Thanksgiving

Okay, I may be a few months late for this, but I decided that today's post would be about things I'm grateful for.

Last time I ran was 2 weeks and 2 days ago. I haven't run since then because I had a really terrible cold - worse than I ever imagined a cold could be. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say I definitely couldn't do any running. So anyway, to start the giving thanks, I was thankful during my time of sickness for the friends who took care of me and the fact that now I have a much better understanding of how debilitating non-stomach sickness can be. I'm also grateful I have sick days I can use at work, and for that matter that I have a job at all, and one that allowed me to go visit my friends in the first place.

So today, I finally felt good enough to go running - another thing to add to the grateful list. It was much hotter today than I would like, particularly in winter, but that leaves me grateful I don't have to deal with some of the more annoying parts of cold winters, like scraping my car or getting salt all over everything or shedding 20 layers every time I go inside. And it was hot mostly because of the Santa Anas, but that also means it was very clear and very pretty - and that I'm grateful for.

I'm also grateful that the run wasn't too bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. I ended up running about halfway and walking the back stretch, then even running most of the rest of the way (I stopped a teensy bit early out of respect for not having run for 2 weeks and being sick). So 3 miles in 36 minutes or so. Including 5 minutes of walking. Not bad.

I also had a conversation with a random guy who asked how long the loop was and was in a very good mood about the weather, which made me feel a little better about running. So I'm grateful for being able to talk to people and for joy in the world, and for the little bit of cold I got on the second half - gotta love cold air that's been sitting in the shade for a few hours. Refreshing.

And then, of course, there's the fact that I can run. That I have a friend to run (or probably more accurately, walk) with this weekend. That I have a car to get to Disneyland this weekend. That I have grandparents to let me stay at their house since it's closer to Disneyland than mine. 

I'm pretty sure Sunday is going to be a world of pain, but at least I can say I did it, right?