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That was pretty intense. It took a bit for me to get back to "normal" before talking about the race.

I looked up the weather and the tide. I knew it would be high tide half way through the run, so I dressed in waterproof shoes and my jacket. At the start of the race, I thought I was too warm.

The first half was great fun. A bit of headwind on some sections, but mostly a slightly challenging but not too hard pace of 6:20 mins/km or so.

From about the half way mark, I felt like I was going a tad too fast. I dropped my pace to around 7:30 min/km or so. This was sustainable. I was trying my best at this point to not switch to walking.

Turning back onto the Causeway Road, we all felt it instantly. Super strong winds from the side. It was almost like I was being blown off the road. Somehow, I actually got a bit faster along way until I got to the beach.

The beach was a sight. Remember that expected high tide? Yeah, the tide brought the water almost up to the end of the beach. We could maybe run 1 abreast in some parts. Some parts were a bit wider.

The wind was intense. Running brought me to walking pace. I think I was "running" at 8 min/km at this point. It was awful. My ankle was hurting a bit and my muscles were cramping. I decided I was going to walk until I got to end of the beach. Give my ankle a break.

Got to the paved road after the beach and now the head wind is sort of diagonal. Back left -> Front right. Every gust brought the sea water crashing onto the path we were running. It was cold and salty.

Initially, it was refreshing and fun. I got to wooden bridge and it was an amusement park ride. Every wave brought a spray of water that completely drenched anyone on the bridge. I took pictures before I got on and ran past it as fast as I could. I got completely splashed.

On the other side, the sea-side path along the Clontarf sea front was unusable. In fact, there's a halfway path that runners always take. I choose that path, I was still getting sprayed with water on and off.

Eventually, I gave up and ran on the cycle path until I got to Vernon Avenue. From then, the waves are a lot less intense and it's more of a bay.

I ended up finishing in 2:28:45. It's not my fastest. It's not my slowest. I'm quite happy about it though!

Just as I finished, I had a hot drink waiting for me. Seemingly, I was among the more prepared folks. There were people just shaking from the cold waiting for a hot drink.

My ankle hurt a lot less once I left the beach. I'm going to chalk it to the surface.

Today, I'm mostly functional and in much less soreness than I anticipated. I'm already looking forward to running it again next year :)

@ToniScott Thank you!