On the train heading back from a fun weekend in Mass – visiting the kids, seeing some family, and kicking ass in a 15 ½ mile (brutally hilly) race (see girlrunner.blogspot.com for details on that!). I surprised myself at how well I ran considering how little I ran this summer and am totally re-motivated now. Planning my 2008 race schedule…very exciting stuff for me.
Now back on the train I am trying to use my time widely (God forbid I waste a minute….). I should be doing work right now, preparing for a big week work-wise, but I can’t bring myself to Labor on Labor Day so that’s out the window. Aside from updating my blogs I am trying to hammer through one of the books I have going at the moment – I went back to fiction after a hiatus and am in the middle of “Reading Lolita in Tehran”…I am surprised I am not liking it more as it combines both a political and cultural examination of modern-day Iran with discussions of classic American novels – as a foreign policy junkie and English major you think this one would be gripping me but its not for some reason – much slower paced than I like I suppose, but now I’m 1/3 of the way through it an cannot quit it! I have a hard time putting down a book I’ve started even if I don’t like it…I feel I’ve already invested time in it so I better see it though, no matter how painful (I just now while writing this made the connection that this trait is the same one that tends to keep me going on long runs…). The only book I ever recall giving up on mid-way through was The Red Tent….I know people loved that book but my GOD I could not get through to save my life….
Other books I am reading right now: The End of Poverty, a book on Mao (China in 5 weeks!), travel books for the trip, and a book on nutrition for endurance athletes. I’m planning to take a ton of books with me on my trip so hopefully I’ll have some good ones to write about when I return. Anyway better wrap this up so I can get going on my other To Do items. Glad to see the summer ending and looking forward to an exciting fall…..
