Thanksgiving

I give thanks for my multitude of family and friends today.  Especially my in-laws.

I woke at 6:50 AM EST for the 5K, and E's dad insisted on driving me.  He also insisted on bringing a heavy North Face windbreaker that was easily 5 sizes too big because the weather was much colder than normal (24F at the time).  I left the jacket in the car that he drove as close as he could to the start (mmm... car seat warmers) at 7:30 and started to walk to the corrals, slowly freezing, as it was likely 26F by then.  I arrived at my corral at 7:32.  28 minutes to go.  Uh-oh.  I had miscalculated...

I started pacing. kicking. skipping.  And then I saw N Sr (E's dad), walking toward me with the jacket with that awesomely omnipotent knowing dad's look... Oh wow.  I've missed that look.  And, also, duh, I was cold.  I took the jacket he offered.  We chatted and observed and conversed with others 'til about 5 min. before the scheduled start when I headed out for a warm-up, expecting to discard the jacket immediately, as I was *warmed up*.  I returned to E's dad and we walked to the corrals, where he talked me out of discarding my donated jacket no less than 3 times.  "No, let me stay here 'til the *actual* start (*what's the point of warming up if you cool back down?*) then you can give me your jacket and we'll be in good shape" he promised.  And he made good.  I stayed, warm, comfortable, amongst the teeth-chatterers 'til the last possible moment after the start had been announced...

I headed out with the fast folks in my corral and hit mile 1 at 8:42.  Then, holy crap, hills!  Mile 2, 9:40.  Mile 3, a nice respectable 9:08, and the last 0.1 @ 7:35/mile pace.  Overall, 28:25.  Nothing to brag about.  At all.

But overall, given my complete lack of training, the cold temps, and the segment times I hit, yeah, there's something there in terms of awesomeness.  So, I'm going to enjoy it...

And, I did.

I came back to E's folks, enjoyed breakfast, took a 2.5 hour nap (that run and early EST wake-up took it out of me), and then ate and drank and laughed my way through a delicious Thanksgiving.

Let's all be thankful and appreciative for our lives, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.