21st July - 5th August

So i came home from America, and proceeded not to go to bed for the next 30 odd hours. Me and Jamie had a few hours at home before we were to go up to Donegal, so i just chillaxed at home and got familiar with my surroundings again. I was damn tired, but on the way up we had a meal at a hotel in Letterkenny which woke me up! I stayed in Donegal for the next 4 days, and i can't actually remember what i did. I talked about my previous 2 weeks, slept, and went out to the beach. Oh yea, on the Saturday we met up with Helen & Rach and their 2 Americans who were over, and just pottered about the beach the whole afternoon. It was helping me get back to the familiar way of life for me. So i just chilled in Donegal for 4 days, doing not much, which was quite nice after a few non stop weeks. Actually, come to think of it, i was on the go pretty much non stop from the 1st til the 21st July, with a smaller amount of sleep inbetween.

Anyways, i got home, and again did nothing much. Met up with people i hadn't seen for a while, all that sort of thing, hung about in town, played some rough footie and played some pirate golf, which i went to dressed in my pirate shorts & bandana, all that sort of fun. I'm almost sure i went to some sort of party around the 30th, but i can't remember!

On the 1st August, i made my way up to Lisburn for the Irish Nationals. As you all probably know, i was due to swim but had to pull out becuase my right eardrum didn't exist, because of, well we'll leave that one there, that story has probably been heard enough. You're forgiven, as it is (almost) better. The advantages to not swimming were that i didn't have to go training at 6am in the morning, and i had totally no pressure on me or nerves or anything. I originally went just to watch for one day, but i got recruited to help out as an official, which i wasn't looking forward to at first - but it turned out to be one of the best things i spent that week doing. Also on the plus side, i got to see & talk to many of the Ulster & Irish swimmers who i've met over the past year, many of whom are from down south. So the gala went ahead, i timekeeped, turn judged, and got people in their races and whatnot, while having a laugh throughout, and meeting even more people. For some reason i just kept wanting to go back every day, as i felt pretty relaxed and happy up there, just watching the swimmers do their stuff. Come to think of it, i probably would've wasted all those days away without the Nationals. Course, at times it was annoying to watch races that i should've been in, but overall i enjoyed it loads, and even missed being there on the Saturday!

Yea, i came home from the evening session of the Nationals on the Friday night, threw some stuff in a bag, and got ready for heading to Limerick.