Dirt in your skirt blog

Day 114… Mud, Dirt and More Mud

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Margaret Schlachter

Since I have been still resting my body post race, adding in some rolling and stretching I decided to take today to write about a substance I have become intimate with in the last few months, MUD. Mud and I should expand that to dirt seem to be everywhere in my life these days. If it were a relationship we would definitely be Facebook official and are definitely committed to one another.


MUD EVERYWHERE
 

Anyone having done an obstacle race knows that afterwards you are muddy. You expect it, you did sign up to get muddy. I have heard people complain at races when they don’t get muddy enough. Normally, you get home wash off and go back to our daily business maybe with an off colored shirt or pair of socks that will never truly be white again. For me it’s become part of my daily life.
 

It seems these days no matter how hard I scrub my feet they always have more dried up mud caked on them. My nail beds, well lets just say I would be embarrassed to go get a pedicure and subject anyone to my feet. It’s not uncommon to find dirt in strange places a day or so after a race, but that’s really only after races. It’s my feet that constantly look like I have questionable hygiene habits (I do actually shower at least once a day contrary to what my feet look like). The mud however is not only on my body.
 

I find my running shoes caked in dried mud and have gone from ruby red to well more like a dark Merlot, they have this distinct swamp like smell even when they are dry. Every time, I pick them up from their resting spot they leave behind dirt outlines, just so I can remember where they belong at the end of the next run. It’s like they are telling me this is my home.
 

These days I go to wash my clothes pulling them out of the laundry bin and a nice layer of dirt is there at the bottom reminding me of all the adventures I have had in the last week. This dirt odyssey continues to the washer and dryer as it is becoming more and more common to take my freshly cleaned clothes out of the washer and find a ring of dirt in it’s aftermath. Thinking my clothes are clean I move them to the dryer to find at the end yes that dirt has stayed with them the whole time, mostly in my socks. As I take my socks out and get ready to fold them as I twist them right side out the dirt falls to the floor, more dirt. Sometimes I have to do the whole load over again mostly it’s just in the socks and honestly they are going to get muddy again so what’s the point.
 

Then it’s time to vacuum again. I live in a small space, thankfully my muddy remnants are contained to one room when I get home. Many think I am crazy as I always seem to have some hint of my muddy exploits visible, for me it’s what I do. Mud and dirt are probably some of the most natural things you can have around you. Mud Happens, as an obstacle racer, you get dirty, and that’s what makes it fun.
 

As I picked up my mud caked shoes and washed them off in my bathroom before prepping to sending them back to get returned because of a hole in the side, I took a second to remember all the muddy runs we have had in a very short time. These shoes got me through the Spartan Beast, Warrior Dash and the Vermont 50. The new ones will be here tomorrow and ready to take the place of the old, soon to have their own mud caked adventures. Mud and dirt are truly part of my everyday life.