Mrs. Nitmos Is A Mudder!

Yesterday, Mrs. Nitmos completed her first start to finish solo race. It was a 5k under a steady downpour. Worse conditions, in fact, than any race I’ve ever raced in over the past 10 years. You know what I found out? Mrs. Nitmos is a mudder.

The race took place at the local community college, Michigan State University. They are well known locally for farming, cows, and beer-fueled riots when their sporting teams win (or lose) high-profile games. I live so close to their animal research facilities that I can often smell the cow and sheep dung wafting over with the spring air across my regular running routes. While this is welcome as a masking agent during my usual mid-run flatulence, it can spoil a summer cook-out. Nonetheless, it is a cute little college so Mrs. Nitmos, as part of an office challenge, signed up to run the race with some co-workers.

The race finished in the decrepit, dated stadium of the school’s football club. Thankfully, their mascot, a cartoonish chap with a broom atop his helmet, was not there to threaten the runners. My colt and filly, filled with tales of the child eating mascot since birth, would have been terrified.

We waited inside the stadium for Mrs. Nitmos to arrive beneath the protection of an umbrella. The rain and stadium rust speckles danced off the canvas and slid to the sticky cement floor around us. To the expected minute, she burst through the tunnel leading onto field and dug hard for the finish. The poorly drained field and loose turf would not prevent her from finishing strong.

She finished in the top 25% of her age group and top half of all runners. I don’t need to be told that it is never a good idea to compare a woman to a horse. But, if I can be forgiven this one transgression, I think it is appropriate: Mrs. Nitmos is definitely a mudder. Despite the downpour….despite the rain-soaked clothing…despite the smell of moist animal dung and recently extinguished couchs from the nearby streets, Mrs. Nitmos charged through to the finish for a new (default) PR.


She proudly wore the colors of the race-hosting school’s rival for the finishing picture. She was exhausted and wet and ready to go home. She had run hard and needed a blanket and a bucket of food and probably a good brushing.

On the way out, we all took cookies off the post-race runner’s table. We were hungry. I don’t care what you think of me. The cookies tasted delicious…like the savory goodness of an ill-gotten grape from the grocery store fruit aisle.

We might have had a Rice Krispy treat also. If so, we might also have discarded the cellophane wrapper to the ground before departing the stadium.

We are pretty sure no one would notice.

Congratulations Mrs. Nitmos!

Happy trails.
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Soccer! My colt’s team experienced a bit of a humbling at the hands of one of the worst teams in the league with a 3-1 setback on Saturday. It’s probably a good thing as his team, annually one of the best teams in the league, was starting to get a big head and took the game lightly. Lesson learned: The other team gets the same type of juice boxes so you better be prepared to play.

My filly, on the other hand, took out a can on a neighboring communities “team”. I say “team” lightly as they appeared to be little more than a group of colliding atoms bumping around with no direction. We had to lend them 2 players each quarter as Team Atom was short-handed. My filly pumped in 4 goals for us in an 8-1 victory. For good measure, she also scored the only goal for the other team when playing against us. So she had 5 goals but a +3 for the game, in hockey-speak.