Houston Training

Depending on where on the North Loop you are, Memorial Park is the Mecca of running for Houston.

Doesn't matter what time of day you show up, there will be people - fast people - there running.

twomarks

Assuming you don't have your bike/wetsuit with you?

There are a LOT of green areas to run in Houston.

The closest to the area you are in looks like the West White Oak Bayou Trail.

I haven't been there, but from the map it looks like a lot of other great bayou trails that run for miles along the water ways where the potential for flooding is too great for houses to be built.

If you bring your wetsuit we can point you to some places to swim.  But you will need access to a car and about 30 minutes of driving time.

OWS will be cold, but it is tolerable.

The best, legalest, place to swim is Lake 288. (http://288lake.net/)  It is a bit hidden but not too bad, you just have to look for the scuba sign.

They charge a daily rate and it is all good usually pretty clean lake with a few sunken boats you can see as you swim over them (speed boats, not pirate). 

A little farther away and a little cheaper is twin lakes, but it is a pain to get in and out of physically.

The third option is some neighborhood lakes where we swim, but without an official ok.

Last, but not least would be Sylvan beach, this would be a good hour drive for you but it is salt water swim.  I haven't been there for a while so I'm not sure if you can get into the park right now, but if so they have a roped off area, but I squeezed outside the ropes and swam in the open water last year around march.

The rodeo is something you should really go see if you have the opportunity.

In essence, it's a large educational scholarship non-profit disguised as a rodeo.

Make sure to get the fried oreos somewhere and get the chicken BBQ sandwich on jalapeno cheese bread from Goode (pronounced 'good') Company BBQ.  During rodeo is the only time Goode Co. sells that sandwich and I have one every time I go.

twomarks