad news and this is a reply I received from my dad...

me:  "Our mazda officially has Idaho license plates...  It's hard not to be sad... {sad face}"

dad:  "Traitor.  Can't believe you've finally turned your back on the lone star state."