This Running Life

It is time for the obligatory thanksgiving post. So, I’ll list some things I appreciate in my little part of the world:

-Cool weather on Thanksgiving Day. Here in the South we often have warm weather on a day that should have a nip in the air
-Not driving this year to see relatives. I miss my family, but there is something about having this day in your own home (of course, my mother isn’t letting me hear the end of it)
-My regular readers of this blog (the few of you there are, but there is tremendous quality in your small quantity)
-My kids. We are in our art phase. We are drawing all sorts of superheroes, comic strips, sketches, and whatever they think of for me to draw for them. They then copy what I have drawn. The best part of my day is when we do lay-by time. We tuck each boy in and just chat in the bed with them for about 10 minutes. Pure heaven.
-Running early in the morning on Thanksgiving–before I intake calories!
-My new blog friends, Marathon Chris and Susan, especially. Thanks for sharing your life with me as I share mine with you.
-The start of that “Christmas feeling.” I love this time of year as the Holiday expectations build up.
-Eating turkey sandwiches for dinner after the big meal. To be honest, I like post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches more than the actual T-Giving meal itself.
-That my third book will be published. I have written one historical monograph, one local history of my Parish in Louisiana (unrefereed,) and edited a volume of essays. Now, my political biography of Florida Governor Reubin Askew–the only politician I ever admired–will come out in a another 8 months or so from the University of Georgia Press.
-St. Jude’s Research Hospital and the people who give money to support it. No greater cause than that of helping kids get healthy. They deserve long and happy lives and childhoods of freedom and love. Give Thanks.

I ran this morning. I did 2 intervals of 2 miles. I kept at a pace of between 11 and 12 minutes per mile. Not blazing by any means, but for me good and steady.

I am registering for a 5K on Dec 1. This will be my first test of the Achilles in a race situation. But I’ve had no pain at all, and running 4 miles today went a long way in proving that I was back, baby!