In the car ride to the airport, my sister handed me a little box.  In it was the above, beautiful, pendent engraved with the letter ‘e’ on the one side, and the words, ‘All Glory Comes from Daring to Begin” on the other. 

So perfect.

I will wear it close to my heart, along with the maple leaf charm my best friend got me for the duration of my trip.

Thursday was hard. Leaving home was hard. The airport was hard. 

I stayed with my family until the last possible second and literally had to run to my plane as it was boarding.  I had a moment where I turned around and looked back, tears streaming down my face, and wanted to run back to my family’s waves.

I wanted to stay. The unknown was just so great. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do; saying goodbye to the people who are my life.

I had a window seat on the plane, and after the lights went out, I turned to the window and was silently crying, biting air to stop me from gasping out loud.  The little, old Indian woman next to me didn’t know what to do – so she tapped her husband across the isle and asked him to,“ask her what’s wrong.”  Luckily, he didn’t.  I wouldn’t have been able to speak.

I got no sleep the entire plane ride, and ended up staying up for 32 hours straight, which didn’t help the whole emotional basket case thing.

But!

But. Berlin is good. So good. I was in Berlin in 2003 and actually hated the city, however it’s redeemed itself for me.  The place I’m staying? Gorgeous. And cheap. And pretty. And chances are it’s the nicest place I’ll stay this entire trip.  It’s also nice being surrounded by my running group (26 of us here!), which has made the transition fairly easy - I’m thankful for that.

So so thankful. For everything, actually. The fact this trip, which I’ve been planning since I was 18, is actually happening? surreal. Not to mention the little detail of, umm, I’m running a full marathon in less than 24 hours. Incredible . Incredible what we can do if we put how mind to it.