Ras na hEireann

I'm pretty sure that means "The Race for Ireland." Oddly, it is held in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, which means everyone was Irish - as long as being Irish means that you wear some green and go out and drink about a hundred beers. I've been Irish on St. Patrick's Day before. But I'm also really at least part Irish, which may explain my guilt for coming home from work and watching "This Old House Classics" on the TiVo while eating Thai food and drinking a glass of red wine. I even had Guiness in the fridge...

Back to the race - it's tomorrow. I am coordinating a group of people from my triathlon team to go in and vounteer at the finish line. We'll be handing out the finisher's medals (which are shaped like bottle openers) collecting timing chips and distributing food and drink to the folks that complete the 5K run. Today, I have to go in and meet with the race director to make sure everything goes smoothly tomorrow.

Getting into Somerville will be somewhat time consuming, so in the spirit of multitasking, I'm planning on hitting Marathon Sports to pick up a pair of new running shoes. I just recently got a number for the Boston Marathon, and need to put my training plan on the "hockey stick" growth model. Maybe a new pair of kicks will inspire me to get out and run more - at least it'll mean my feet won't hurt as badly as they did yesterday, after running 9 miles on Thursday night.

Today I'll also sit on the trainer for a while - my "A" race for this year is Ironman USA in Lake Placid, NY. More (much more) on that later.