Don't bring me down

Life continues on in Edinburgh.

It has been a tough past few weeks. This was to be expected. Part of the reason that I came back was to confront...things. Confrontation is hard, as are most worthwhile things in life. Luckily, the old adage of 'what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger' has proven true for me in most cases. So here is to being infinitely stronger when I return to the US.

The highlight of my week thus far has been planning Saturday's 10-mile run. For those who need to be reminded, I'll be running the Patrick Henry Half Marathon on August 28th. 13.1 miles, or, in the words of the guard at the Consulate 'a hell of a long way'. My sentiments exactly. But then again, this is another 'kill you or strengthen you' situation. Ideally running the half marathon will not kill me, although considering the fact that I will be running in Virginia in late August and have been training in Scotland, the temperature disparity (predicted temperatures of 80s-90s versus the 50s-60s I've been running in) may certainly do so. We shall see. I have been training hard though. Last Saturday I ran 9 miles in the rain. It was supposed to be 8, but I missed a turn, got lost, and was chased by an ugly ass dog that I thought was going to bite me. On the plus side, I found the IKEA, which is not even located in Edinburgh. It is outside of the city limits. Which is the point when I decided that it might be best to turn around -- when I saw the sign that said 'Thank you for visiting Edinburgh. Goodbye!'. Obviously I survived my excursion, but have learned that this week I should be better prepared. And so this week I will be running a meticulously planned route that totals out at 10.1 miles. It will be the longest run I have ever done. So we shall see how this goes.

If I survive the run, I plan to go to Linlithgow Palace on Saturday afternoon (although this might be moved to Sunday depending on the condition that I am in and how long it takes me to complete my run).