Mud Glorious Mud!

My running shoes are filthy. Not just splashed with brown splodges or a bit worn-looking, but absolutely, soil-sodden, grime-caked, mud-encrusted, filthy. Chunks of earth as big as golf balls are clinging to the outside. Normally I quite like the just-ran-through-a-cow-field look, but it's been causing me a bit of a problem lately as I am spending a lot of time travelling, and hence having to cart around these crusty clodhoppers without contaminating the rest of my clothes or scaring my relatives/hosts when I leave them in their porch.

I have found the only solution is to carry a good supply of plastic bags to wipe stuff off with and to wrap everything in (and hey, it's re-using those bags). When I was staying in a posh (ish) hotel once I carried my muddy running shoes out to the front entrance in a plastic bag, put them on outside and hid the bag in a convenient bush before my run, then when I got back put my shoes in the bag again and walked through the lobby into the lift in my socks to avoid tracking mud across the hotel. This was probably unnecessarily cautious behaviour for a hotel guest (I am also the type of guest who tidies their own bed and always hangs towels on the rail), but it demonstrates the usefulness of packing plastic bags in your suitcase!

For actually cleaning shoes whilst on the move I have found cheap face wipes to work brilliantly for making runners more presentable, as well as for wiping legs, arms and clothing. In fact, don't tell anyone, but I have also used these to clean someone's bath after I took a shower in it following a muddy run; in short these are a true essential for any girlie runners!