You're so Weird

You can peep this article and over 100 pictures at the Statesman. Go to www.austin360.com/getout

It was a day where collecting sideway stares from your peers garnered respect and mutual appreciation. The more zany, bizarre and weird the more at home you might have felt since the idea was to be different.

If you’ve ever had the most random urge to run 3.1 miles downtown in an unruly Speedo as passer-bys marvel at your mullet and pale under belly that’s never seen the light of day, then the Austin Weird 5K was definitely your type of fun.

Logic would suggest that the Austin Weird Fest was an event that I could safely afford to attend, considering I always wanted to run downtown in a urinal cake costume.

It was an opportunity to revel in a collaborative fission of individualism that celebrates the essence of Austin. The rich diversity of costumes, eclectic characters and randomness seemed to flow cohesively as runners spilled into the street at the start line.

The race began at 6 p.m., but calling it a slow jogging parade draws from varying degrees of accuracy since the scorching sun was beating down, baking and punishing all those who weren’t wearing a Speedo, making the run challenging.

It’s safe to say that it was the most entertaining and wacky race since the old reality TV show Man vs. Animal. There was a collective of Dr. Seuss characters, a robot did the electric boogey on skates across the Congress Bridge and a scuba diver ran beside me.

As we turned onto 1^st Street/Cesar Chavez Street, I had already begun panting like some asthmatic dog and I needed water. But in lieu of a water stand I saw an Amy’s Ice Cream stand, of course. So I stopped and fueled up, realizing it was better than water.

The heat and the non-serious nature of the race meant I might finish it in just under one hour, which would be a deplorable feat on any given day. But I could care less.

On the final stretch I saw a man on stilts, people rowing in a cardboard canoe and two women running with walkers.

While music from What Made Milwaukee Famous and Alejandro Escovedo entertained families and racers were looking to cool down, I looked around and realized why I enjoy Austin so much.

How often do you get to take part in an all-musical, all-entertaining, all weird run of unbridled strangeness? Well, if you call Austin home, more often than you think and that’s why I love this city so much.