oh what a day is today

This is a post from the archives of my memory- this picture was taken 6 years ago on the train from London to Bruges, Belgium on the weekend of my 22nd birthday. My friend I traveled with and I were (and still are) huge readers, and I'm reading some Virginia Woolf in that pic, maybe A Room of One's Own. Our college in London was in Regent's Park and we would spend every spare moment in the Park reading. Long warm fall afternoons would pass by without notice as we were entranced by Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf. (I tried to stick to Irish/British authors, there's nothing as familiar as Woolf writing about Big Ben's bell tolling and then hearing it for oneself at the same moment.) Our roommate, an English major from Boston, would lend us books and we would devour them. We read on trains, in hostels, in parks, on planes, boats.... books were the first things packed. Actually, we would always travel with three things- a book, a mug, and Nutella. Somehow, each new city seemed less foreign with these three things in my pack.

I feel a pull to return to London, to live. It is very hard to stay still right now, here in Chicago. London was my first taste of living in a city, and I would do almost everything differently now that I am a bit of a pro at city living. But I did well enough for my first city- I fell in love with the Victoria and Albert museum, memorized the Renaissance collection at the National Gallery, found discount book stores, memorized the Tube system, and visited every neighboring country. Not bad for a country girl.

Meanwhile, this (now city) girl did not get blown away in the "Chiclone" this week. I didn't bike only one day and cabbed, bussed, and bummed a ride instead. It was, however, brutally cold at 28 degrees a few mornings and I am going out today to buy a nice quality biking jacket, which I realized, will be used probably more than any of my other clothing. I am also debating purchasing cycling shoes (the ones with cleats) (I think they're called cleats) but we'll see. I figure I have about a month of biking before it gets too cold.

Next Sunday I am running the Hot Chocolate 15k here in Chicago. I ran 4 miles last Sunday with my friend, and that was the third time I ran since the tri. It didn't hurt too bad. I wasn't able to run all this week on account of the "Chiclone" but will try to make a better effort today and tomorrow and this upcoming week. 15k is intimidating!! I'll basically be running it without training... hope those 12 miles of biking a day is enough to make it without being too sore. After all, I do need to be able to bike to work on Monday....

Have a lovely weekend, I do so cherish my weekends.