It’s a good day to be thankful – for all the major things, of course, like health, family, God’s providence, freedom, and chocolate. Today I’m especially thankful for opportunities to laugh, as they just make the rest of life so much easier. It’s hard to feel sober when your four-year-old is “breakdancing” with an expression of utmost seriousness on his face, or when your seven-year-old admits to you that he really sort of kind of likes a girl in his class…and another girl in his class…and a girl in the next class…and, oh, yeah, that other girl in his class… 
So if you’ve made me laugh in the past year, or even just crack a smile on a down day, know that I’m feeling especially thankful for you today. You don’t have to be an American, either; I’ll still eat some pie (or possibly bread pudding? The jury’s still out) in your honor!
And among the other things for which I’m thankful today are bright skies, warm-ish temperatures, and a race course with only a very few patches of ice to slow me down! I did the 10K distance in the Kenosha Turkey Day Run this morning (last year I did the 2 mile), and I finished in 52:38, which is about a minute faster than my previous PR. That put me 6th in my age group! It was a huge field of runners, so I was pretty pleased with that standing. There were bunches of people there from the running club, and it was fun to cheer for everybody I saw. Then, of course, there were the costumed runners you get for themed runs such as this one; I saw a guy dressed as a hot dog, one dressed as a chicken, and one guy in head-to-toe neon green, including a mask that completely covered his entire head and face. 
I did start out way too fast, but I managed to hold that pace throughout. By the last mile, I was really feeling it, though; at the last half-mile, I tried to give myself a pep talk to keep moving, but what came out of my mouth was sort of a, “GRAHHHHHHH!” My “battle yell” startled the guy in front of me, who jumped visibly; sorry about that. 
Anyway, tired now. Going to rest a bit before food prep starts in earnest. Happy Turkey Day to everybody celebrating!
I was so excited to take part in the Kenosha Turkey day run that I even decided to quit smoking. As it turned out I trained very hard for two weeks with the race in mind. I ran a 18.36 in the race, which I was very happy with since my recent non-smoking endeavor. What I was disappointed in was that my time was never registered due to the fact that I left my bottom portion of my number tag in my car (it read: DO NOT PIN ON SHIRT.) I did not know what it was for and I just followed the directions. To my surprise,immediately at the end of the race you were supposed to hand it in to register your name & time. Disappointed, but still a winner for being smoke free.
Gary
Oh, Gary!
That is sad; the instructions on the race bibs are a little non-intuitive, come to that. (Thank God, I registered in person at my first race, so they instructed me on how to pin it on.) That’s a really good time, though, especially considering the no smoking! Congrats on that! 
I know it’s hard; I remember when Eric first quit…