Happy Post Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to give thanks for the blessings in your lives. I had a great day!

I signed up to walk the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race a little over a month ago. I needed some inspiration to get myself to the gym. And there's nothing like burning off the Thanksgiving Day meal beforehand! I walked three miles every other day, with longer walks on the weekends to train.

The race started at 9 and I left home at 7:40 - enough time to get downtown, park and have time to stretch and maybe find a port-o-john. Apparently, 11,490 left home at the same time, because there was no parking to be found. At 8:50, I called Roman, crying, because I was so stressed out about the situation. At 8:55, I found a (probably illegal) spot and darted to the start line. I took the steps up to Second Street two at a time. What I saw was 11,490 people lined up to start their race. It was 13 minutes into the race before I crossed the start line. Ah well, it gave me some time to get my ipod ready to go. I made a playlist just for the race. When I finally got to the starting line, I hit play, and the Black Eyed Peas kicked off my run (yes, I couldn't help but run even though I trained to walk - the excitement was too much!)

Let's Get It Started, in here... And the base keep runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and...

It was a fantastic day for the race. The sun was shining, and I had The Cult, Kaiser Chiefs, Foo Fighters and Devo getting me through the first mile. Here are some of the views from the run:











The Verdin Bell Museum, where Roman and I got married.

(Big Show, Royal Crescent Mob)











me!

(Mas y Mas, Los Lobos)














Welcome to Kentucky!

(Viva Las Vegas, Elvis Presley)













The water stop was in the shade, which led to an icy ground. I saw several people wipe out.

(American Idiot, Green Day)











View of Cincinnati

(Cleveland Rocks, Presidents of the United States)








My shadow at mile 5.

(Hella Good, No Doubt)











The finish line! MY official time was 1:23:12

(Respect, Aretha Franklin)












After the race I found my car (it took a while), drove home, got cleaned up and we were off to Roman's grandma & Grandpa's house for turkey. We arrived at 1:05 - five minutes after the official lunch start time. But the rolls weren't done, so we were actually early. We settled at the table with his family. Roman's grandpa sat right across from me. He was really interested in my race and liked my shirt a lot. However, today, I had to write this letter to the race organizers:

I had a wonderful time at the race yesterday. The weather was perfect, and I was happy to burn off the calories before dinner! I proudly wore my race shirt to my husband's grandparents house for dinner. My 85-year-old Grandpa-in-law said he liked my shirt. The colors were nice, he said. Imagine my shock when he then said, "You know what that shirt kind of reminds me of?" I put my fork down, because as a WWII veteran, he's always got something interesting to say. "A swastika!"

I recommend a different shirt design for next year. :)