Sunday, October 23, 2005

Mud Packs

I ran the NB Corporate Triathlon yesterday. It's always fun to do. Unlike last year, I did not get sunburnt, nor did I get a bruised toe nail that needed cauterizing.

It was nice cool weather to run, for most of the way at least, since the heavens opened at 3 the night before. Problem with that, mud. Mud everywhere.

The fields were squishy.

At that point, I realised howmuch of a xiao jie* I've grown up to be. There were all these volunteers, teenagers between 14 and 18. They had given up trying to keep their footwear clean and had taken to walking around in the reporting field bare feet and totally muddified. They were totally oblivious to the squish and gunk that was around them. They just trapsed around quite happily, branding us with our team numbers.

And the result of squishy fields and changeover points- from cyclist to runner, was that my shoes were caked in mud and were no longer white and purple. They were just brown. To make matters worse, so were my socks. Never underestimate the power of wet mud, and here, I'm not talking about the glacial mud you put on your face to look beautiful. My socks needed to be soaked in soap powder and scrubbed for it to reclaim any semblance of being a pair of white socks.

The run itself was not bad. It was punishing because I started off too fast. I blame the mud for that too. I had to run out of the changeover pen and I desperately craved solid hard ground under my feet. So, I took off as if ten thousand wild boars were pissed with me for invading their mudbath. And by the time my feet hit hard ground, I felt like I'd run half the race already.

I think I registered a good time, but I won't know till the official times are out. I do know that I spent the rest of the day in a daze and went to bed at 9 last night.

Thank goodness I'm not running the StanChart Marathon this year.

*xiao jie- Wanting to always remain pristine and not dirty like boys. =)

Ondine tossed this thought in at 12:17

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