Mud and Stuff (Geneva 5k Race Recap)

I try not to use my blog as place to bitch and whine. If I’m bitching and whining you might think that I’m a misrible person or that we could never be real life BFFS because I’m a series of whine fest crying tantrums. Not the case-I’m a series of sarcastic remarks and weird occurrences but that’s about it. So let’s all be real life bffs.

But what I’m getting to here is that I raced on Saturday and it sucked. It was cold, muddy, rainy, windy, and there were 100 birds on the course. Incase you don’t know-I fear birds like it’s my job. The only birds I like are penguins. (and ostriches I guess).

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Let’s rewind to the last week or so because I have been a little bit MIA. My laptop still hasn’t shipped so I have to go to the computer lab to type blogs which is annoying (not to mention I am a student too and have to go to do work there). Long story short, I took Monday and Tuesday off completely from running.

Why?

Because my legs were twinging out like the day I got my stress fracture and I was not about to be an idiot. It seemed to clear up after that so then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I ran. Wednesday I felt excellent, Thursday and Friday I felt okay but not like I was about to PR.

By Saturday morning,my legs felt heavy and I felt blah. I think I was mentally exhausted as well as physically. Not to mention the freaking gas station wasn’t open until 6:00am. So therefore I had no coffee to deal with my lack of sleep. I kind of made up for it on the bus which was about 5 hours, although I woke up a few times dorwning in my lovely pile of drool. I know-you wanted to know that.

We got to the race site around 10:00 and immediately I saw thousands and thousands of birds. It was on a lake, so I guess sea gulls like that sort of thing. This course was different than most cross country courses as it was completely open and you could see the entire course from almost anywhere you wanted. I like courses where I can go hide in the woods for a few minutes (or all of them). While warming up my trainers became soaken wet and muddy. Then went from an obnoxious orange to a dingy brown. Since it was a loop course, I knew the first lap wouldn’t be bad (in terms of mud) but from there on out the course would be tore up from spikes and 125 girls running in a 3 feet diameter). But boys raced second, so at least I didn’t deal with an already ripped up course for the entire race.

So anyways, the race wasn’t one of my better. It was windy, literally ankle deep mud (like my pink spikes are currently brown), and freezing cold. When we could go against the wind, but splits would be upwards of 7:20 pace miles. When we were going with the wind, my pace dropped below 7 minutes. It was pretty humorous and slightly ridiculous now that I think about it. I got 17th overall-compared to 5th last year. Disapointing? Yes. But I have been running for 4 weeks (not heavy running either), done no speed workouts, and I was running in mud as well as a wind tunnel.

shoes — I don't think this photo does the grime factor of this course much justice.

So I’m over it.

On a better note-for making top 20 I got a sweet fanny pack. Yeah, this is real life. Go for a long run with me and I’ll hold our gels.

I also got quote of the day from my coach when I said: It’s only fucking warmup and my god damn ass is muddy.

Alright then. I still love running don’t you worry. The wind and mud is what I don’t like.

Question for you:

How do you clean your running shoes?

15 Comments

Your posts always crack me up, hah. Nice job at the race, the birds couldn’t have caught you anyway. That’s a sweet fanny pack, did it come with a Walkman?

If I was running in mud, I’m pretty sure my miles would be well over 10 minutes! You still rock. I say ditch the shoes and buy a new pair ;-P

Ick, that’s just nasty about running through the mud like that! I’m glad you managed to do as well as you did, you should be really thankful for that time considering the mud, wind, and also the lack of running the week before, it’s really a good time! I hope your next meet is better.

Lovin the fanny pack, hehe. Haven’t seen one of those in YEARS!

I know you were super pissed off, but I was so entertained by this post! You are so funny, even when you don’t mean to be. On a side note, I’m sorry your run was awful. But I sure do love your quote!

Haha leta go on a long run together. Please hold my phone and energy gels in your amazing fanny pack. You crack me up! Were you at Geneva College in PA?! Awesome 🙂

its ok to bitch and whine thats life!
although I would say you look happy in your picture, but maybe that is just because you have the fanny pack hahaha

Sorry you had a poopy race but I admire your ability to pick yourself back up! Wind and mud are no good.

Hah, love the fanny pack! I feel ya about the wind. Somehow on my run today, the wind only seemed to be around when I was running uphill.

Mud running is the best! Only in races though. It makes me feel super badass.

You crack me up with your quote to your coach! I’m not sure I’d be a fan of running in the mud, but I bet it’s good added resistance! 🙂

Loving the quote! Running in the mud can be fun till your done and your left with the mess to clean up.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the run. But look on the bright side you were able to turn it into an entertaining blog post 🙂

Mud running can be fun…but this just sounds terrible! I am sorry it was a bad race, but you are quite intense for getting through it 😀

I love how you said you would like to hide in the woods during races. I agree. I just ran a race that was super muddy, windy, and disgusting as well. It messed up my time for sure. It’s annoying, but you really can’t do much but move on. Unfortunately the next day I was not as wise as you and ignored the little niggly pain in my ass (literally) and now I think I have a strained gluteal muscle. It’s an awkward place to be injured.