It was my lucky day. But I had no idea just how lucky until my partner at the Reliant Rodeo Round-Up for charity suggested that I take the first round of the cowboy hat/washer toss and she would take the second. Whoops, no second round.

And that meant that Charlene Ripley, LINN Energy senior veep and general counsel, would represent our little team in the next challenge — a veritable rumble in a haystack.

We were novices at this sixth annual Reliant Center fun fest in which media types compete for a $5,000 prize for the charity of their choice.

My selection was the American Heart Association, which was how AHA board member Ripley ended up in that flying stack of hay. She didn't find the pink plastic pig that meant big points for the successful team. But she did end up with enough hay in her hair and down her clothes to challenge the Wizard of Oz scarecrow.

The scramble ended up in a near scuffle as competitors took it a little too seriously and started throwing hay at one another. No, thank you.

Although Charlene and I were decked out fairly swell for this rodeo event, we clearly were not prepared for the competition, most of which was based on a knowledge of country tunes. (Challenge me with Motown but not C&W.)

Better equipped perhaps were media celebs KPRC's Randy McIlvoy, KTRK's Casey Curry, Fox 26's Melissa Wilson (a two-time previous winner), HOT 95.7's Sarah Pepper and News 92 FM's Maria Todd.

But the winner of the day was Greg Miller of Bisnow and his charity partner Sara Farris, representing M.D. Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital. She ran away with the music competition. And they took home the $5,000 for Anderson.

But all is not lost. Reliant is sponsoring a Hard-Luck Contest. It's an on-line challenge that gives Charlene, me and the American Heart Association and the rest of day's losers a chance to win $2,500 if we have the most fans.

Go to the Reliant Facebook page here and vote for us. Please!