No dancing tonight.

We went downstairs for cocktails around 3pm. A couple of glasses of wine later - we had peanuts, we hap crisps, I gave someone my map to Kinsale and along the coast. And now I have eaten bangers and mash, drank some water, brushed my teeth and have the hiccups.  Oh joy!
Tomorrows drive to Cashel should take 90 minutes and aboug a 3 hhour tour of the rock
Another 90 minute drive will bding us to Wafefrod where we have had an odd roo.upgrade
You may not hear from us over the ne t few days
Honestly the disconnect will be nice
We have missed this eveing line dancing

Oh well
I astill have those hiccups

Blarney Castle, House and Gardens

Today was an easy day. We turned off the alarms last night - shoot in tryin gto figure out the power switches I even turned off our room clock.  And tried to sleep in. I made it as late as half seven. At 8 I got up threw on some clothes and went downstairs for some coffee. This was an unusual habit as noted by the reaction of the girls in the restaurant.
We had a leisurely breakfast - pouched eggs over bacon and spinach and potatoes.
From there - off to Blarney Castle. Our objective was to get there before the tour buses and I would say we succeeded.
Thankfully the line to the top of the castle was minimal. The many spiral stairs in the narrow passage made for a good adrenaline rush. Made that walk to the top of Gibbs Hill in May seem like childs play.
We did not kiss the stone. It was more of a germ thing than the hanging upside down and backwards over the wall.
From there we walked over to the house and took a tour. The house is lived in so that made for a very interesting perspective of the living quarters as living quarters.
And then it was a walk around the grounds - poisonous garden, fern garden, horse cemetery, lime kiln, border garden, rock close. And vanilla cake with raspberry and cream filling and earl grey tea.
A very active day.
Tonight the hotel has dancers. We leave early for Cashel. So may not make it to the danced pefformance.

Try to catch up

I have a lot more noted for the blog when i start to make sense of all the pictures when i get back. But lets see.
Today was the shortest drive of all the drives to date.
We have had a nice restful afternoon in Blarney. We did a wonderful walking tour that actually turned out to be a driven tour of Kinsale. I made the reservations in Kinsale for the food connection. But we learned so much more today.
We drove out to Charles Fort and looked back at the town. We learned about the navy and coast guard patrolling the coast for drug running. We learned about the 10foot depth change with the tidal change and the 2knot running current during the tidal change. And the tide changes 10miles up river. Just amazing.
From there we learned about a battle - oh right up my mom's alley. It had to do with the Spanish Armada, the British and the Clans. It was truly hard to tell if the outcome was good or bad. The Clans fought with the Spanish and they lost. But in the long run is that OK? I think it might be.
We took a ride out to the battle field as well.
There were cows. My mom made an "eat more chicken" Chic Fil A joke. I had to remind her the others did not see the similarity to the cows.
From the tour we walked up or should I say UP to the Carmelite Friary and down to Desmond Castle and the Wine Museum. It was some trekking.
A good day.
There is live music tonight. Just not sure will make it to half nine to see/hear the music.

Way too much food.

Not enough cardio.
We are off to walk around Blarney.
I doubt it will burn off all I have eaten.
Today's chicken burger was more of a kick ass version of a Chic Fil A sandwich with carmelized onions, lettuce, tomatoe and mayo. And the fries were reminiscent if old school Wendys fat girl fries.
Off to walk!

Greetings from Kinsale

I will try to recap as succinctly as possible.
Friday- 3 hour delay from Newark. Sleep minimal.  Thank you woman behind me that kept my seat from declining. Listening to Mumford and Sons and Florence helped. Wasnt keen on the whole Adele cd.
Saturday - coffee and yogurt at airport az waited for rental car. AaH left is right.  Arrived at Adare a little beofre lunch. Checked in and walked to town for lunch. Qucik shower and off to tour of manor house. Nap before dinner - mussels, monk fish and bread pudding.
Sunday - Aroumd the ring of kerry. Beautiful views. Sorry to the car in Milltwon(sp) that was me that clipped your u mirror with my own. The sites were great. I am sure the pics wont do it justice.  Arrived late in the day at Killarney. Had thought would have wanted to cover more of Killarney when planning. Think I would encourage that to others. Do the sites inKillarney.
Aa for beautiful drives...
Monday - we did not stop as often on this drive but the ride along the coast to Kinsale was amazing. Hills, mountains, oceans, palm trees, water, boats... well worth it.
We spent the late afternoon walking around Kinsale. Will spend majority of tomorrow here as well. Then off to Cork and Blarney.
Thx for reading.

And here we go...

Little guy is at the "resort".  He seemed happy for the car ride and ultimate visit with him friends.  They all seem to like him.  Makes me feel good to be able to leave him and know he will be looked after.  He comes home earlier than me but will hang with other friends then.
Have figured out the world phone.  Not sure I will have figured out world dialing when I get to the destination.
Have figured out wifi on the DROID so that will be traveling with me.  I know many of our locales will have wifi access so think I will be blogging from there.  My mom is more about facebooking.  I dont think I will be on the bandwagon but we shall see.
I also figured out the Kindle on the DROID.  So I have downloaded the last of the Millenium series - I know who would think I wouldnt be done with this already.  It was last year this time that I was reading the Dragon Tatoo book.  I have only found hard copy of Hornets Nest so have not been keen on purchasing it.  But as of last night I know own in Kindle version.
Lastly - I was laughed at earlier this week when I mentioned how the Gulf Stream circles up and around to Ireland...  as of the this morning the NOAA the very far right hand of the Irene forecast was showing the Ring of Kerry.  If Irene follows us that would just be par for the course.  At least for me.
Reminds me of Colin last year.
http://bermudafuldream.blogspot.com/
Well will probably write more at some point today.  Although I have purchased the old standby staple of the written journal... always a great way to purge the brain and people watch when traveling.

earthquake

yes, i did feel the earthquake today...
i thought that someone had moved/walked/bumped into the cubicle walls...
was startled to find that no one else was around
realising i had no idea why the desk was moving this afternoon...
wasnt until i heard on the radio that they were evacuating the pentagon that i realised  -  hmmm, earthquake...

pickled eggs

in following up on a previous conversation...
the jar of pickled eggs on the counter should have been a sign...
gagging just thinking about it

work late

the problem with leaving the country for 2 weeks is you have to make sure all the lose ends are tied up before leaving... i made great progress today at work... and i wanted to work later BUT with a house guest with a quest for dinner EVERY night that does not work... also when you use part of the ingredients for dinner as lunch the past 2 days, you have to go to the grocery so they can eat...
I can only hope to be as productive tomorrow...
as for what dinner will entail tomorrow - just dont know...
No run this evening as I need to pay bills - one of those loose ends I dont look forward to - especially since the bike and rental car hit at the same time...
Gonna pick through the closet again to determine if I have everything I need to pack...

itinerary...

and because a few have asked...
shannon, adare/adare manor, ring of kerry, killarney/friars glen, south road trip - kenmare, bantry, glengarriff ending in Kinsale/Trident, Cork, Blarney, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel, Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Dublin, Doolin, Aran Islands, Shannon...
I will expand upon my return.  I think I will be posting pictures out this way...

Monday - the day to run

I seem to consistently find the motivation to run on Mondays.  This week it was a quick run after dinner and before Eureka.
One of the observations of running after work - ahhh, the neighborhood is usually a buzz with people and that can be distracting.  I did not do my normal loop to avoid the gaggle of kids riding bikes in the one part of the neighborhood.
Going to continue with the evening runs this week...  It just looks to work best with the other items on the list of things to do...
Morning meeting today.
Car service tomorrow morning.
Thursday - just trying to get as much done as possible before the holiday.
I also need to verify some financial stuffs before I leave. And print the last of the maps.  And make sure I have everything I need for packing.... 

Saturday morning

Kind of bummed the Endomondo created a drunken staggering effect on my morning workout.  Forgot to post the Garmin piece after I looked at it.  I am getting better. I KNOW that if I were more consistent I would see greater results.
I did not do the race this morning. Just let myself off the hook on this one. I did see my old trainer when I picked up my race packet yesterday.  She was excited about my bike purchase.  She is pretty active in town with races and has always been more of a cheerleader for me than a crazy mean trainer.  Made me miss the Y and the option to train with her.
I am putting my thoughts together for training once thr holiday is complete.
Today I am doing laundry. Picking out items for the trip etc etc. Also need to do a Target run for toiletries and such.
Rifht now the rest of the house is napping.

Endomondo Running Workout

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 3.17 miles in 34m:54s using Endomondo.

this is so wrong... will have to post the garmin stats too...

endomondo

still tinkering with the endomondo app to see how it is working...  interesting how it tracks where you are...  but it looks like it hits a little off...
other observations that i need to remember...
that long hot bath last night did wonders to provide me with some quiet and relaxation and make me sleepy - first night in a week or so that i slept through the entire night
another observation - just because others make it a norm to have cocktails with dinner each night - it is not part of my norm - and it interupts my general approach to things...
why do i forget these things? why do i find myself slipping into the habits of others?  probably a much longer answer than i have time for

chuckle chuckle

this is me being harsh on myself...  i actually got myself up at what i perceive to be my good waking hour... you know the 530ish time frame...  i only walked for about 10 minutes at most.. and that was with the little guy...  so no major calorie burn or heart rate increase...  but given the past week's overall shall we say malaise... we will give myself a high 5 for just pulling out a little motivation...
today is a later afternoon meeting at a client 2+ hours away... i suspect my evening home arrival will be later than i was thinking...  i suspect that some of this is why i struggle with a stated schedule

Mental Map

I have worked really hard over the years to work on a glass is half full perception. Recently it seems that the glass is being kicked and shattered on the ground. Not much there when it comes to the positive self talk. So i took a little inventory of the situation over the past 24 to 48 hours. I am glad i did. It may not have helped to put it all in perspective but it did help me weed some things out.  Really pick oved all that has besn building up and find the silver lining in them. 
I figure i will pick over it some more to get back on track.
But first the one thing i know always helps and cannot be overlooked is a good night sleep.

overwhelmed

was asked by a good friend yesterday why i am feeling overwhelmed...  i gave a short answer and then i spewed on about a large answer...  it was good to get everything out of my head... but i was surprised to realise how much was actually residing up there...
going to work on shaking some of that off in the near future and let some of that go...
race on saturday morning at 730 - have decided it is going to be a d gets ready for holiday solo day... 
we shall see

routine

just blown right out of the water...  i really thought with my mom's visit i would hold my own and get up in the morning and walk and go to the gym after work and train...  but it is not happening...
not sleeping well,,,, not feeling productive at work...  constantly feeling distracted...
the fridge has lots of stuff in it but nothing that i can use and pack for light lunches and snacks...
and i not even motivated to get the gym bag packed
i should probably just pack the bag and do something...  even if it is just to clear my head...
humph

Endomondo Playing handball Workout

Endomondo Playing handball Workout: "was out playing handball 1.75 miles in 39m:57s using Endomondo."

i have just downloaded this feature to my phone
a friend from high school has been using with his cycling for a while now and he thinks this one is pretty close to target with distance calibration...
so i wore my garmin and turned this on today...

it was a walk - no idea why it says handball!!
this is near my mom's new house...
will keep giving it a try

slow weekend...

yesterday was more of an ireland day than a tri day...  good thing i changed the name of the header on the blog....  i had purchased the tickets way back...  then it was all about creating an itinerary and making hotel reservations... that was spent online with google maps determining how long we could drive at a given time and where we would end up...  from there hotel research and hotel reservations...
now i am back to the details of the itinerary...  printing detailed maps and figuring out what specifically is available to be done at each stop...
today's weather is about the same so i could actually finish up the itinerary by this evening...

no run

feeling not that good - constant feeling of drainage and throat clearing...  fearing will lead to a headache...
gotta go to bed early tonight as tomorrow is an early day...

run again tonight

i was going to go running last night after straightening up the house
somehow that never happened...
so it IS going to HAVE to happen this evening...
shooting for the whole 3.1 miles... we shall see how it goes

Light a fire to painting

My mom is going through all sorts of paint chips since her arrival.  Trying to determine what colour scheme she'd like to use in the new house.
All the while, I still have a number of areas in my house that are not painted - sun room, stair well, guest bath, guest room...  Gosh and I have been in the house for years...
You would think it would light a fire under me...  But not so...
Speaking of paint and fires...  WOW - footage of HWP today on bernews...

run run run...

the 5k i signed up for months ago is in 2 weeks...  my focus is to keep running running running for the next 2 weeks to hopefully get my endurance for the run up to some sort of consistency for the 5k...
so today's jaunt to the gym entailed - 2 miles.. i was going for 3 but my phone kept wringing so i stopped...
so the track at the gym is 12 times around for a mile... i have finally graduated to 2 times around at a run - 1/6th of a mile...
so think evening was a 2x walk; 2x run for the 2st mile,
1x walk; 1x run for the second mile... couldnt find my foot pod to clock pace etc...
and tried pandora on the droid not too sure i like the service... it is slower

Now that that's behind me

i hate that it never rained but glad with everything else i got done over the course of the weekend...
now in 2 weeks i have a 5k that i signed up for
i was pretty pleased with my run yesterday and Saturday...
the focus will be running and stretching etc for the next 2 weeks...
did not make the AM run this morning - alarm did not go off... still working on figuring out the new phone :)

14.2miles on bike

and 1 mile on foot
so no tri today and no new cool tshirt or challenge of the travel and the crowd
but i enjoyed myself...

No rain

For those of you who officially heard I would be doing another triathlon today, that is not the case.  I was having too much speculation on the weather - rain and heat.  So mid day yesterday after seeing some photos of local rain in Wilmington, I opted to stay here instead. Now at 630 AM it is warm out there but no rain.  So I am going to throw the bike on the car and go for a ride. 

Saturday AM

So here I sit. I am outside the hair salon. The girl who cuts my hair was kind enough to reschedule my appt to 9am so that we could cover some gray - its really not a case of being blonder these days- before the Ireland trip.
I am so on the fence abt tomorrow that it is safe to say I am at NO. It rained all day yesterday - local flooding even made the national news. Today it has been foggy, sunny, cloudy, dark + cloudy, dark clouds in the distance, sun has gone away.
And it really comes down to - do I want to drive 3.5 hours today to Wilmington - potentially in rain, to pay $150+ to sleep in a hotel, to get up at 530am to potentially have it be raining there?
I won't compete in the rain - I have had that agreement with myself for about 2 years now.
Adding to the $ mix - well the rearranging of the hair won't be cheap. The new suitcase I had to order for IRL wasn't cheap. My mom wants to get new cell phones before our trip.
So like I said I am pretty close to being at NO.
And I kind of hate that. Struggle with whether or not I am letting myself down or not.
Silly. Must be some childhood something or other.

off to bed...

thanks to all for the well wishes and the motivation...  now just waiting to see what the weather...  4 days of potential thunderstorms across ALL the Carolinas... brings... and if the drive et al stay on the agenda...
will keep you posted!

now there is rain

not sure what to make of it...  it has been pouring down rain since about noon...
so back on the wait and see mode...

Emily went poof....

So 2 days worth of obsessing over the NHC site for nothing.  WHICH IS WHY!!!  I hardly ever pay attention to the weather. 
So I swam, sauna, ran tonight.  All the while playing some positive internal self talk for Sunday's race.  I had seriously talked myself out of the race with all the thought on the weather.  I am still somewhat hesitant.  The heat potential for the weekend and the thunderstorm threat has me a bit ill at ease. 
I am in that keep moving forward mode tonight and hope to keep at that pace through race day - and the race.
My swim time is in the middle of the pack.
I have pulled up all directions - to hotel, to packet pick up at local bike shop, to race site...
I need to find out about late check out - I need to be able to leave the little guy at the hotel in this heat...
And then I need to work out what to pack - sleep clothes, swim shorts, jog bra, swimtop, socks, sneakers, swim cap, goggles, ear drops, bike, helmet, baseball cap, water bottle, step ladder, coconut water, sun screen...
CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE - can you?
oh - change of clothes in case i decide to maybe CHANGE before i drive all the way home...
will keep everyone posted

race day

Emily seems to be stalled just south of Haiti....  not sure what that impact will be on ETA for Wilmington.  I have realised I dont really need to decide until noon on Saturday.  And the planner in me is trying to be spontaneous like that.  It is hard.
No need to help with the move yesterday - most things were unpacked by the time I got home.
Tonight gonna swim - let's hope the thunder storms stay at a comfortable distance until after pool time..
ALSO going to try a yoga class...  interesting...
As for carbs - the race usually only takes about 90 minutes - and my stomache gets so torn up with the nerves that morning that my food intake that morning is not that great...  not going to worry about this too much as I get my head around the weather and travel times etc...

how can that be...

i hate that the dress i just put on for work this morning is snug
you know you can feel the dress on you
not tight where you cant breathe but snug
and i am hating that at the moment...
sure i have fallen head first off the 17-day diet thing... i had some bday celebrating and baby shower distractions... then i got thinking about carbs for the race...  so this week hasnt been all that stellar on the first 17 days bit...
i had expected as much when i first started counting the days etc...
now to start the next 17 days after Sunday - which will bring me right before I leave for Ireland...  if I can lose anoter 5 pounds by then I would be happy...
we shall see how that goes...

Weather update

So I successfully got up and did another walk through the neighborhood again this morning.  Interestingly I have found a muscle in the front of my leg that I assume is from the hills in the neighborhood and the walking versus the run/jog.  I would like to keep this in the rotation in preparation for lots of walking in Ireland.
I was planning on going to the gym but my morning got too confusing - do I get up straight away throw on clothes and head to the gym?  what to do about the morning coffee?  what about breakfast?  what work clothes will travel OK and not get to out of shape in the locker (these lockers are smaller than the Y variety)?  and with that the concept did not happen...
when I count objectives and time frames etc on my fingers - it could work - i just need to get the little coofee, food and clothing logistics in place...
I will not be working out this evening - unless you consider unloading my mom's car load of stuff a work out...  and it very well could be just that...
And then there is this ever daunting storm way out there south of Puerto Rico...  According to the local weather man - the storms are slated to impact the rip currents and such.  They do not expect there to be much in the way of wind and rain.  I have until 6pm on Saturday to cancel my hotel reservation so I guess I will continue to play by ear...  At the moment Emily looks to have slowed down some which could mean eventually picking up strength over the warmer waters...  So we shall see...
Of course the introduction of this concept of not racing into my psyche does LOTS of damage...  I start to think of all the other things I could be doing with my time etc... 

EMILY...

something else to contemplate....
I hadnt been paying attention this morning - Sam Champion mentioned Emily heading towards Florida and that was about all I paid attention to... the name reminds me of the storm in Bermuda - was that 1987?  but other than that it did not register...
OH but look at NHC
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at5+shtml/204113.shtml?tswindloop?#contents
I know by the time others look at this the forecast can and will change..
but in the hours of 2am Sunday morning to 2pm Sunday afternoon - Emily or whatever is left of her is slated to be right over Wilmington...
And in my mind - I do not want to drive 3 1/2 hours to the coast to ride my bike in the middle of a tropical storm...  That bike is still new and my own personal safety is not that crazy...  I will decide a little later in the week as to what I am doing...  I need to double check the hotel's cancellation policy as well...
Who WOULDA thought!?

vacuum

that is what pre-empted this evening's workout...  needing to vacuum before my mom's arrival...  i have a small version of a pug accumulating on my floors in the form of dog hair...  so that won out over the rest of the game plan...
tonight is National Night Out - totally forgot about it - now that I have already eaten I have learned there is someone selling BBQ in town - BUMMEr
AND it is National Ice Cream Sandwich day - and I would love to run out and grab an ice cream sandwich.... actually if I had known I would have made my own..  oH wELL...
and now that the vacuuming is done and it is only 730 I contemplate on what else to do with the evening....

swim bike run...

i am trying to do the walk in the morning this week - get the muscles moving etc...
and last night i did manage to get all the other aspects in
i thankfully did a 12x4 swim at the gym - had to share the lane for a bit which i am good with given the hectic pool aspect of race day...
i did 20 minutes on the stationary bike - gosh a road bike sure is a whole lot easier to ride than that thing...
and then did a quarter mile on the track - sure that wasnt much of a walk but it was really just an effort to feel how it all works one after the other
gonna try to do the same this evening
tomorrow - hold on to your hat with this one - i am thinking of heading to the gym in the AM to swim
i have company arriving tomorrow so wont be able to go after work
i made dinner when i got home - thats an odd one - cooking a good meal at that hour - i dont think that is a good use of calories so late in the evening but better than a bowl of cereal
good thing tonight will be better

nothing

those are my results in training this weekend
i knew saturday was going to be a wash - i did not anticipate the same for Sunday... 
i was making arrangements for our upcoming visit around the house and by the time i was done the air quality had the best of me... i know i could have gone to the gym but my get up and go had got up and went...
the biggest effort of my day - walked to R&C to drop off some food and the grocery store to get some more food.... 
already got a walk in this morning - now to pack gym bag for after work