Scotland Day 2

Thursday, January 5

Glad I set my alarm this morning. I didn’t think I would need it since be didn’t have any plans until 10am, but sure enough, the alarm went off and I was still passed out. Total sleep count for the night was 11 hours which makes my average for the past 2 nights 7 hours…it can work that way, right?

Once I finally made it out of bed it was downstairs to breakfast and to hoard some more nutella. So far, not much is different here in that breakfast is still my favorite meal. I have been pretty conistent with my “brown toast” (whole wheat), over-easy egg, yogurt with fruit and granola, and some grapefruit.

First thing on our schedule for the day was to head up to Edinburgh Castle. It was about a mile walk uphill along the Royal Mile to get to the castle. I am in love with the architecture here. It is definitely a lot different than southern California. I can’t get enough of the cobblestone streets and stone buildings and tiny shops that line the streets.

Back to the castle…it was really cool. It’s one of those places that pictures will never do it justice. I did take a lot of pictures there, but it is not going to be the same as seeing it in person. It was really interesting and kind of surreal hearing about all the history and battles and everything that went on there. Our tour guide had a very thick accent so I was always a sentence or 2 behind trying to understand what he said. By the end, I had the general understanding of what he said but I know I missed a few things too. The only negative about it was the bitter cold. I had on about as many layers as I had brought and was still cold. The winds didn’t help any either, but I survived.

Spent a little time at a local coffee shop doing some stuff on the internet and catching up with life in the States. Lunch followed that with a training session after that. Some of us went over to the stadium to do a little track work. My body felt a little stiff, but just did some light stuff to get the legs turning over. It was weird finishing the workout by moonlight and having it only be 4:30. My sense of time is so messed up right now.

Hung around the hotel a little after that before getting a massage. We are getting taken care of here and it has been so nice. There is a masseus that the race directors have hired just for the athletes. My body hasn’t been feeling as fresh as I would like it to so this massage was much needed. I had dinner afterwards and then went back to my room and finished off my night with a movie.

Overall, this trip has been nothing short of awesome. However, in the back of my mind is still the fact that we have to race and I am not feeling as sharp and relaxed as I want to be. We found out that there are only 26 girls in our race, so there is defintely no hiding anywhere. The nerves have been lingering the whole trip. Playing in to my favor though, is a log jump on the course and 2 streams that we have to jump across…my kind of race!

I really have no other choice at this point but to put my complete faith and trust that God is going to carry me through this. As much as I want to do well for myself and for other people, it is not about that. All I can do is go out there and soak in the experience and run as hard as I can and glorify God. He has provided me with this insane experience and I could not be more grateful. As much as I am nervous about the race, I need to just smile. Be happy. Be joyful. Be thankful. I need to go out there and do what I have been doing all fall…it’s just this time I am wearing USA across my chest. No big deal.

Isaiah 41:10 (Thanks Vic!)- Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand