Wednesday, January 4
I have arrived! Landed at Edinburgh Airport at 6:30 this morning after getting maybe 1 hour of sleep on the plane. We were greeted by Chris and Steve (2 of the race directors) and they took us to the hotel. It’s dark here. It didn’t start to get light out until about 9am and it was dark by 4:30pm. It has been a full day of eating, meeting new people, sightseeing, and running. That combined with the lack of sleep leaves me exhausted, so forgive me if my sentences are incomplete or don’t make sense.
It really hit me that I was in Scotland when an announcement came over the PA and the guy talking had a Scottish accent. Yes, it’s weird that was kind of my “this is real” moment…but it is what it is. One of the first highlights of my trip was the individual packets of Nutella at breakfast! So unbelievably excited about that. Got to walk around and explore the city a little. The weather here is not like California weather at all! I didn’t spend much time walking around because the wind chill is ridiculously cold…and our run was a whole experience in it self. The way we went we basically went up hill on the way out and then got the downhill on the way back…and of course the 40+ mph wind gusts were against us while we were going up. There were parts where we were not making forward progress, we were literally bent over pushing against it as hard as we could and still just running in place. Throw in some pelting rain and it makes for an enjoyable experience. Needless to say there was a lot of laughing throughout the whole thing as to how ridiculous the whole thing was. In essence, we went out in 22 minutes and game back in 18. I don’t know that a hot shower has ever felt better!
We finished off the night with a team meeting and team dinner. It was a lot of fun finally having everyone in the same room together and just getting to know the other girls on the team.
This trip has been nothing short of amazing and I haven’t even been here for a full day! Pictures will be coming when I get back to the states and can upload them…more updates to come as the trip progresses.
Hi Bethany – I am an OLD friend of your mother’s…..from grade school!! We’ve never met but I have been following you phenomenal accomplishments and would enjoy to continue. Your first blog post is terrific – and you are one smart cookie to document your “trials and tribulations” in such a great manner. As a mom to 4 swimming sons, all of whom swim Div. I in college, none has reached their dream of making an Olympic Trial cut; I am more than interested in following you journey. Much luck to you. Can you hear the HUGE cheering squad on this side of the pond?!? Marcia Tollefson (I’m on FB or tollefson@cua.edu).
Gooo Bethany!! I’m very excited for you. Take lots of pictures and race fast. Enjoy your first USA Team!
I LOVE YOU B!!