My knee buckled.

Now my right leg, from my ankle to my hip, is aching. I have applied a muscle relaxant lotion, I’ve rolled it out with a foam roller. I’ve stretched. I’ve spent the last few hours of yesterday relaxing in bed to try to take the weight off it.

I’m going to be totally honest, it really hurts (omg I’m admitting pain!)

I was up at Edinburgh Castle and about to go in when it happened. I don’t know if it’s from walking on cobblestones or the incline of the Royal Mile. I checked my phone and I’m walking on average 15k every day on top of any running, which I totally didn’t realize I was walking that much. I suppose I didn’t really give myself an opportunity to relax after the race.

So now I’m really hungry, really tired, and I’m in a lot of pain. Painkillers don’t work great for me and tend to make my head stuffy. Or they don’t work at all. Or I react oddly, thanks to the interaction with my epilepsy medications. So hungry and in pain. And registered to run a marathon in 10-ish days. Last year my knee buckled during the race, but that was my left leg. So I’m concerned about next week. I may end up crawling across the finish line.

Other than that:

A couple days ago I had coffee at the cafe that JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. I actually didn’t realize that it was the location, I just needed a coffee. Then I noticed people taking a lot of photos inside and my brain started working again and I had to quietly freak out a little in excitement. That is a downside to travelling alone. Getting really excited about things feels awkward when doing it all alone. I also went to a store that sells Harry Potter merchandise and had a rousing conversation with the staff. I realized that I don’t know nearly as much about the books/films as I thought I did.

I went to The Greyfriars Kirk yesterday as well. The cemetery is where some of the names of the characters in Harry Potter came from. I had an enthusiastic conversation with the grave diggers there about the process of grace recycling vs the use of family plots. Calgary will run out of space in public graveyards by 2020 and for some reason, we haven’t changed the options like similar to places like the UK which are tiny and ran out of space a few hundred years ago. I didn’t take any photos because I kind of think that’s a bit disrespectful, but the work on the stones is gorgeous. And the grave diggers (literally their job title) were so kind and chatty. They told me that most people don’t talk to them, and I believe it. They were so knowledgeable, about the history and the processes and at the same time, they actually have shovels. It looks like something out of Charles Dickens book but that experience was better because of them.

I also went to a pharmacy yesterday and pulled down my pants. My knees are scraped and gooey so it was recommended to me that I go purchase an antiseptic lotion (because I don’t travel with it, geez, it’s not like I injured myself all the time). The pharmacist was super kind and asked me if I wanted her to look at my knees. They have little consultation rooms for this sort of thing. I (of course) was wearing skinny jeans and couldn’t roll them up. The pharmacist told me that if I’m comfortable with it, I could pull my jeans down because people do that sometimes. So I did. I was laughing the whole time because it was so random (“I pulled down my pants in a pharmacy”) but it was really helpful and I did get the correct lotion.

Now, I’m in a cafe. It’s one of so many on the Royal Mile here, and while all are a bit touristy, I’m beginning to rate them on quality of lattes. And view. This one ranks high on both. I’m looking at this gorgeous old building. I hate to be deprecating to the Starbucks at home, but it’s generally just a major roadway for a view. As I’ve just learned from the server, I am looking at a Nelson Monument. I don’t really know what that means but I will absolutely research that later. The building is on a cliff side and is stunning.

Tonight I plan to go on a ghost tour of the old city. The last time I did it (13 years ago?) I completely panicked. I think I’ve been putting it off while here because I’m scared (terrified). That realization on its own is enough of a catalyst to make me go. Hopefully my body doesn’t rebel by having joints buckle, because that is really inconsiderate.