Crazy Weekend

Wes and I went to Cork this weekend to visit his family and for him to run in the Cork City Marathon. We decided to rent a car for this trip. There were some wedding gifts we needed to pick up, including knives, so we couldn't carry them on if we flew. We picked up the car at the airport on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day, so no need for the windshield wipers I turned on each time I tried to use my signal. Oops! I was pretty nervous about driving, but once we got away from the airport it was fine. We drove into Cork so Wes could register for the marathon and that went well. I even managed the teeny tiny parking garage! It was a really great weekend. On Saturday we got a little disposable barbecue and had a barbecue with his parents. This made me super happy. We have no outside space in Dublin, so we never get to eat food on the grill. The sun was shining the whole time and I even wore a skirt with flip flops on Sunday! We were going to go to Kinsale, but it was jammed with tourists, so we kept driving and went to Garrettstown Beach and the Old Head of Kinsale. Of course, I fell and my knees when straight down onto some nettles. My knees were on fire until well into the next day. It was my idea to drive down to see the house where my parents will be staying when they come in August. The road was so narrow and we had to pass lots of oncoming traffic. This was not fun and proved to bite us back in the end.
On Monday we got up really early to get into Cork for the marathon which started at 9. All went well and Wes was good to go. The started off and he passed me just before the 3 mile mark. Then I saw him again about 30 minutes later. I wondered around and managed to get a spot between mile 13 and 14. I knew if I got there by 10:30 that would be plenty of time. Well, he never passed me. I thought maybe I missed him because I get easily distracted when watching these marathons. People have really strange gaits, wear weird things, are incredibly fit....all of these things distract me. However, I was pretty sure this wasn't the case. The runners are more spread out at this point and I'm less likely to lose him in a large crowd. I waited for about 30 minutes and at that point I knew if he passed me at this point he would be pissed because this means he's going slower than he wanted. He had been having some problems with his left leg, so I thought that maybe something happened. I started to walk back to the center to get the banana and milk he asked me to get. I put my phone into my pocket at this point, just in case I got a phone call. Sure enough, he called me from the physio tent about 30 minutes later. He was almost to mile 13 and his right calf just crapped out. He said he got slower and slower and finally had to stop. He was pretty bummed and I was bummed for him. Fortunately, he knows what he needs to do with his training, so hopefully it won't happen again. He has an appointment with a physio this evening.
We left Cork in good time and made it back to Dublin by around 4:30. We put gas in the car before we returned it and Wes tells me about this huge scratch that's in the car. Neither of us had noticed this before. So, we turn in the car and the guy checks it out. He asks me what happened and I told him I have no idea. I really didn't. I don't know if it happened when we were passing those cars or what. That's pretty much the only thing I can think of. Well, of course we didn't opt for the more expensive insurance, so we leave the rental place after throwing over 850 euros. For anyone out there traveling to Ireland, the car rental insurance on your US credit card is not valid in Ireland. So, pay for the extra insurance!!! Yesterday was pretty much the worst day (except when Obie died, of course).
It was such a downer because we had such a nice weekend and it was a horrible way for it to end. We're off to Switzerland tomorrow and no rental car on this trip!