Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone had good food and a good time.

I don’t say it enough but I am truly thankful for my family and friends.   I don’t know where I would be without them.   They put up with a lot of my crap 🙂

When my alarm went off this morning, I admit to questioning my sanity in running a race on Thanksgiving.    Once I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, I was wishing that the race was a 5K and not a 10K.  I was feeling ill so eating prior to the race was not an option.  I got ready and then headed out to meet C and her husband.   It was going to be her first 10K 🙂

The race was small as was expected.  Could it have been better organized? Yes but they still did a good job.  Start and finish was in actually in a supermarket parking lot, which was hopping.   More people than I expected were out getting last minute items for Thanksgiving.   We started on time and we were off.   The race was an out and back along a back road.   It was primarily flat with a fairly decent downhill around mile 2.3 until the turn around.   Thing about that downhill?  It was uphill on the way back. Ugh.  But there have been way worse hills in other races, so I sucked it up and ran.  I passed C and her husband on the way back up.

Mile 4, my stomach cramped and it never really went away.  It made for an uncomfortable last 2 miles.  Heading back towards the parking lot, I could see my family on the corner.  It was a Thanksgiving miracle, my pops and brother were there with my mom as well.

I crossed the finish line at 56:21.   I felt like I was slower than that so woo hoo!   We were told our times at crossing and then had to report them to the registration table.   There were only 3 age groups- Amateur (high school), Open (18-35), and Master (35-up).   I was either 3rd in my age group or just 3rd to report in, not sure which.    I then waited to see C and her husband come across.  I think I will always try to get one these in our races (well until they become faster than me)-

The rest of the day was spent with my family, possibly eating too much food.  But it was yummy.   We watched some TV (Independence Day- we were holiday confused) and played with the puppy.

Tomorrow is Christmas Tree day 🙂 I will avoid all stores as much as possible.  I plan to meet C and another friend for lunch and maybe hit the gym in the afternoon.  Hopefully neither of those places will be too crowded.  I really should do homework as well. Ha!

On the upside, today’s race pushed me 5 miles passed my Pile on the Miles challenge for November!!  I followed through with something!!!! And I have 2 days to spare.

I hope that everyone had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!

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