Arriving in Armagh

12:00 PM (7:00 AM EST) - 10 Miles, 67 min w/strides after
Ran w/ Christian, Ryan, Thomas, Tarpy, and Jon on some great trails. Longest run in a while and it felt pretty good. Nice to run with the guys and have a group again.

Armagh, Ireland
So I was hoping to sleep on the flight but didn't end up doing much of that. I spent a couple hours talking with Kristen (pictured on the right) and then tried to sleep a little once they turned out the lights after the meal. Since I was pretty tired, I figured I'd get to sleep right away but just wasn't able to get comfortable so I was in and out of sleep and probably only got a little over an hour total. Once we got to Dublin, we were picked up by a guy named Jim who talked very fast with a very heavy accent (as expected). He was a great guy with a lot to talk about, but I didn't always pick up everything he was saying and often found myself just nodding my head and chuckling along at his comments. It was a pretty long drive to Armagh (pictured above) and I was feeling the lack of sleep along the way. Once we got to the hotel, we met a few members of the Armagh Track Club and got our rooms... now, I was ready for a nap! ....But that would have to wait because Christian and the Zap guys were heading out for a run and I didn't want to go by myself later on. So I guzzled down a coffee got changed and went over to the trails with them. It was actually a great run and I was glad to have the company of the guys. Finally, I was able to take a nap around 3:30PM and get a couple hours of rest before dinner.

After the nap, I walked around town with Kristen a little and met the rest of the athletes for dinner at the hotel restaurant. There was so much food in this four-course meal and sure enough, I ate it all! I sat next to Christian and his parents at the table and was able to get to know them a lot better and share some great stories about all sorts of stuff. I already know the rest of the team pretty well so it was good to talk with Christian more.

The picture above shows the small town of Armagh with the St. Patrick's Cathedral on top of the hill. It really is a beautiful town and if I had some more time I would have taken more pictures. I'll be sure to do a better job in the next few days.

Now, I have to get some rest, try to adapt to the time change, and get ready for a very full day tomorrow. We have a lot of pre race things going on throughout the day which should be a good way to help the time pass without tiring us out at all.

Lastly, I have tomorrow's race to think about. We have a stellar squad and could potentially sweep the team championship. As I've said before, I'm not in the greatest shape right now, coming off a frustrating indoor season, but I'm here now and I'm ready to run hard with these guys. I'm really excited about the race under the lights (around the park pictured to the right) and going out there with my USA uniform, not afraid to lay it out on the line and take some chances. I really have nothing to lose so if I stick to my plan, I can't be disappointed with the outcome.

Alright, off to bed. More tomorrow.