Flashes of Panic

After the knee-deep salt water, I was ready to give this year’s NESCACs the “worst conditions I’ve ever raced in” award. (Close second: 2000 USATF XC in Greensboro.)

Then last night I started itching. Hmm, feels like poison ivy, but I was never in any bushes, was I? Annoying, but I had other things to concentrate on. After my run this afternoon, I cranked the shower up as hot as I could stand it and just pointed the stream at my legs until I realized I would have to get out eventually.

Tonight, before I even had a chance to mention it to A, she said, “Do your legs itch, by any chance?”

Turns out that nearly everyone who ran is itching. They’re calling it “the NESCAC rash,” and attributing it to “the marsh.” There’s even a Facebook group.

I’m treating it with OTC antihistamene tablets. I wonder if Conn College is planning on changing the course before they host New Englands next year?

Now Playing: Cornflake Girl from Under the Pink by Tori Amos

Technorati Tags: cross country, NESCAC, rash