The Houston Rodeo wraps up on March 17, on which day I’ll be running 13.1 miles in New York City. 

By this date, thousands of animals will have been forced to participate in rodeo events as a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Not only in Houston but across the industry in rodeos, electric prods, spurs, and flank straps are used to irritate normally docile animals and provoke them into displaying “wild” behavior. Before they enter the ring, bulls are often prodded with an electrical “hotshot” so that the pain will rile them. Flank straps—which are used to cause the animals to buck vigorously in an attempt to get free—can cause open wounds and burns when hair is rubbed off and skin is chafed raw, and animal control officers have even found burrs and other irritants placed under these straps. The federal Animal Welfare Act offers no protection to animals used in rodeos. Untold numbers of them have sustained broken ribs, backs, and legs; punctured lungs; deep internal organ bruising; hemorrhaging; ripped tendons; torn ligaments and muscles; and snapped necks—and many have endured agonizing deaths.

As I travel from Houston to New York to run a half marathon, I’m dedicating the miles and the money raised to help bring awareness to these spectacles of suffering.

Will you join me?

Check out Catie's progress on Strava