I Love a Rainy Night

Yes I know I've been trying to stop using song lyrics as my blog titles, but this one just fits so well.

I'm writing this from my hotel room in the small college town of Corvallis, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest.  I'm working on the campus of Oregon State University all this week, and I've been enjoying something that has been in very short supply in Texas for the last year - rain.

This trip has really reminded me of home.  And it's not just the rain.  The trees, the scenery, and even the architecture of the University takes me back to my days living in Britain.  It really is beautiful and enchanting up here.

And inspiring.  I've run every day this week - in freezing fog, cold and driving rain, it doesn't matter. Every morning I've woken up looking forward to my early morning adventures.

And I've been consistently hitting right around the 8 minute mile mark with ease.

I get back to the hotel with numbed hands, stand under a shower as hot as I can stand until they thaw out, then head downstairs for the wonderful cooked breakfast.  And I'm ready for the day.

I think part of that is the beautiful old campus I've been criss-crossing on my pre-dawn explorations (the pictures on this post are bits of the campus that are part of my morning run - I took them at lunchtime today when it had actually stopped raining).  The place is full of huge trees.  Combine that with the stillness, silence and solitude of running in the rain and mist, along with the happy nostalgia of my own (long since faded) college days, and it's a really peaceful and wonderful way to start the day.

Maybe I'm a bit of a dreamer - a romantic with an old soul - but if it makes you happy, just go with it.

I've also been testing out a spi-belt that Clea gave me so I can carry my phone at Boston and we can find each other at the finish line.  I've worn it every morning this week, with my phone, driver's license and a credit card in there.  I've even left my water bottle (usually my comfort blanky) back in the hotel.  It didn't take me long to get used to it, and I don't think it's going to be a problem using it at Boston.

And did I mention I love my Kindle?  It debuted on this trip, and I'm very glad I bought it.  It's so easy to slip in my pocket and just carry around with me.  I read the whole of Peter Lovesey's Stagestruck on the plane ride up (he's always a good airplane read), and am now getting into the very odd, creepy, but strangely compelling "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children".

Ok, time to shut down.  I ate pasta at a wonderful local Italian place tonight and am nicely carbed up for a cracking run in the morning.  It's supposed to be really cold - in the 20s - fantastic!!!  Then tomorrow night I am driving down to Eugene to have dinner with some friends I haven't seen in a while.

In between that I have a very intensive day of mentoring and teaching. It's going to be a long day, so I'm off to bed, perchance to dream.

Night all.