In 2004, a few months after I got home from New Zealand I took a semester off of school and ran my first official Turkey Trot. In 2003 I ran it in a thrift store business suit with my high school buddy but that doesn’t count. In 2005 I was out of state. In 2006 I had to photograph the dang thing for my newspaper. In 2007 I was out of state again. In 2008 I could finally run it again.

If there’s one thing I’m thankful for in my gene pool it’s the ability to actually find pleasure in running. I could go on about the health benefits but it’s safe to say that it’s important to me if, for no other reason that it gives me time to think, and it’s this free thinking time that has helped shape me as a person and helped me to get where I am now, even if there is still a long way to go. It also has given me the ability to patiently explore new areas, and appreciate the layouts of the different lands. My favorite regular running route would still have to be the one I took in New Zealand. I would start at the house, run 1/2 a block down to the beach, follow that for about a mile until I would have to tackle one of the steepest hills I’ve run, reach the top and zig-zag down the backside of a sheep infested slope that overlooked a rocky cliff and bright blue seas. For now the suburbs of Naperville ending with family will be just fine though. The light in the morning is just a little bit of a different color…I love how transparency captures this where your digital camera would just correct it.

I am also really thankful that, instead of turkey, our family decided that good steak and scotch would suffice for dinner that day.