Being Thankful

Its been four days since signing up for the Arizona Ironman. For now, I'm mainly focusing in on run training for the Disney Marathon. In beginning to ramp up my long runs for that event, last Sunday I went for a 15 mile training run. It was cool out and I felt good. I decided to extend the run to a 20 mile run, the longest of my training runs for a marathon. I finish and felt marathon ready. I realized the half ironman training had me pretty much in marathon shape. I couple of friends were scheduled to run the Las Vegas Marathon on December 6th, two weeks out. I decided that I might as well run Vegas as a training run. Salome and my older son decided to come along and enjoy Vegas while I rest in the hotel on Saturday and run Sunday morning. Thus, my wild and crazy ride continues.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, I'm taking time to reflect on some things for which I'm thankful:

I'm thankful for every day I'm healthy enough to run, ride, swim, even if it's sometimes a hassle to get my butt out the door,which reminds me that

. . . I'm thankful for my training buddies who schedule training events even on those days when I'd rather blow it off, which reminds me that<

. . .I'm thankful that none of us has drown in all of the swim portions of the various triathlons we did this year, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful that training buddy John & I survived the Miami Half Ironman, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful that the tri training we've done put me in shape to do a strong enough 20 mile training run to consider the possibility that I could run the Vegas Marathon on December 7th, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful that I have a wife that not only allows me to schedule last minute adventures, but signs on to go along with me, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful that I've got buddies crazy enough to sign up and commit to training for a full IM with me, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful that I have a wife who loves me enough to put up with all this, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful for my two sons who bring me much joy, which reminds me that

. . .I'm thankful for my wife and mother-in-law who make juggling all this possible.