Gorgeous 3.54 miler this morning. Sunny, cool, perfect weather. And yes, exactly 3.54 miles. Okay, I know I get a little bogged down in the details but I guess that’s just the kind of person I am. Went around the park twice, it was a little chilly when I started out, but I took off my top layer after the first loop, which made me feel faster. Weird. Well, taking off the long sleeved cotton tee shirt and running with a sleeveless shirt makes a big difference. More aerodynamic. Or something. So I did this 3.54 miles in under 44 minutes, which is great, considering I was thinking it’d take closer to 50 minutes. I suppose it would have, had I gone the pace I go on the long runs, but I went at what felt pretty comfortable and ended up being 12:20 miles or something, instead of 14:20. It’s so hard to slow down from 12 to 14 minute miles, but when I go 11 minutes, it feels as if I’m going much faster. It’s like the 2 minutes between 12 and 14 is negligible, but the 1 minute between 12 and 11 is huge. Strange.

I sent in the balance of my money for the marathon…now I just have to get my plane ticket. I wish fares would go down. I really want to have enough money left over for books. Books, books, books! Ack! I love books! I love going to Waterstones and browsing through the paperbacks (no highbrow literature for me) and walking out with a big stack. Then walking down the street to WH Smith or Books etc. And then buying more at the airport duty-free. And of course, ordering some from Amazon.co.uk to take back with me. I usually bring an extra suitcase for my souvenirs, and it usually ends up being filled with books. Heavy. I wonder how the airport security are going to like that? Perhaps I should get some highbrow literature next time, so they’ll be impressed. Ha, whatever. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to bring a suitcase of books this time, start moving my stuff over to the UK. May be jumping the gun a little. But when I do move to England, I’m only bringing my clothes, my photo albums, and my books. All of them. It may take a while. May be gradual. Anyone visiting me will be required to bring a suitcase of books. Ha ha.

Chris just emailed me about the trip. He was reading a London guidebook yesterday, was getting all excited about seeing everything. I can’t wait to show him and Rebecca and her sister all the sights. I hardly ever get to show off the London I know and love. My mom and aunt and uncle were a fairly appreciative audience, but my uncle just kept saying how London was so dirty that it needed to be sandblasted, and to be honest, I didn’t really want to show it to him after that. Grrrrr. Anyway, I can’t wait to go back! It’s been over a year, the longest I’ve gone between trips, and I’m getting antsy to go back. Yay!!!
.: posted by pam m 9:51 AM