The Irony of the Drought

It has come to my attention that the new thing in running is the obstacle/mud run. Sometimes referred to as the Warrior Dash, the Spartan, or Dirty Run, these events have popped up around the area, and friends and friends of friends of ours have signed up in droves. Not a weekend goes by on Facebook without a set of pictures of folks standing, covered head to toe in mud, holding their finisher's medals. Not only are you to run, but run through muck and mud, hurdling over walls and scrambling up ropes.

Now, although I applaud all efforts to get out there and get some exercise, I have zero (as in NONE, NADA, ZILCH) desire to do one of these races. Give me a hot, sweaty, hilly run, and I'm there. Allow me to train for a long distance, and I'll do it. But mud, no thanks.

Maybe it's because my whole life as a farmer's wife on a gravel road is one big dirty, mucky mess. 

While thousands of folks sign up to trudge through the muck and mud, signing up and paying their fee, Joe, the kids and I merely have to walk outside, step onto our "gravel road," and there you go...mud run accomplished! Scramble up a fence and chase after a cow on the loose, no problem. No fee necessary.

Although my road could be one big dirty mud run in itself, the irony of the mud run this summer to me is not my location and station in life, it's that, like a lot of the country, there's no mud around here.

It's dry.

Bone dry.

No mucky boots are on my porch currently, however, we did have a little rain last night, so I wouldn't mind having some muck to clean up.

The irony of the drought is that a lot of people are not affected as we are, obviously. While we pray and pray and pray for rain...but not too much, too fast...folks run these races through manufactured mud, patches sprayed with hoses to make you stick and stink and sweat even more. This is funny to me, because as a person who has had to field questions from urban folks about the affects of irrigation and water supply, isn't it ironic that some of those folks might be slogging through a patch of manufactured mud just for the sake of fun? Where's the water conservation there? We can't whip out the hose to spray down the pastures as they continue to brown up in the heat and sun, we just have to hope that they will be given the necessary watering from Mother Nature, and crops will receive a drink from the heavens.

We just pray.

I'm not saying that mud runs are not worth their time and training, I am just considering hosting one myself, the next big rain. Joe would probably win, as he can not only slog through pastures when it's mucky in heavy Northerners, but is an expert fence scrambler, when something needs attention quickly in the pasture.

Anyway, good luck to all those who have and will be participating in a dirty run. My road is open to all those in need of a place to train...Joe will help you, too!