the lesser-seen active waider

Distance: ten miles
Target time: (a) beat last year's (1:13:52) (b) 70 minutes
Condition: VICTORY!

After a completely overcooked 6:10 on the first mile, I dropped my pace somewhat and stuck more-or-less to plan for the rest of the race, passing the half-way mark at about 34:00 and crossing the finish line a full minute and a half ahead of target at 01:08:27.

Having done that, I then drove from Dublin to Galway (a little over 200km) to participate in an informal game of five-a-side soccer as part of a stag party (3-3 draw until we decided that the stag should get a few goals), and then off to the dog track for a bit of gambling (over €30 profit, thank you doggies) and finally a few beers with the lads.

Needless to say I'm pretty tired and sore at this point, but delighted with the run.

hit points

I neglected to note specifics of soreness in the previous:

• blisters strike once again. I've had various recommendations made to me but the most promising was probably before the race when I took a spin on the Adidas footscan system to find out how messed up my gait is. The verdict - overpronation - is actually pretty obvious from where I get the blisters and from the way my shoes wear, and since I'm about due a new pair of runners I'll be looking out for the ones with bits to counter overpronation.
• The usual post-race creaks are starting to bite, but obviously exacerbated somewhat by the five-a-side where I did a fair amount of sprinting (I apologised to one of the opposition for a somewhat uptempo challenge by saying what I lacked in skill I was trying to make up for in enthusiasm). So in addition to the expected stressed calves I've also got a bit of soreness about the quads and hamstrings.
• I took an awkward shouldering during the soccer also; I'm not entirely clear on what happened, but it hurt, and it hurt the following morning, too. I think I just managed to bend my shoulder in one of the directions it's not supposed to go in, but not seriously so - just enough to make it OUCHY.

The stairs at Tara Street DART station should provide their usual post-race amusement (by which I mean torture) tomorrow.

also this weekend:

HELL Yeah. Who cares if we're going up against the pretty much unbeatable Kilkenny in the final? We weren't supposed to beat Tipp in the semi, and look what happened. Go on the Deise!