It\u2019s Thanksgiving.\u00a0 I am curled up on my couch under a blanket with my laptop as my Starbucks sits nearby on the appropriately named coffee table.\u00a0 By all standard definitions of this day, it does not seem to fit the traditional descriptions.\u00a0 There is nothing cooking in my kitchen. \u00a0I don\u2019t have any ingredients to make the usual Turkey day fare, not even a pumpkin pie.\u00a0 My house is quiet except for a rerun of an old Friends episode on the TV for background noise.\u00a0 My kids are having Thanksgiving with their dad this year.\u00a0 My mom is in Florida, my sister in Georgia, my brother and his family in California, while I am \u201chome\u201d in the Lou.\u00a0 I\u2019m not watching football or the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to think that if someone was here we might go outside and throw a football around at some point, but I\u2019m not even sure where the boys left the football.<\/p>\n
All that said, to me, it still feels like Thanksgiving, in some weird way.<\/p>\n
I got up early this morning and put on my running clothes. I pinned a bib to my red FLEET FEET singlet and joined 4,000 others at the Chesterfield amphitheater in the bitter cold to run the annual Turkey Trot.\u00a0 Kristen found me as I wandered in a daze toward the Start.\u00a0 The timing truck was stationed at the Finish line and I planned to leave my coat in the truck so that I would have it right when I got done.\u00a0 As Kristen and I jogged from Start to Finish, I waved to several friends along the way.\u00a0 I stashed my coat and we walked back toward the start with FLEET FEET Race Timing Manager, Jake.\u00a0 Jake\u2019s wife Lauren just had their second child 2 days ago, so they have much to be thankful for today.\u00a0 Jake was especially thankful at the \u201ctimely\u201d arrival of his son (see what I did there?) \u00a0which allowed him to still be available for today\u2019s event which is one of the biggest races on his yearly docket.\u00a0 Well done, Baby Goldsborough.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later, Kristen and I ran into Marxkors who was stripping down to her race gear.\u00a0 She was clearly feeling more ready for the 3.1 miles of pain than I was.\u00a0 The hacky cough thing that came on a couple days ago in combination with the 20 degree temperature didn\u2019t have me thinking that today would go so well.\u00a0 But I was there and I was going to do it anyway because I\u2019m a runner and that\u2019s what we do.<\/p>\n
Kristen and I made our way to the front of the crowd at the start line where Ron grabbed me for a big Thanksgiving hug.\u00a0 Then we pushed our way into the herd, somewhere between the guys in the front wearing tiny split shorts and all the people wearing turkeys on their heads, just before the race got underway.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure Kristen\u2019s only goal was beating the guy in the banana suit.<\/p>\n
The gun went off, the race started and we ran.\u00a0 The great part about a 5k is it\u2019s only 3.1 miles.\u00a0 The sucky part about a 5k is because it\u2019s only 3.1 miles, you run a lot faster than endurance pace.\u00a0 My body doesn\u2019t like to run fast.\u00a0 Especially when it\u2019s really cold out.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sick.\u00a0 And I potentially may have stayed out too late with friends last night.\u00a0 But, it was worth it.<\/p>\n
Sheila and Kelly passed me early in the race. Nick poked me in the side as he ran by with a big smile. I waved to Andy on his way back of the out and back. \u00a0I yelled to Marxkors as she passed too.\u00a0 Just under 24 minutes later, I crossed the finish line after seeing several familiar faces along the course.\u00a0 Kristen had finished just a few steps behind me with a PR.\u00a0 That\u2019s good, I\u2019m glad one of us had a decent race.\u00a0 My time was over a minute slower than the last time I ran that course two years ago.\u00a0 Oh well, it was a good start to the day, and actually it got even better.<\/p>\n
As we headed for the post race refreshments, I saw Flavia and Nick.\u00a0 As we stood talking, Kaitlyn walked up and asked me to tie her shoe since she couldn\u2019t feel her fingers.\u00a0 Tony and his son Elliot showed up in their Elvis costumes and Elliot immediately began disrobing.\u00a0 Faith and her daughter Kylee came by with hugs.\u00a0 I saw another Kristen and said a quick hello.\u00a0 We all split off and I went to get my coat from the timing truck.\u00a0 Jake was busy scrolling results on a laptop inside the truck but I whispered Happy Thanksgiving to him anyway.\u00a0 I talked to fellow Fleet Feet-ers Chris and Tim for a few minutes.\u00a0 Tim\u2019s wife Lisa was the overall winner for the women, with Maxkors taking second.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good day.\u00a0 I grabbed a banana and a water and went to check the results monitors.\u00a0 They were scrolling alphabetically at H.\u00a0 Being a \u201cJ\u201d, I knew I didn\u2019t have to wait long.\u00a0 I was the 60-something female finisher, number 18 of women 30-39.\u00a0 Pretty respectable considering the circumstances.<\/p>\n
As I was about to head out, I saw one of the other Maxkors siblings\u2026Alicia.\u00a0 She was with one of my social running Steve\u2019s.\u00a0 We talked for a few, did hugs and said happy Thanksgiving.\u00a0 As I walked away I saw Kelly; Sheila joined us after she gave up on waiting for her name on the results.\u00a0 Then, Lisa and Marxkors.\u00a0 How cool did I feel standing there with the top two women?\u00a0 I have some very fast friends.<\/p>\n
Then I walked back to the car.\u00a0 After I got the heat going, I pulled out my phone and started fielding texts from so many friends.\u00a0 My mom had tried to call, I called her back but left a message.\u00a0 I sent a text to my baby girl and asked her to give hugs to her brothers for me.<\/p>\n
I drove over to Starbucks to get my well earned coffee.\u00a0 Funny that I ran into Alicia and Steve as soon as I walked in.\u00a0 I\u00a0laughed as I said\u00a0that I was just going to follow them around all day.\u00a0 Alicia joked that if I wanted to come over for Thanksgiving I should just say so.\u00a0 I responded saying if I was going to be alone, the Marxkors would likely have been the first people I would have called to invite myself over.\u00a0 And I know I really could have done that.\u00a0 Not just with the Marxkors, but with several others.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s when it really hit me.\u00a0 Even in being \u201calone\u201d today, I\u2019m not really alone.\u00a0 I started the day off with so many hugs from friends in the running community that I am so fond of.\u00a0 And the texts I\u2019ve received remind me that even if I choose to be alone for part of the day, I am not forgotten, I am loved and I am blessed.<\/p>\n
So while outwardly, today may look like any other day, it still feels like Thanksgiving in my heart, just like every other day.\u00a0 I am so thankful for my awesome kiddos who are celebrating with their other family just down the road. \u00a0I am thankful that they are healthy and happy. \u00a0I am thankful for knowing that I can count on my family, even when they are far away.\u00a0 I am thankful for my friends, near and far, who love me in spite of myself.\u00a0 And I am thankful that 12 years ago on a random Wednesday night I called my parent\u2019s home phone just to say hi.\u00a0 Typically my dad would pass the phone off to my mom, but that night he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 He stayed on the phone with me for several minutes talking about nothing of consequence and the last conversation I ever had with my dad ended like this\u2026<\/p>\n
Dad: Bye now.<\/p>\n
RRG: Bye Dad.<\/p>\n
Dad: Love you.<\/p>\n
RRG: Love you too\u2026<\/p>\n
Then we hung up.\u00a0 Those were the last words I ever heard him say.\u00a0 We should all be so blessed.<\/p>\n
Where ever you are today, make sure your loved ones, family, and friends that are like family, know that you give thanks for each one of them.\u00a0 I am thankful for each one of you.\u00a0 Happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
And now, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I need to get out of\u00a0my hoodie and running tights and get ready to go to dinner with a couple of my kickass friends who refuse to let me have Thanksgiving dinner alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s Thanksgiving.\u00a0 I am curled up on my couch under a blanket with my laptop as my Starbucks sits nearby on the appropriately named coffee table.\u00a0 By all standard definitions of this day, it does not seem to fit the traditional descriptions.\u00a0 There is nothing cooking in my kitchen. \u00a0I don\u2019t have any ingredients to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-93","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}