So here I am on Thanksgiving with my dog stretched out on the sofa with me. My best buddy will be here later and we will chow down on our Thanksgiving feast. I am so thankful for that but this a running blog so let me do a quicksy review of running things that I am thankful for without it being all too end of the year review-like. We still have 38 more days until the end of the year and more to accomplish.

I’m thankful for my 25th and 30th half marathons. Number 25 was the Miami Half that I wasn’t at all trained for and walked half of it. Not pretty at all but it is one that I was incredibly proud of. I could have easily dropped out for the first half of that race but somehow kept going.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Brooklyn Half was not supposed to be number 30 but just a training run for the NYC Marathon. I just was not able to train consistently for the marathon this year and I figured I would give it one last attempt. If I could do an 18 mile long run I would feel confident enough to give it a go and run the marathon. With that in mind, I added Grete’s Great Gallop to my race schedule with the goal of adding an additional five miles. The additional five didn’t materialize and at that point I knew the marathon was out of the question.

I think that gave me some relief in just going out there and running with nothing on the line. I finished, collected a nice medal and bonus R’n’R goodies, and made my way home.

With race behind me I was just able to relax and not get all hyped up about the fall marathon season. The only races I put on my schedule were a few 5k’s with zero pressure. I’m thankful for being able to run without any pressure and just enjoy it.

Since I’m just enjoying things I feel great about running regularly again I can start thinking about accomplishing things that are not racing related. So with that I’m going to participate in the Runner’s World Run Streak. I’ve done this in the past but during the summer from Memorial Day through July 4. This one will be from today, Thanksgiving, to January 1.

I ran two miles this morning and can’t wait to hit the road tomorrow for a few miles. I’m so thankful that I feel like this is a a doable challenge.

But really, I’m super thankful for the turkey that I’m about to put in the oven!