Did you know that adults runs Cross Country? I bet you thought it was just for ridiculously in shape high schoolers, didn't you? As my friend Laura put it, awww how cute; I didn't know grown ups did that.

Which is kind of how it was. IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Held in our own backyard, of all places. They chose a short route through Holyrood Park and through some rugged (by European standards, NOT by Rocky Mountain standards) Arthurian mountainage. So of course we had to make an appearance.

Congrats, of course, to all those from Ethiopia and Kenya who royally schooled the competition in long distance mountain running. Because really, they totally dominated. In the top 10 for the women's race, there was only one non-East African (insofar as Ethiopia is East Africa, which I know is up for some debate about semantics and human geography and nationalism and all that). I don't know the exact specs for the men's race, but I am fairly sure that the results were similar. Something about growing up with no shoes makes non-whities better runners. (OK, I'm uber sorry for the off color comment, but that's for certain people I went to high school who may remember certain comments about how Europeans and Americans spend so much money on fancy trainers and the best running shoes available, and who wins races? Oh yeah, the guy who's never had a pair of shoes in his life.)


Speaking of no shoes, this was fun to see: because Scotland is perpetually rainy and miserable, the ground was saturated. It wasn't such a problem for the women's race, which went first, but by the time the men began their pointless circling of Arthur's Seat, it was a cesspool of mud and grass and swan poop. Makes you want to run, doesn't it? Anyway, so by the time the men ran it was so awful that people kept losing shoes in the muck. The first couple, announced ceremoniously over the loud speaker with amusement, stopped and put their shoes back on. Eventually, though, people just dropped it and ran without shoes. Mostly Africans and Moroccans, as all the woosy Europeans couldn't possibly run without shoes. In that kind of mess, though, I bet better traction could be had with toes than with running shoes, even fancy cross country ones.

Another interesting point: the only woman wearing full covering was a single girl from Egypt. Another Muslim woman from Ethiopia has on a small head covering, but the girl from Egypt was clothed in a tight spandex running uniform (which I have issues with anyway, because such things may cover up all your skin, but there is NOTHING modest about skin-hugging spandex). I've just spent so much time over the last few weeks talking about feminism in the Muslim context and human rights and such, that I was surprised to not see more women dresses as such. I also found it odd that all the women seemed totally unable to run in anything other than what amounted to a bikini, while the men seemed to manage just fine in running shorts and loose tank tops. This was especially true for the European women who can't seem to stop showing off their entire bodies even for 30 minutes to run a serious race. I mean, I'm all for women being able to dress however they want, but is it really necessary to wear only spankies and a bra in public? The East Africans seemed to manage just fine in their "traditional" running outfits. Hmmmmmm....

At any rate, all I can really say is that this cross country race, with countries from all over the world being represented, was way more fun than it should have been.