Happy Thanksgiving!

What I am thankful for?

(My apologies for this being two days late, but better late than never!) Things that I am thankful for

1. A roof over my head
2. Food in my stomach
3. Finishing my college degree
4. My sweet boyfriend, Josh, and all of the love he gives
5. My two healthy children
6. Having a job that pays the bills.
7. The gift of wisdom
8. The gift of strength
9. The gift of homily
10. Being able to run again
11. Losing the excess weight so far

First Thanksgiving

It's my first Thanksgiving with Josh.

It's my first Thanksgiving away from home EVER. I miss my mom's awesome stuffing.

It's my first Thanksgiving away from my kids. It was a little sad. :(

It's my first Thanksgiving in Chicago.

It's my first Thanksgiving at my new job and WORKING. (Note: I am working on Christmas Eve AND Day on top of it, but getting New Year's Eve AND Day off - reasons behind it will come at a later post!)

You can say that today was a day of firsts for me.

Turkey Day PR......ACCOMPLISHED!

I have one thing to be thankful for.....my ankle, who's getting stronger and stronger. It proved itself when I completed my 1st Turkey Trot today. It was awesome! The weather is very awesome and warm. I woke up this morning at 6:30 a.m. this morning and headed out at 7 a.m. to get out to Downtwon Minneapolis. I parked a little bit farther for FREE in a parking ramp than most of the runners, who chose to park near the Target Center (and had to PAY for parking. tee-hee!) The race was PACKED - over 8,000 people participated. It was CRAZY! I had my registration taken care of by 8:00 and headed to the start line. We started a little bit late, but I was at the FRONT of the pack (ok....near the front of the pack.) One thing I do NOT recommend doing is making a fool of yourself during the National Anthem by giving a shout-out during the 2nd to the last line ending at "in the land of the FREE"....and being the ONLY ONE going it. It's cool to do it during a baseball or football game, but NOT a 5K where you look like goof-ball. **blush** Unfortunately, they warned us of some glare ICE and wet on a small batch of wooden planks around mile 2. OH SHIT! It is BAD enough that I recovering from one injury I do not need another...PLEASE! Well, I was off with the pack. Everything felt very good and I moved at a comfortable pace. I reached at mile 1 at 9:40. Everything was very smooth. When I reached the point that they warned about, it was not that bad and it was not a SMALL batch. It was almost 0.25 miles along - geeez! LIARS! I reached at 19:53 (10:13 split). Plus I started feeling like a going slightly UPHILL - not good this right now. I was also starting to get tired and needed some more mental motivation....and NOW. I told myself that I was almost done and getting closer and closer to finish. Well, I finished strong at 30:37 - a PR by less than a minute. Whooohoo! I was hoping to go sub-30:00, but I said FUCK IT as I slowly got closer to the finish.

When I finished, I headed into the mess of a line to get my bag and race t-shirt. The race was not too bad, but the organization getting the shirt and stuff was BAD. Plus there was NO food for the racers like in other 5K's that I have done. Thank GOD that I had piece of my PB&J that I made left in my car and ate it quickly. Then I headed to Caribou Coffee, who I am also THANKFUL for being open, for a Chai Tea Latte and some Gingerbread. My ankle started to get sore so I took it home to enjoy. Once home, I went into the bathroom, filled a bucket full of ice cold water, and placed my foot and ankle in for 10 minutes. It was horrible at first, but once I was in there it brought a lot of relief as I checked e-mail and relaxed. Afterwards, I got ready for a shower before heading for a 2 hour nap. I headed to the in-laws for turkey and goodies. Tommorow and Saturday will be cross-training days to recover from the 5K. I will also be spending the rest of Friday, since I took a day-off and still get PAID, watching my beloved Colorado Buffalos do well against the Nebraska Cornhuskers along the other college football games. Beer and goodies with me. Today's workout 5K - run 30:37 - NEW PR!!! 9:51/mile - Whooooohoooo!

Firefly's Thanksgiving Day Challenge

Well, people, I THOUGHT I was going to get out today and workout, but there was one problem that I had to deal with. I had to get all of my pre-Thanksgiving shopping done and still go to work. Ah...I will NOT be able to do that if I waited until 11:30 and have only 30 minutes to get it all done. Ah....NO! So I sacrificed my workout - the legs were sore anyway - and did all of my errands before 1:45. Well, it is all done and I am happy!

Now....on to the subject, which I titled my blog entry with. Yes, after the last few weeks of stuff going on, I thought I would be appropriate to kick-off the Thankgiving challenge. No, it is NOT a challenge to see how much food you stuff in your mouth tommorow. (Well, you can still try it if you want to.) The point of the challenge is to express all of the things and people who are thankful for this year and every year on your blog on Thanksgiving. I am openning up this challenge to all of my favorite blogs (who will be getting a note of it in a comment entry.) and everyone else who reads my blog. I challenge all of you to post at least 20 things that you are thankful for on your blog. You can get as creative as you like. I will kick it off in this blog today and will continue it in tommorow's entry. 1. Having two healthy kids 2. Having a roof over my head 3. Have at least one parent still living (and healthy) 4. Earning my Associate's Degree this past August 5. Passing the MN Peace Officer Exam in August 6. Working at a great place, even with all of the usual office politics. 7. Living in a country where I am free post my feelings and remain true to myself. 8. Financial Aid so I can continue with my Bachelor of Science degree. 9. Getting 6 months closer to graduation, but still over one year away. 10. For the fellow men and women in blue and/or khaki, who may have to work on Thanksgiving to protect our communities and those who are trying kill their family members after the alcohol kicks in. 11. For our service people who are away from their families and serving our country in order to keep our country free to terriorists. 12. For the fellow men and women who gave their lives on the line during this past year and the families who they left behind who supported them 13. To my fellow P.F. Chang marathon-mates who are training with me and supporting each other until we meet in January 2007. 14. Marisa (Ugly Toes) - who was there with me when we cheered the TCM runners in October 15. Danielle (Running in MN) - who attended with me and Marissa, but also there to cheer me on during my recent (and hopefully LAST) running injury 16. Teacherwoman - Cheering me on during my training and giving support during my injury 17. Barb (Running Jayhawk) & Mike (OOSG) - Cheering each other(mostly Running Jayhawk) on during the 1st P.F. Chang's race and then cheering me on while I train and fundraise again even tho' they are both KU Jayhawk fans. (Go Buffs!) 18. Jess (21 Days) - Giving support during my training and during the latest injury 19. Josh (Full Metal Lunchbox) - Being very supportive during this difficult time, listening me to babber on the phone for over 90 minutes last night, supporting me during the training, after my injury, and giving me the award for more frequent visitor to his blog. 20. Neese (Running with Neese) - Being very supportive, having the same awesome first name, both being redheads, cheering me on during the training, all of the races 21. Wes - for being very supportive during the training, fundraising, and after my injury 22. Runnergirl (Adventures in Running) - being supportive during the training, being an inspiration after your own ankle injury, 23. AJ (Little Miss Runner Pants) - inspiration through life, sharing your awesome (and not-so-awesome) stories about guys, biking, running, and life in general. 24. Running Rabbit - being an inspiration to all of us female runners for not taking crap from the administration at your school about your wardrobe, being very brave to wear 3 inch heel to work, run very hard and completing your first marathon, having the courage to put more swearing and suggestive material in your posts which brightens my day reading them. 25. Tara (Tara's Dreamer Tales) - having the courage to stop training when an injury prevents to complete the Chicago marathon and get back in the saddle again. 26. 21st Century Mom - being inspiration by finishing very well during a half-marathon and being an awesome examploe of a very hip mom 27. Nicole (Powered by Vegetables) - being an inspiration on not giving up during the marathon training, her strength as she dealt with his mother's passing, and running very fast 28. Rae and Brent (Running in a brick wall) - Being an awesome runners and completing TWO marathons within a month while cheering me on as well during my training. 29. Kristi (Adventures of a Running Monkey) - giving a lot of support during the training, providing awesome rehab information for my injured ankle, and love my new drink idea of a Dirty Monkey. 30. JKRunning - being supportive during my training, being a great inspiration as a strong woman while her husband serves in Iraq, kicking a** in A & P (much better than me!) 31. Jason and Leah (Marathon Running) - being an inspiration as awesome runners, sharing their trip to England and making it very entertaining and educational at the same time 32. Cassie (TIGGS) - being very supportive during the training, also an inspiration during the training...plus another TNT teammate - GO TEAM! 33. Jeanne (Not Born to Run) - being very supportive during my training even after the injury and an awesome example of putting lots of effort into completing MCM. 34. Mouse - being an awesome example of how to really conquer trail races (even though I am still trying to figure out HOW), an awesome example of strength in the blog post while dealing with the passing of her mom from cancer. (Cancer SUCKS!), and just being awesome (Am I using the word enough??) 35. Angie (One Pink Fuzzy) - being very supportive during the training, an awesome example of being brave and posting about the realities of her life out into blog-land. 36. Dori (She Do Run Run) - being very supportive, showing how to conquer the Big Sur half-marathon in October, and being an awesome MN runner (for now!)

37. Lisa (Marathon Journey) - thankful for the all support, encouragement, wisdom, and a great example of an awesome runner that wears a great running skirt. Well, that's all until tommorow. I hope enjoy it so far.