Giving Thanks

I sit here thoroughly stuffed with a most excellent Thanksgiving dinner. I give my highest compliments to the chef. Hehe. The food all turned out great. I'm definitely going to have to remember these recipes.

This morning, I ran a 5k turkey trot. Well, it was actually 5 and a bit. It worked out to around 3.4 miles instead 3.1. Ah well. That was the least of my concerns. Chicago is in a bit of cold snap right now. It was 14 degrees with a 25 mph steady wind, brining the temp down to a little below 0 when you account for the wind chill. Not the perfect conditions for running, but at least it was sunny! The weather limited the turnout, as there were only about 50 runners tops. Many were obviously just out for an easy time to pre-burn off some calories. The actual competitive field was maybe 15-20 or so.

The run started out downhill with a tailwind. That was nice, but since it was an out and back loop, we'd be finishing uphill into the wind. I tried not to think about that. I went out hard, and pretty quickly ended up in 3rd position. 1st and 2nd were real rabbits, and I didn't see them after the mile 2 marker. I held off 4th who was nipping my heels the whole race, and ended up finishing in 3rd! Okay, it was a small field, but allow me my moment of glory. I ended up with an overall time of 23:35. That put my average pace at 6:50 or so. Which beats my previous 5k best pace, even with the brutal weather. The run focus is definitely paying off. My splits tell a slightly different story. 6:10 for the first mile, 13:00 even at mile 2. Mile 3 went by about 20:20. You can certainly see the effect of the hills and wind in my splits. I can't believe that first mile time. I thought I was holding back. Now I'm wondering how quickly I can run a single mile... Maybe someday at the track I'll find out.

Back to the main topic, giving thanks. I have several things that I'm especially thankful for this year. I'm thankful that my brother is home for the week, and that he continues to stay safe and out of harms way in Iraq. May he continue to remain so until he's called home again. I'm thankful for modern medicine. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago ( I found out on my 30th birthday ). He had surgery to treat it on Tuesday. The doctor reports that the surgery was a great success, and feels confident in my dad's prognosis. After he recovers from the surgery, he can look forward to living the rest of his natural life to the fullest. Not that many years ago, prostate cancer took the life of my grandfather. So, I'm thankful for the advances in medicine that will keep my father from the same fate, and let him continue to kick my butt skiing the craziest double-black "EX" runs.

I'm thankful for my own health, and the joy that I get from pushing my body far past the imagined limits that we create for ourselves. Every day I learn a little more about myself and the awesome capabilities of the human body and spirit, and that is what truly makes me happy. Finally, I'm thankful for all my friends, near and far, that begrudge my "insane" training, listen to my occasional ( okay, frequent ) ramblings, and support me in all that I do ( triathlons and otherwise ).

For all of this, I give thanks. Happy Thanksgiving to all!