We Did It!

Old news by now but my sister Paula, my brother Kevin and I, ran a half Marathon around Phoenix Park in Dublin last Saturday. We did the whole thing together, even crossed the line together holding hands, it was great fun. About 2 hours and 2 minutes or so, but who's counting? Dad came up to cheer us on, though in the course of that 2 hours he only saw us three times. Traffic was hell afterwards, getting home was a real pain.

The real thing is on 4 weeks from Monday! I don't think I'm really ready, I'm not sure, the long runs are getting easier, no aches or pains now, no blisters, after 2 hours I usually feel fine. I have done up to 16 miles, and I'm going to push for 17 or 18 tomorrow, and maybe 19 or 20 next weekend, then no more long runs until the Marathon itself.

Lots of small news...

My eyes! My eyes!

I've had this problem with my eyes for the last month or so. Every few days they start to get dry, itchy and sore. Doctor said it is an allergy and prescribed anti-histamine eye drops. They seem to work, to a point, but they got so bad last Friday I had to leave work early. What with all the blinking and squinting I'm doing right now anyone who sees me thinks I'm a psycho. Great time to be going to a trade show...

Low Cost Airlines Congress

On in London, I'm flying over tomorrow night to be there for Tuesday and Wednesday. Poor Andrea will be left on her own again.

Adidas Dublin Half-Marathon

Next Saturday I'm doing this race with my sister Paula and my brother Kevin. Dad is coming up to watch and cheer us on also. I know Kevin is way faster than me, but I have no idea about Paula. Tonight I ran 12 miles in 104 minutes, which is just over 8 and a half minute miles, I'm hoping to do the 13.1 miles of the half marathon at that pace (8.5 min miles) and so finish in about an hour and 50 minutes. I won't get a lot of training between now and the race though.

Quiz Night!

Next Thursday night the OpenJaw staff sports & social club are having a pub quiz. I'm the compere for the night, and I had to come up with a couple of rounds of questions also. Looking forward to that. I need to find a dicky bow though.

So it's going to be a busy week, too busy to write blogs. In fact I've had to work several hours today, Sunday!

Mobile Blog

Mobile blog from concourse C in Dublin airport. Nothing to say except I'll be in Oslo for a few nights.

(This is a cheap phone, and I can forgive the absence of "blog" from the predictive text, but why didn't it recognise "Oslo"? You'd think the world's capitals would make the dictionary, wouldn't you?)

It'll be late in Oslo when I land. The restaurants close early there too. I'll probably have to settle for a hot dog for dinner.

There are two foods you don't expect in Norway, but in both cases they are everywhere and generally pretty good - hot dogs and waffles. Not sure why that is. Not exactly traditional Scandinavian fare (not sure what I was expecting on that front - maybe lots of seals, killer whales, reindeer and herrings).