I Wasn't Last!

I know today is Thanksgiving and I should have titled my post along that vein, but I couldn't help it. My most exciting event of the day was running a 5k this morning. A couple of weeks ago I was driving to my friend Becky's house, and I saw a sign up for a Thanksgiving morning 5k run. Strangely, I felt a desire to sign up. This is so not like me. I HATE running. I've only run in one race before, and it was the Moab 1/2 marathon in 2002. I think I ran for about 8 or 9 miles before my lack of training caught up with me and I was done. Only I wasn't anywhere near the finish line, so I had to sluggishly plod along at a very slow walk for 4 more miles. But here I was, desireing to enter a race. Granted, a much shorter one, but a race none the less. I signed up, went for a total of three runs between then and today, and went for it. I tried in vain to get someone in my family to join me, but no one did so I was a loner. It was probably better that way - I'm not a real quick runner, so it spared me some humiliation. Most important to me was that I run the whole way. I really needed to feel successful that way. I'm happy to say that I did it! What a rush! And I wasn't even the last person to finish. Somehow I even got a little ribbon that said that I beat the mayor (of Cottonwood Heights) but I don't know how that happened unless he walked the whole way. I'm a REALLY slow runner. You know what the best news is? I don't hate running anymore. It's actually kind of fun when you plug into some good tunes and get into a groove. Troy and I are going to run the 10k in Moab this spring, but that's good enough for me. I'm not one of those people who really wants to run a marathon someday. I'm just psyched that I made it through 3 miles today.

The actual holiday of giving Thanks was also a good part of the day. It was a Preslar year so we got together with Troy's family at our church. It really worked out nicely to use the Church's stuff so we could push tables together and all sit down at one big table, use nice dishes and have plenty of space for the kids. The day wasn't even too stressful because I had been doing food prep for the past two days. Unfortuneately, my food was the least successful part of my day. As you probably already know, I adore eating (oh yeah and cooking) so Thanksgiving is a really big holiday for me! But my food all kind of backfired. I made this great cranberry chutney but forgot all about it until we were passing the turkey (too late!), and I meant to make my favorite sauted green beans, but the burners at the church wouldn't work, so I had to microwave them. I made a great salad with roasted squash and onions plus pomegranite, pear, and candied nuts. The squash was met with more surprise than delight by the feasters, I think. And then I made some pies and I tried a new pie crust recipe that just didn't go well at all. The fillings were pretty good, but I was mad about the crust. WHY can't I master this pie-crust thing? Mary Poppins said, "That's a pie crust promise - easily made, easily broken," and I don't know what she's talking about because I can't seem to get the knack for it at all! Enough about the food - I didn't mind that my contributions weren't of the A+ variety, because there was tons of other good food and we had a great time as a family together. Which is actually more important than the food. Only a little bit, though.

I did get pretty carried away with decorations....I actually steamed ice cream cones and bent them into little cornicopias to set at each person's plate. Last night as I was exhausted and yet standing above a pot of boiling water holding a slowly softening ice cream cone it occured to me that I may have finally lost my marbles. Why was I doing this? I guess I had been looking for a craft that the kids could do on Thanksgiving Day while all the grown-ups were talking, but it became clear that the kids, if they actually participated in the activity by filling each cone with treats, would be done in about one second. But I had already bought all the stuff, so I went ahead and did it. It was pretty cute, but carried the essence of "hyper mommy" all over them. Well, I wish everyone the happiest of Thanksgivings (hey - there's still 45 minutes of Thanksgiving Day left!) and a wonderful start of the Christmas season. Are we there all ready? Wow.



The Preslar Brothers: Rick, Doug, Sam and Troy