I’m writing this from row 28, seat A in my first germ tube of the day.  We’re currently barreling over the plains of the central North America as we head towards my first connection of this whirlwind trip.  I’m fairly certain my body is going to be confused for the next two weeks as this quick “jump to Europe” is the last trip of incredibly busy October.  I’ve gotten to the point where I literally have life piling up around me and I just keep saying, “I’ll take care of that in November.”  Welcome to my life as a natural disaster.  A whirling combination of enthusiastic tornado and overhyped typhoon.  Splish splash, “yeah yeah, I’ll do that in November…”

Where am I jumping off to?  I’m headed to Portugal, for IAU Trail Running World Championships where the small but mighty US team will be taking on 53 rugged miles with 15,000 feet of climbing Saturday morning (or Friday night? How does this time change thing work again?).   The work has been done, the donuts have been consumed, and the mocha stores have been topped off!  What more can a girl do? I’m as ready as I’m going to be.

I haven’t been over to Europe for a race since retiring from biathlon and I’m slightly paranoid that I’ve forgotten something important in my little carry-on. This whole week I’ve been going through the packing list over and over again in my head.  I fretted over how me gels I could sneak into my carry-on… turns out it didn’t matter as TSA was nearly asleep at the scanner. The only hang up was the guy in front of me that decided he needed to take all the avocados out of his backpack…

What does this weekend have in store?  Well I’m hoping several pastries (what trip to Europe could be complete without it?) and some new inspiring trail visions. There’s a lot of unknown wrapped up in this trip, and that’s scary and invigorating but I’m up for the challenge.  I get to rub elbows with some of the best women on the trail scene, women that I’ve read about for years, that I’ve followed through the results, that I’ve admired and looked up to, it is going to be an experience!

If you want to follow along, jump over to corrinemalcolm, and I’ll be back on her next week with a proper update about the experience!