How about we sacrifice an overweight bird?? What'da ya say??

Well, thanksgiving has come and gone. I ate way too much pumpkin pie and ice cream, and spent way too much time sitting on a barstool after midnight. But alas, things will are returning to normal for about another month until the truly chaotic holiday. The night after thanksgiving was great; spent with old, old friends who I don't get to see often. They have left northeast Ohio for places like Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Melborne. They return to Akron, Ohio and admit that they don't miss it too much and that it hasn't seemed to change (except for the new Wal-Mart and CVS). And although northeast Ohio hasn't changed much it is changing. Everyone I grew up with here is changing. We are all older and wiser. I have found some wonderful places to sit and have a cup of coffee or a meal made from scratch. Establishments where the business owners serve you the food they cook and they are there every day. Establishments that still don't take credit cards. I have found places to hike where people are sparse and those folks that you see pass with a smile and allow the dog's in tow to run around in circles until they both sprint to catch up to their masters. I have a wonderful family here that urges me to keep evolving and encourages me to keep dreaming and to chase those dreams. I have friends here that have seen the wheel of my life spin in circles and have always been around to sip on a pint of ale and talk about all that is good and bad. I am truly thankful to have been born and raised in northeast Ohio.

I am also thankful Damon Jones has been shooting the basketball with some consistency and look foreward to Lebron taking the Caveliers to the promised land. If Larry Hughes can stay healthy and they continue to get the bench production they've been getting the last couple of weeks look out. If big "Z" gets more involved on top of that they will be in the NBA finals, guaranteed. As the season was beginning I thought that Dallas would come out of the west to face the Caveliers. And they still may, after they pull themselves out of the cellar following their dismal start to the season. But, I guess if the first couple weeks of the season is the best time to hit a rut. The cavs retro orange uni's the last 2 games were crazy cool, no?? I have just added an orange World B. Free jersey to my christmas list.

The home run for the homeless thanksgiving morning was good fun, as expected. Antonio Pittman was there to wish us luck and lead us in a little O-H I-O chant at the starting line. This run has been a nice tradition the last couple of years to share with the Capes and Neal families & friends. The weather was perfect and the course is very hilly. We started at the very back of the pack and were boxed in by housewives and out of shape youngsters for the first mile or so. As things started to thin out I lost the group I started running with just as the course headed into the beautiful Glendale Cemetery....and the hills twisted up, down, and around some of Akrons most influential families resting places. I felt pretty good except for my calf being a bit tight from another minor muscle tear a few days before the race. Goal #1 this winter is to recover coompletely from calf strains and gain strength and flexibility so that I get over this pesty pain in the calf. Before I knew it we were heading out of the cemetery and onto the west Akron sides streets meandering back towards Exchange street for the finish. I had a lot of juice left as I realized there was only about 1/4 mile left and turned it up a notch.....no, more like 4 notches to the finish. My watch read 29:52 for the four miler which i was pretty happy with considering the circumstances. I'm pretty sure it's a 4 mile PR which should be broken on the next four miler I run, which just might be the Winking Lizard run in Cleveland next summer. If I break 20 minutes next year on a 5K I will feel accomplished. If I finish the half-marathon in Cleveland in May I will feel accomplished. So much for barstools and turkey dinners drowned in gravy followed by a big slice of pumpkin pie...

Until christmas.