Up high in the Highlands. ( part 1 )

"Beep, beep, beep, beep..." rang my monotonous alarm clock. Though it wasn't very loud, to me at that moment, it sounded like someone rattling my head with thousands of wind chymes. It mocked me, the words "05:00" glared unforgivingly at me, blinking on and off, just waiting for me to twist my body myself enough to turn it off. With much effort, I slammed the top of the clock with much content, silencing him for the next 24 hours. I sat up, my eyes heavy as sandbags, tempting me to slump back down into my slumber. I peeled away from the temptation. " Wouldn't wanna be late " I whispered amusingly.

As I awoke, the rest of my room mates were still sound asleep, hardly even stirred at my blaring of my alarm clock. 4 prone figures on their beds, sleeping like cows. I grabbed my towel and a spare of pants before fumbling across to the bathroom. Every step took much effort. Exhausted from a few days of training, my sore legs protested like well... protestants. To make matters worse, the wooden floorboards under my feet forbid me to take heavy steps. Imagine that, I had to wake up at 5 in the morning to ninja my way to the bathroom.

Even though the water that I showered with was warm and soothing. A chilling bite would soon follow once I got out of the bathroom. Often, I'd just sit down on our bed and shiver until my trusty body generated enough heat for me to feel comfortable. By now, most of the other athletes would be up and running as well, quietly arguing as to who would take their baths first. No one wanted to be late. No one wanted to wake Sir up as well. Especially since his room was oh-so conveniently located next to the bathroom.

After consuming a light breakfast, I'd put on my socks and head downstairs. With 50 well muscled athletes crowding to head down the narrow apartment stairwell at the same time, it proved to be yet another challenge. Along with the fact that some chatterboxes couldn't help but bring up some topic regarding milk. Come on, another more sensible time please? Once out in the clearing, I'd plop my bright green running shoes down and unstring them. The cold morning breeze would greet me as I stringed them back to my feet. My jacket seems so thin.

"Morning."
We'd repeatedly say to each other.

We would do some light drills, running around and prancing on our feet to loosen our stiff muscles. Nobody likes spraining an ankle this early into the course. Even with all these people gathered around, we'd be silent. Our mouths hesitating to speak at the cold bite of the morning's breeze. He need not say a word, for we knew, that when Sir walked towards us, it was time to form up and ready ourselves for another day.

"Take care of yourselves when running."
He'd say every morning.

Shortly after his reminders and encouraging words, we'd be softly singing along to the with our rhythmic voices to 'Negaraku' and our school song. Our soft voices seemed to echo into the dark sky, bringing forth yet another unforgiving cold chill of wind. With courtesy, the female athletes would head out first, followed shortly by the boys. From the faces that I saw, it was evident that we weren't looking forward to what was coming.

Our morning run.