Biggest Loser - Shelley Style

That's right folks, I AM the biggest loser - although that title would imply that I have lost something - not!!  I have officially pulled out the "huffy girl" jeans from the bottom of the closet.  They barely fit.  Now I have made some attempts in the past week to keep up with my phat ass plan to get back in shape - but have only seen marginal improvement and minimal weight loss.  I can't wait for the holiday cookies!!!!  I suppose I could purchase my next pair of pants from the army surplus supply store.

To further my humiliation I paid for the honor of having Karen H come over to work on a weight training plan for me.  I really do need it but talk about embarressing...   So  poor Karen shows up at my door in the pouring down rain - upset.  I am thinking she has had a car accident or hit a dog on her way over. Nope - a moving violation.  Some peace officer has informed her ( incorrectly I am told) that she failed to come to a complete stop.  It takes Karen several minutes of venting to calm down before we get down to the business of torturing me.  So up to my "girl cave" in the attic we go.  We have a fair amount of weight liftting equipment that has been collecting dust - obviously.  So Karen starts off with some upper body arm/chest stuff.  I am only doing one set with her as she is correcting my form and making sure I am doing the exercises correctly.  I start to sweat, which is not uncommon as I normally sweat like a pig, except that we haven't really been working that hard as we are taking breaks so she can show me the next exercise and write notes.  This should have been my first clue that I was in for some serious humiliation. As we go through different exercises I am shocked at the number of strength imbalances I have with both arms and legs.  Wow! I am messed up.  No wonder I have continued to get hurt and never recover.  Anyways, the last area to be address is my core/abds.  Yikes!  I knew - well thought I knew - that I was going to be in trouble in this area but was not prepared for how bad.

Enter my own personal Jillian(Karen) biggest loser moment.
Jillian(Karen): "OK, now I want you to put your feet up on the (stability) ball and roll it up under your chest"  "Get your toes up on the ball and your butt up in the air"
Shea(Shelley): ..attempting but falling sideways off of the ball without even being able to move my feet toward my chest, onto the floor.
Jillian(Karen): "What was that??????"
Shea(Shelley): "Ahhh, me trying to do what you just said"
Jillian(Karen): "OK......try again"
Shea(Shelley): trying again, again falling over sideways on the floor
Jillian(Karen): "Really!  What ARE you doing?"  "It's like this"  as she easily demonstrates it for me
Shea(Shelley):  Trying yet a 3rd time and again falling over
Jillian(Karen): "What!"
Shea(Shelley): "OK, I am the biggest loser.  This is where I have my melt down and tell you that I am afraid of being a winner and that's why I fail.  And now would be the part where you psycho analyse me, I break down and cry then walk out on you.......
Jillian(Karen): "Ok, you will do 3 sets of those"  "Now for my next torture abd fest activity that you will completely suck at......(gives me next exercise)
Shea(Shelley): Again, falls off ball and can not do it! 

So, it would have been less humiliating if I had  "papa smurfed" her.  I know she went home and marvelled to her husband about how pathetic I was.  Today I actually did both sets of her exercises that she gave me.  I continued to fall off of the stability ball after one or two reps, but at least I did one/two reps (I was probably not doing them right).  Maybe by next month I will be able to stay on the ball for all of the reps.  I am afraid that I am not going to be able to move tomorrow - this would be a good thing if it meant that I couldn't walk to the refridgerator.

Oh well - maybe my friends won't vote me off this week and I can stay to humiliate myself for another chapter in the life of a fat ass!  Tune in next week folks...

Day one on "the wagon"

Can you say LARD ASS?!?!  I can, and so can my mirror and my - uhmm - wardrobe.  I want to wear my scrubs 24/7.  Not because they are flattering, but because they fit & I don't have to squirm around and wiggle to get into them.  It's not like I was in awesome shape at IM Lake Placid, but I have managed to put on 19 pounds in my 3month "recovery" period.  What a pig! I do this every year.  I suppose it will make the transformation into the "in shape" me appear all that much more dramatic!  I know I am getting up there in age, and every "transformation" is harder and I never manage to quite get down to the previous years "in shape" weight.  I am going to be a very fat old lady.  I have always stated that I do triathlon training to support my eating habits - this is confirmation of that.

So now I start a long/slow and painful process of getting back into shape.  I managed to run 3miles in the rain this weekend (11 min miles - ouch) and I swam 1 mile today.  I have been trying to put together a weight training program for myself - I, like my bud Shawn - need structure.  I spent today going through a years worth of exercises that I have cut out of Bicycling & Triathlete magazines and categorizing them in a notebook.  I would much rather pay someone to do this for me.... but I am trying to get inspired.  I also made my way (literally had to blaze a path) up into our attic.  I cleaned out a space to put my stabilizer ball, tubes and weights.  It was so dusty that by the time I cleared out an area I was too grossed out to actually dust/mop the floor.  HMMMM I wonder if I will actually lift tomorrow - What do you think?

As far as the "recovery" period, my leg still bothers me.  But it is bothering me without doing exercise so I may as well start exercising again and see if it gets worse.  Maybe this is just what I am going to have to live with for now.  Not sure what this year is going to bring.  I am not committing to IM Canada even though I am registered for the race.

Week 1 on the Fat Ass diet.....let's see if I can be good for one week.  I feel like am in a dieters 12step program. 
1. I admit I am powerless over my addiction to anything sweet
2. I admit that I overeat
3. I admit that the fear of Ironman training is my higher power
4. training gives me clarity
5. I have wronged my favorite jeans
6. I have wronged my knees and other weight bearing joints of my body
7. I must make ammends to my jeans & my joints
8. I will ask my bike seat and my wetsuit for forgiveness for my shortcomings
9. I will take a self inventory every week on the bathroom scale and recognize my failures and ask for forgiveness
10. I will seek out consultation in ProK as my higher Tri power person
11. I will switch from Guinness to Red wine - or at least to "cheater 'ritas"
12. I will switch from Milk Chocolate to Dark Chocolate - at least 60%  cocoa

amen

Home Sweet Home

Wow! made it home with no real issues! Coolest thing ever is the new international customs. We actually cleared customs (for the USA) IN IRELAND! We got our USA/Homeland security stamp while still standing in Ireland. The best is that they check you back all the way through to your final destination now. You no longer have to claim your bag in the US, go through customs, then stand in line again to recheck it to your final stop. AWESOME. Probably THE coolest is that when you go through immigrations, they ask "is this your bag?" and on the screen is a picture of the bag you checked at the airport counter. Creepy and cool at the same time. Big Brother is soo here. The flights were long but good. This says alot since I hate to fly. I had the whole season 5 of Gray's Anatomy loaded on my ipod and I had one of those extra battery packs for my ipod so I was set. I don't know about y'all but I cry everytime I watch this show. They do a good job with character development and, well, I really do cry at hallmark commercials. So with that in mind, I spent 7 1/2 hours crying on the freakin' flight from Shannon to Philadelphia. Lisa was watching a wolverine movie and reading her kindle. we had no one in between us so she never even noticed that I was crying the whole flight. She finally looked over at me and was like WTF? What is wrong with you??!!! I probably looked like someone who was going home for a funeral or something. It was entertaining and kept my mind off of flying. I love my ipod. We got back into Richmond and Shawnee surprised us by already being at the airport terminal. THANKS! We went to O'Toole's for a celebratory Guinness and while it really isn't the same, it was still good. It was fun pretend talking with an Irish accent. Lisa makes fun of me b/c my voice goes up an octave or two. The girls waiting on us were only mildly entertained. We got in the door to our two sweet pups who about waggled their tails off. They are soooo sweet. They have been like velcro. Forgot what it was like having 2 dogs sleeping ON TOP of me. At least for one night it was sweet and I didn't mind, tonight will be a different story.

Got up this morning and decided it was time to start working off the 6 pounds of Guinness and Soda Bread I brought back with me. I got my garmin out and my shoes. I was slightly dreading it until I saw that the temperature outside was not even 70 yet - awesome. I also grabbed my ipod. I decided to try and be smart and only go for 3miles, 2 if I was feeling bad, walk if feeling worse. I am retarded for signing up for IM Canada! I am determined not to be "injured girl" this year. I am going to start slow, stretch, ice do all of my strength training (slowly) and rest when I need too. Easy to say now - we will see. I am going to find this book I heard about that talks about stress and the subconscious. Basically, it thinks that your body takes your stress and basically displaces to a part of your body where the oxygen supply becomes limited and then you have pain. At this point I am beginning to wonder if I am a nut case for how long it is taking me to heal. Anyways, I love my IPOD. I wsh they would let us have them on the IM Run. It really makes running fun. I put a large variety of music on my shuffle and keep it on shuffle mode. That way I don't get bored and become surprised to hear an old song pop up. Today the song that I hit the replay button for was Steve Winfield's "Bring me a higher love". I am not a religious person, although I was raised Catholic. I am, however spiritual. For some reason this song today felt very spiritual and was very uplifiting. These versus inparticular:

Think about it, there must be higher love
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above
Without it, life is a wasted time
Look inside your heart, Ill look inside mine
Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk blind and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be
--and--
I could light the night up with my soul on fire
I could make the sun shine from pure desire
Let me feel that love come over me
Let me feel how strong it could be

Cheesy maybe, but it made my run. Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend. I have to write up my eval to turn in tuesday ---ugh. I need some "spiritual" right now.

Day 12 - Last day in Ireland

Rain Rain Rain! Whatever!!! I do not want to leave, but I really want to escape this crappy and depressing weather. I really want to see my squirty brown dog too. I miss her cute brown butt and sweet face. So last night we stayed in what is probably an original style B&B. It is where you are really IN the peoples house, not an annex that they have built on for customers. The "sitting area" was literally their couch and we were invited to watch tv with them. TV - we have not seen it for 2 weeks. We declined politely - as this would have just been weird. We went to the Abbey Tavern for a couple pints and dinner. It was very delicious. Slept well in our tiny twin beds and up for breakfast. Gee, I wonder why I feel so fat! Anyways, there is no breakfast area other than the home's dining room table. There is another couple there from Canada. I have had no coffee, and really not good at small talk anyways. Uncomfortable, to say the least. The little old man who lives in the house is quite a character. He tells us funny story's and asks us questions that he has already asked us a few minutes ago.. You could tell he was quite the entertainer in his time. We finish breakfast and it is back in the car to see two castles before we head to the Bunratty Castle in Shannon, our final destination. The 1st castle is not open. The 2nd castle was really cool and we found an old megalithic wedge tomb - Indiana Jones style. It was on our most awesome map, but not listed on the property grounds. As we were one of the only people there at the time, we asked one of the folks working there and he told us how to find it. He said it is not posted on their map/land because they didn't want kids climbing on it. It is as if they could care less about these thousand (or two) year old tombs. It is really strange. In the states, we would have it sectioned off, or in a museum and you would have to pay extra to see them. Instead they are in random cow/grazing pastures and you just go find 'em! Anyways, we then head to Bunratty. This would be a cool place if you came here 1st. It is like Disney Land and kind of cheesy but still fun. The castle is nice as it is furnished with really cool stuff. We checked into our hotel, had a pint at the pub and packed up our bags. We then took a nap as we were scheduled for the 845pm banquet at the castle. It is one of those pretend you are invited by the Earl to dinner, and you better watch your manners or you may end up in the dungeon kind of dinners. We know it will be cheesy, but decide to go. It is actually very entertaining. The main "actor" reminds us of our friend Roger. He is a total flaming ham! So off to sleep we go. We manage to get up and out of the hotel. We have our last experience driving in Ireland as we make it to the airport to check in the car. We have to explain that the hubcap is in the back of the car. We did not want to put it on as we were worried it would fly off again before getting back to the airport and then we would be charged for it. We make no mention about the flat and having to get a new tire. We didn't want them to look at the car too closely in case something else happened to it. Lisa and I both laughed, envisioning us pulling into the parking lot, closing the doors and have them all fall off, the wheels would spontaneously explode and the windows would implode. You get the visual - mostly like an old Seinfield episode - you know, Kramer in the parking lot with the AC....one of those kind of scenarios.  We escape the car rental return without being charged for anything being damaged - shuuueeeww! We have made it through immigrations and passport clearance and are sitting in the Shannon airport waiting for our flight. I have purposefully not checked the weather channel.....I don't even want to know! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and see our dogs. I am truly going to miss the Guinness and the soda bread. I am frightened to step on the scale. I think the post Ironman recovery period has ended and it is time to find out how much residual damage I am still having. That will have to wait until sunday though. I hope you have been entertained. I will hopefully get some Blogger tips from my friends and make this a better site to read. I am sure we are now about 50weeks away from IM Canada 2010. It is really not that far away, the weeks fly by as does life. Whatever - I am not a philosopher - don't even got good english skills :=)

Day 11 - The Burren Ireland continues

Good evening peeps. Hope ye been keepin’ well. We spent yesterday evening at a fine pub in Doolin. Had us a Guinness and some dinner then headed down to the peer to try and get some sunset pics. Our efforts were thwarted once again by the damn clouds. The sun got within 5 minutes of setting and it got socked in by the clouds…..ergh. So back “home” to the best B&B ever – the Duhblinn House in Doolin if yer ever in da airea. :-) We have figured out that tomorrow should be 45% sunshine –again whatever that means. So we plan to get up and hit the coastal drive up to Black Head and then see one of the castles up there and head down to Dysea O’Dea Castle, abbey and High Cross (yippee). Well we wake up and …… you guessed it – RAIN! We really don’t want to leave our B&B – they make THE fluffiest omelets and eggs (almost as good as Shawns). The house is so homey and warm and has totally good vibes , unlike the Bates Motel! But, we have to go. We have an extra voucher that we could not use d/t arriving one day late so Lisa & I decide to give it to the owners of this B&B. They have 2 cute girls and an awesome place, we figured they deserved it. At breakfast, we met a group of 4 from Newport News and Suffolk VA. What are the chances? Of course they were soooo incredibly loud I was embarrassed that we were from the same general area. After breakfast we hit the road – Lisa at the wheel (thank god). We have dark skies but only sprinkles and we can see some blue sky. Looking for that damn 45%. We get on the coastal/scenic road and it starts to downpour. “Look Lisa, a scenic overlook coming on our right”. Well, we blow through that route and pull over on the side of the road to figure out what we are going to do next. We decide to head down to where there are a bunch of stone forts and tombs that we hadn't seen and try and find them. Basically another treasure hunt like yesterday. We actually find one of the old wedge tombs. It is up some miniscule road where we park barely off the road and then hike up a hill and through a couple of different fields until we get to a pile of rocks and some ruins. These have been here since 5000bc. I would post a picture but it really just looks like a pile of rocks. (Maybe I will just for kicks) We manage to make it back to the car before it starts raining. We head next to a really cool church that we saw yesterday because I found out that I had missed a demon sculpture carved into the doorway. We are going by it anyways so it is not like I am making Lisa backtrack. Get the pic, then decide to try and find a wedge tomb that is off the beaten path. It is up one of the really scary "two lane roads" that is only wide enough for one car at most. It is of course raining as we pass by another “scenic overlook”. Lisa turns a corner and a huge tractor is coming right at us. She pulls off of the road as best she can without sending us off of the cliff and the tractor manages to get by us.I am so glad we got the extra insurance. I think this is really wearing Lisa out! So we continue on and are pretty sure we have missed it. We earlier found a stone fort out in the middle of nowhere that we were lucky to find. So Lisa goes on looking for a safe place to turn around and..... look over there! There it is! A cool wedge tomb!!!! Score! We are really feeling like Indiana Jones. It was really cool. Ok, so we decide to get back on the main road and head to Dysea O’Dea castle, abbey and such. We find the castle and go in. We are really in search of the high cross and the cool doorway with the sculptures over top of it. We pay 4euro’s each and head into the castle. They are not here but in the field adjacent to the castle (which would have been free!). So we head over to the next field and park the car. We start walking down a gravel road and it starts to rain just as we get to the cross. Damn it! We both run back to the car. We scrimmage around and eat a cliff bar and some granola that we have in our food sack and wait out the rain. We really want to see this cross.  So it stops raining and we head back out. We take pictures of the cross and Lisa hollers that it is going to start raining again as she can see it coming from across the field. We decide to run to the Abbey which has no roof, but has a big tree next to it. We hang out under the tree and stay relatively dry. On the way to the tree we have to slog our way through really wet boggy grass and I have mud covering both legs up to my calves – nice. The rain subsides and we get to tour around the ruins and get some good pictures. We slog back through the mud pit and are greeted by two noisy cows. We get in the car and head to Ennis. We manage not to get lost and make it into town. Our next B&B will be just beyond the town so we are close to stopping. We visit the Abbey and the Friary; take a bunch of pictures and Lisa spies an Ireland bicycling jersey that I end up purchasing. We then go to the B&B. Once we find it – by chance – the lady is in a “spot of bother”. There is “a problem”. OK. She starts rambling on about her husband and has an xray sleeve sitting on the table but she is waving these 2 envelopes at Lisa & I and finally gets to the point. Her husband had a 3rd knee operation today and she put him in the downstairs bedroom that we were supposed to be in. But she has a plan. She has called her friend up the road and has found us somewhere else to stay. We hop in the car and follow her “down the road” – 5 miles across motorways and through some back country roads that are not marked. I am glad Lisa & I are getting along! It would be a great place to leave me :-) It is an older home – no internet access (curses) – but very pleasant people. It turns out to be only a couple of miles from where we were going to explore tomorrow anyways – so really not so bad. (Twin rooms but with private bath). Now I must confess. A majority of rooms that we have had have had the old skeleton key type locks. They kind of freak me out. I think I watched too many old Hitchcock movies (or Scooby Doo cartoons) and think that people are either spying through them or will push a hairpin through the opening to make the key fall on the floor, landing on a piece of paper that they have slid under the door, then get the key and break in the room and attack! Irrational? Yes! It doesn’t matter. Every time we have one of these rooms I make sure to take the key out of the lock (so they can’t get it) and hang my coat or hat on the door (so they can’t peep through the hole). Weird or what! Back to the story. Lisa and I go to a pub and have dinner. We manage our way back despite a couple of Guinness. It is hard to believe that we only have one more day left in this beautiful wet country. We really have had a lot of fun despite the rain. This is the 1st international trip that we have taken alone, just the two of us. It has been good for us. Neither of us like to go out of our comfort zone and make decisions or ask strangers questions……etc. We have had to do that this time (we are not traveling with tour guide Karen B – recreational specialist!). Hopefully, this will make us better traveling companions in the future (no promises). Tomorrow we stay at the Bunratty Castle and are scheduled to go to one of those medieval dinner shows. Should be cheesy but probably pretty funny! As a side note, the rain has been really messing with me. Today I decided to count the number of times I had a hot flash. By noon it was four (far - in irish speak) and as of tonight I am up to 7. They totally suck! Well, here's hopin' ye B-ach-es are dry!

Day 10 - The Burren

Good day people. Hope you are warm and comfy. We had just another marvelous day of RAIN here in Ireland - again! I am not talking about a little sprinkle here or there, I am talking road flooding! But Lisa & I decided that we could care less (right) and we were going to go on a little archeological seek and find in the rain. We had a really good map and had looked up and bunch of really cool churches, megalithic tombs, cairns and castles to discover. We figured today would not be the day to tour the "beautiful coastline". So off we go. We really did find some cool stuff. It was like being on the amazing race. The flooded roads, the unmarked roads (sign wise and general road markings) along with driving rain and wind made for it to be fun, when we used our imaginations. It became really old when my pants were soaked up to mid calf and my toes were cold and had that pastie white shriveled up look. Both Lisa & my REI raincoats where beaten down by the Ireland rain as they both suddenly became not so waterproofed anymore - this is truly how much rain we have had. So, still pretending to have fun became a little harder. We only have a couple more days left here and are hoping tomorrow will be sunny so we can see the coast here. We went down to the peer and took some more pictures of the Cliffs of Moher with some giant waves crashing and some really dark clouds coming in (no surprise). We have both just changed into some warm dry clothes. We stink. Despite it not being hot we are are both wearing dirty clothes, and mine do stink from the endless hot flashes. I am not sure where we will eat dinner, but I am totally looking forward to the Guinness. Maybe Guinness stew - won' dat be lovely! Wid a little soooda bread. My diet will officially start the Tuesday after labor day. Sunday or Monday, upon or return, Lisa & I are already talking about having to go to Sine or O'Tooles for dinner to get us a pint back home to truly compare. We already know there is no comparison but it will be a good excuse to have another before the big calorie cut starts. oh yeah....360 something days to IM Canada...I am still trying to figure out why I thought this would be a good idea!

Days 8 & 9

So day 8 (I think – I don’t have wireless connection so I cant see where I left off!) we wake up in a beautiful B&B in Dingle. They have wireless! I see that Ironman canada is over and Marcul & some dude I don’t know won. I also see that Sister madonna Buda (or something like that) finished in 16:48 or close to that. At 79, holy crap (sorry God) man she rocks! There is no way I will be doing Ironman’s at that age. I don’t know if I can do another one ever! Anyways, back to Ireland (for now). So we wake up and have another yummy breakfast. Of course IT IS RAINING!!!!! WTF!!! After we eat, we try to figure out what to do. I look at the weather forecast and see that we are supposed to have a 35% sunny day –whatever that means. [ Susie Q, if you ever read this, I apologize now for my incorrect sentence structure and use of dashes, commas and dots. I stick needles in people, they don’t care if I can properly construct a sentence!] So we pack up our bags and start to pack up the car. Even though we are spending another night in Dingle, our B&B does not have rooms available so we are going to have to move. As we are finishing loading up the car we are slightly blinded by this bright light shining in the sky. UNBELEIVABLE – the sun. We hurry our asses up and get in the car. We are going to circle around the coast on the Slea Head Drive that we did yesterday (in the rain, fog and mist). Poor Lisa, it’s bad enough driving on these roads, but to do it in these conditions and then have to backtrack. Let me tell you, it was worth it! The area was absolutely gorgeous. We kept saying that we could not believe that we had been on the same roads, you would never know it. The day before we could only see a feet in front of us, now we were seeing beautiful coast and the “creamy beaches”. We had been to the grocery so we ate on the fly our new staple of: soda bread, cheese, apple and salami sandwiches – yum. Really anything you put on this soda bread would be good. Anyways, we made back to Dingle and found another B&B, not nearly as nice as our last. In fact, it is OK but kind of creepy. It gave me a Norman Bates kind of vibe. Anyways, we head into town for a fried snickers. Yup, that’s right people...a fried snickers bar! Shawn & Karen have been talking about it since their Ireland trip so Lisa & I had to try it. It was interesting and good. But I think I would rather just have had the delicious Murphy’s Ice Cream! Lisa & I have seen countless people stumble out of bars completely wasted. It is amazing. I guess the difference is that they are not getting into their cars and driving home….they walk….er…sort of walk. So, some dude stumbles out of the bar, looks at the harbor and the boats, makes some sort of harsh remark to someone/something that had done him wrong and gives the old f-you gesture.  The one where you hit your elbow with one arm and  it makes that arm bend up raising the glinched fist up in the air (you get the picture). Then he proceeds to sit down next to me on a bench (lucky me). He is still kind of cursing under his breath and then he drops a pack “Chesterfields” out of his hand and it goes flying and lands under the bench behind him. I help him retrieve his little cancer sticks and hand them to him. He tells me, more with grunting than actual words that they are for me, a present. I think he may have been speaking Gaelic, but really it sounded more like caveman. I told him I didn’t smoke, he wouldn’t take the cigarettes from me. Then he takes off his Ray Bans and sort of tells me he has had them for 25yrs, then asks if I want them (as only a caveman could --- grunt and shove them towards me). Lisa said it was time to go (oh darn) so I go up and politely left the cigarette pack next to him on the bench (nice caveman) and left. We later saw him rumbling up the street kicking some piece of trash and still mumbling to himself.
Unfortunately, after all of this excitement, there was no way we were going to be able to make it up to Connor Pass because it was raining and we wouldn’t see a thing anyways so ….. off to the grocery, the pub and then to the Bates Motel (we’ll sleep with the lights on).

Day 8.5
1230am – Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! S:”what is that?” L:”It’s the phone” S: “Where is it?” L;”I don’t know” Lisa stumbles in the dark, finds the phone which has now stopped ringing. She has purchased a phone with international service that has her phone number and only those people watching our dogs (and our family) are to call if there is a problem. So naturally we are worried that something is wrong. The caller ID says it was Shawn. So we call her back. “Ironman Canada is open!”. I am not really awake yet. Ironman Canada I thought wasn’t supposed to open until some time in September. Shawn is asking for numbers, she tells me Squirty (my dog) is with her – What day is it?!?! Shawn was supposed to get Squirty on Monday. It is Monday you dummy. OK. So after a little waking up and calling Shawn back a second time, I learn that her and Karen have managed to enter me into Ironman Canada 2010 (damn!). I know this is supposed to be about Ireland but it is the “Irongirl Chronicles” after all. Now I can’t sleep for the rest of the night worrying already about something 364 days away.

Day 9

We survive the night! I have decided that this is the trip of hot flashes. I have been having them now for well over a year now. They come in spells, I have them for a couple months and then I won’t have them for a couple of months. Well, I have been having them for a couple months now at least. I have them almost every hour of every day. It is disgusting! I take a shower, put on clean clothes sit down to eat breakfast and then I am covered in sweat. Why bother showering or changing clothes. They are only clean for at the most, an hour. I am over it! So after we watch it rain while eating breakfast and sweating, we pack up and decide to leave Dingle and head towards the Cliffs of Moher. We are not sure how far we will get but we need a change of scenery. Again, packing up the clouds start to break-up slightly so we decide to leave via Connors Pass . We start to drive up there and we are going through clouds and fog. You can see the coast(s) from up there but not clear enough to take any pictures. Brandon mountain is completely enclosed in clouds. At the overlook it is just Lisa & I and another blue car. I get out (with my camera just in case) and so does Lisa. After a couple minutes, a man who had been sitting the car, gets out and asks if we want him to take our picture. We politely decline as there is nothing to take a picture of. He asks where we are from and he informs us that he is from Wales. He looks like an old fisherman with crinkly leathered skin, blue eyes and a white beard and hair. He is hoping the clouds will lift too. We tell him we are not waiting around and Lisa starts to head back to the car. I pat the man on the arm and tell him to have a safe trip. He seizes the opportunity and says: “Hugs. Can I get a hug?” At this point he has already grabbed me so I just go with it and give the man a hug. One of those, I’m hugging you but my chest and hips are about as far away from him as possible. For those of you who know me, I DO NOT HUG MY FRIENDS so why would I want to hug a stranger!!???!!!!?? Anyways, he wants Lisa to give him one too. She really doesn’t want to but reluctantly does and we head off down the mountain. Lisa then makes the proclamation that she is not hugging anyone else. The guy and the circumstances gave her the creeps. Off we go. The sun actually does come out. We stop a bunch to take some pictures of some cool Guinness signs along the way. We make it across the River Shannon on a car ferry and actually get to the Cliffs of Moher ahead of schedule. On issue…..it’s starts to drizzle and some clouds roll in (no, I am not kidding!) The good thing, the wind is so strong that the clouds blow over pretty quickly. It is 2-3pm so the sun is not in the best place for pictures but we don’t care. We can see the cliffs, take pictures and it isn’t raining! We have our second argument of the trip. The coolest part of the Cliffs is on private property. They have a big sign and fence but everyone walks around it and walks on the top of the cliffs. There is no one there to stop you and it is obvious that the trail is so tramped down and established that the only reason that the signs are there are so if you fall off it isn’t the property owners fault. I head out onto the Cliffs. The views are amazing. I forgot how scared list is of heights and edges in particular – she gets vertigo. So I convince her to come over and get someone to take our picture, she will not back up so I am kind of pulling her back and she is getting mad at me. Long story short, I should not have pulled her back or made her go out onto a ledged area. She was very mad at me. I told her I was sorry and we kissed and made up! Over & done! We tramped around the other side of the cliffs and started to head back to the car. It is Lisa & my 10year anniversary trip, so I asked if she would be my girl for another 10 years. (it is really romantic at the cliffs – what can I say!) She said she would think about it! We went into Doolen – the next town up- and got a very nice B&B that is supposed to have internet. I can’t get on :-( Anyways we went down to the peer and saw the Cliffs from afar. We tried to watch the sunset over the cliffs but some clouds came in before it could actually set. Oh well, we got some good shots anyways. Tomorrow is The Burren!