Rain, rain, go away

So... yeah.

Wow.

Today was, as I just told Facebook, epically wet.

I woke up at 9:00 AM.  It was a downpour outside.  At some point in my puttering around, Ria left me a voicemail to say that she'd picked up my stuff for the race (my number, shoe-timing thingy, and t-shirt).  Ria, thank you so, so much.  That made all the difference in my morning, as I had no idea where to go to pick it all up.

Anyway, yeah, so there was a race today at 11:00 AM.  Ras na hEireann.  Around 10:30 I started walking over to Mike and Ria's place, which is a block from the race's starting point.  I got there, changed into runnin' stuuuff, and then stood around for a few minutes waiting for Eric.  He got there, got changed, and we went running off down the street to try to get to the race before it started.

As we're walking, we see a pack fly by.  Doh.  We ran backwards a few blocks to get to the beginning, joined the crew, and started running in the correct direction.

Ye Olde Irish Race had begun.

It was a great, enthusiastic crowd.  Lots of green, outrageous clothes.  There was a bagpipes-and-drums corps playing along the street as we ran.  It was pouring rain.  The runners cheered them like crazy.

The race was, otherwise, excellent.  I was feeling great, despite the rain.  I found myself passing a great deal of people, which is a wonderful, somewhat competitive feeling.  Apparently I'm not half bad at this. The race went up to Teele Square, across Somerville to the east, and then back down to Davis.  (5K, if I didn't say it already).  I picked up the pace a bit in the last quarter mile or so, and found myself crossing the finish line as the little clock thingy read 26:10.  I believe I crossed the start line a few minutes late, though.  So... maybe 24 minutes?  I'll take that for 3.1 miles.  Not bad!

After the race, I walked back to Mike and Ria's to find Mike, Bonnie, and Drew hanging out.  I was soaked to the bone, except my lower torso, which was protected by my waterproof jacket thing.  The rest of me, totally sopping wet.  My shoes are still, even now, totally soaked.

A few minutes later, Eric came back, and then Ria and Jess after that.  We sat around, got dry and warm, and watched the History Channel talking about great battles and military campaigns from history.  They talked about how the intelligent decisions the generals were making coincided with Sun Tsu's ideas.  Good for them, those generals!

After a while, we ordered some pizzas and wings from some place around Somerville.  There was an hour wait.  We got a delicious spinnocoli (something like that), which I hate 3/4 of.  (Oof.)

Eventually, we played a bit of rock band, and I went home.  I think around 3-4 PM.  Something like that.

Jessi and I started talking about going shoe shopping at some point, and then getting together for a little study/work session somewhere.  We eventually met at Park St. downtown, as we are apt to do, and walked over to DSW.  I got these rockin' shoes there.  We also hit up a City Sports, and I found a pair of new running shoes.  (Not because mine were wet, but because they're old!)

Good deal.

We then got on the Red Line and took it up to Harvard for a little Dado action.  Tea/Maple Scones were consumed.  I worked on some stuff for work, Jessi studied some papers.  We attempted to inform each other what it was we were doing, with middling success, I think.  (but that's okay!)

After a few hours, we got ahold of Julia, who suggested we show up at her place around 8:00 PM or so for birthday cake and ice cream.  This seemed an excellent idea - so we obliged.  We hung out there for a few hours, watched some Sunday TV (The Simpsons, Family Guy), and eventually all said our goodbyes.  I offered Jessi a ride home, figuring it'd be more pleasant than sitting on the T for over an hour.

We walked back to my place, I got my keys and a more reasonable pair of shoes, and we drove down to Roxbury Crossing to her apartment.  I then took a meandering path up Huntington Ave. to Mass. Ave, and took that all the way home.

And, as is often the case, here I am.

Ow.  I got myself soaked at least four separate times today.  I've had quite enough of rainy weather.