a look back

I found this e-mail from April 2005. I had gone to Edinburgh for my friend, Onty's wedding. This was before my first triathlon.

"Hello from Edinburgh, Scotland:

I seem to have stolen all the good weather and brought it with me to Scotland.It's roughly in the 60's and sunny. Of course I didn't bring my sunglasses because everytime I visit it's cloudy at best.

Having no bike, I went for a run today at a place called Arthur's Seat. It's what is left of a long, long dormant volcano. I think it is about 800 ft to the top, and surrounded by craigs. It has a road around it, and that is where I ran. The road is by no means flat, by the way. There is a portion that rivals the northern hill in CP and Cat Hill. Either direction you go around Arthur's Seat has a climb, one longer than the other.

It was suggested by a certain coach that I might want to run up Arthur's Seat, but I did not have the heart for it. Nor the legs having had 12 hours of travel the day before. That's a very long story that I won't go into.

As most, if not all, of you know I've never been a runner. It takes a lot for me to get out there and run, therefore I never have enjoyed the actual run. The feeling afterward, yes, but not the running itself.

But today, with the incredible weather and surrounded by such scenery, I had a wonderful time. There's nothing like coming around a corner, after hard effort just to get up a hill, and being surrounded by lush green grass, evergreen bushes with bright yellow flowers, and off in the distnce the water (the Firth of Forth for those of you who care).

I hope it clears up there for a ride on Sunday. If I could send this weather to you I most certainly would, but I'm hoping to hang onto it until my friend is married tomorrow. I'm looking forward to Spring bringing more of what I've had here. It has definately given me hope and recharged my batteries."

I don't know why, but it made me feel a little better. I can remember that day clearly. It was so hard for me to run that day, and since that time I have made such progress. I'll get back to it soon enough.