Goals

Things are getting better in our household. Thank goodness. We had a relatively healthy day today, minus Silas having a cold. BJ and I even ate regular food tonight for dinner (shepherd's pie, in case you're interested)! A sure sign that things are on the mend. Tonight I decided to test the waters and go for a jog, and I set no expectations for myself so that I would not be disappointed. No need for such pessimism though, as I ran for half an hour and felt absolutely great! I only ended up stopping because I had made it to the house decked out with Christmas lights, and Tex and I decided to check it out without hurrying by. I feel so encouraged by this (the run I meant, not the Christmas lights....well I guess a little by the Christmas lights too). My plan is to run my last pre-Turkey Trot jog tomorrow and I'm going to give it my all, no holding back. I want to see how much I'm going to have to rely on race-day adrenaline alone, and the only way is to see how far I can push myself tomorrow.

One factor that I have recently become aware of is the coming change in weather. Colder temperatures are coming in on Wednesday, and by Thanksgiving morning the temperature is optimistically supposed to be in the high 20's. Now, please don't laugh, my dear Minnesota (and Maine and Massachusetts) friends! I know this is something to be scoffed at! However, please take into account that today's high was 77, and these warm temperatures have been with us for at least a week I think. I don't know, I've been holed up, but it's been a while. Regardless, it hasn't been in the 20's here yet this year. So we're going to have chilly buns the morning of the race! Now, I have some experience with this, thanks once again to my years in Minnesota. In 2006 my friend Lisa and I ran the Reindeer Run 5K in Minneapolis (well, more like Lisa ran it and dragged me along). The temperature on that December morning was a crisp 5 degrees, too cold even to snow, as the precipitation didn't start until BJ and I were walking back to the car after the race was over. Please note that during the last 2.5 miles of this race, I could not feel my legs beneath me. I expect a similar fate on Thursday morning.

Let me blab just a little more about another topic related to my jog tonight. The park that I jog in next to our home is a park dedicated to United States veterans, and there are monuments dedicated throughout to soldiers, including a recently-placed monument to a local soldier killed not long ago in this war. I ran in the dark tonight, and only a handful of people were there in the park with me, so you kind of notice them when you pass them. There was one fellow who I am guessing is perhaps training for the military. He looked to be in his late teens, by my estimation, and he was carrying a backpack that I was guessing had a weight in it by the way it was handling (I know it wasn't a camelbak). This guy began his workout by kneeling in silence at the monument dedicated to the fallen soldier, and then he proceeded to alternate sprints with crunches and push-ups. We see-sawed each other a few times since I was jogging constantly and he was sprinting and stopping, and I paid notice to what he was doing as I was winding my way around the trail. As I was running I was thinking that everyone training at this park tonight is doing it with something in mind, training for some goal. Our goals may all be different, but we're not there for nothing. I was humbly reminded tonight, though, as I'm gearing up for my fun race, that some people's goals are more noble than others. And to these people, I give my salute.