Thanksgiving: My Favorite Holiday and A Whole Lot to Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving is the United States annual national holiday that includes a traditional meal including turkey and pie held on the fourth Thursday every November. It was the day celebrated for giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest of the preceding year. It has become more commercialized every year as less time has been spent gathered with family and friends, and more time spent planning holiday shopping on Thanksgiving and Friday-Monday. Over the years, the holiday itself has begin to lose its meaning just as Christmas has become more focused on presents, food, partying, and decorations.

My Thanksgiving every year has always been focused on family and what I am thankful for. That's why I have always enjoyed the holiday. What could be better than starting the day with a early run for a great cause and spending the rest of it with the people I love, on giving thanks, and eating?

Thanksgiving Eve was filled with excitement this year, as it greeted us with quite a bit of snow. WET and HEAVY snow.

Thanksgiving Day 2014

As a Thanksgiving tradition in my family, we run the Thanks-4-Giving 5K road race in Lowell. The race itself is one of my favorites to run just because of the great turn out every year and how festive people are. My family has shirts we wear every year and continue to add the years on the back after every race.

I was extremely happy and proud of my dad who walked the race this year. After having a hip replacement less than 2 months ago, he was out with us and was a complete champ!

This year, we added 2 turkeys to our clan, my aunt Joni and my boyfriend Jesse. I see our Turkey pack growing every year as we get older!

With a hamstring injury and with the wet slushy/icy conditions of the road, this year was not my year to PR in my 5K race. We still had a fantastic time and I crossed the finish line with Jesse and Brennan by my side. Jesse had us beat at the last second (actually .02 seconds to be exact....) and we collected our trophies (PIE OF COURSE) and were ready for the day by 9 am!

This year, I was lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving dinner with the Sykes family. With Brennan and I always being the youngest "kids" at family gatherings, it is always so heartwarming to be around small children.

The day was great, spent around fantastic and loving people and amazing food.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because the focus is on what we are thankful for.

I am extremely thankful for my family. My mom, dad, and brother have and always will be in my life and they are the greatest people I know. I owe them everything and I couldn't be more blessed to have such a great, fun, and loving support system.

I am thankful for my extended family, my aunts, cousins, uncles, grandparents, etc. We may not see each other often, but I've learned that sometimes the strongest relationships are those that are distant.

I am thankful for my boyfriend Jesse, who has been the most incredible addition in my life. He has always been a close friend (7 years!) and it's been an exciting and unexpected journey to where we are now. There isn't a day that passes I don't think about how lucky I am to have him and his wonderful family in my life.

I'm thankful for my friends, especially my close friends. I've been through a lot especially in the last few years. There's a lot I have to thank my close friends for. I don't deserve the love and beautiful friends I have, but I am so happy to have them.

Another great Thanksgiving is in the books. Hoping the next one will be just as great!

http://www.alternative-house.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Thanks4GivingRoadRace

The Unanswerable Question

At 22 years old, during most conversations with just about everyone I talk to, the topic of school comes up and what I am majoring in and "going for". I am graduating in the Spring of 2015, in just a few short months. Once this is brought up, the big question ALWAYS pops up:

"What do you want to do with your life/be?"

It gets me every time. Although I know it's coming, I still react shocked, and my mind goes off in a downward spiral of panic, looking for something to say that won't make me sound like I have wasted thousands of dollars in school.

It's funny when people ask this, because there are so many ways to approach this question. I often think of a few different inappropriate answers before coming to the general few answers I always give someone like "I would love to work for a college Athletic Department" or "I really enjoy what I do at my internship now with Channel Marketing" that leaves the questioner satisfied and able to move on.

But really, what is the right way to answer this question to be honest, realistic, accepted by society, and personally satisfying?

Here are a few different answers that I've heard when someone was posed with the "unanswerable question":

1. "I would like to make tons of money without lifting a finger." (wouldn't we all?)

2. "I want to be a stay at home mom!"

3. "I am going to be a student forever."

4. "I want to be a professional shopper."

5. "Whatever is going to make me rich with the least amount of work."

6. "I'd like to travel the world."

7. "I'm going to just marry someone rich and never work."

8. "Probably something that has nothing to do with my major."

9. "What's wrong with playing video games for a living?"

10. "Wait, I can't just off of my parents forever?"

These were mostly jokes (I hope?) but at least someone can find humor in a serious, open ended, fearful question. The truth is:

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THEY WILL END UP DOING

So stop asking me what I want to do with my life! Stop asking anyone what they are going to do with their lives. The honest truth is that anything can happen in life. Sure, people have dreams and hopes of what they will achieve by retirement and maybe a lot of those people will do exactly what they aspire to do. But if you ask anyone at retirement if they foresaw every work related event in their lives happening, chances are they will say no. 

Most adults I know are STILL trying to figure out what they want to do. So as a 22 year old almost college graduate, how am I supposed to know better than anyone twice my age?

The question is indeed unanswerable, but only because how is someone supposed to give an answer that can really answer the question?

I have never given the well thought, drawn out, truthful answer that I wish I could give every time someone asks me what I want to do with my life, but here it goes:

"I don't know"

I don't know! I do not know what I want to do with my life, is that so bad?! Because I'm pretty sure I am not the only one who wishes they could be as truthful as this. No one really knows, especially us college kids. That's why these meme's exist:

There are a lot of things I dream of doing:

I want to marry the man I love so much and have kids by the time I'm 30. 

I dream to have a beautiful home not to far from my family.

I aspire to have a job that is rewarding and that I love.

I plan to be able to not work so much that I miss my kids growing up and I'm able to actually enjoy life. 

I would love to have many jobs over the course of my life, so I can learn and grow over my career and be able to look back on how far I've come.

I plan to eventually go back to get my masters, whether that is directly after my undergrad or a few years later.

But most of all, out of everything I want to be in life, I want to be happy.

What I've realized is there isn't a right or wrong answer to the unanswerable question, because no one really knows what they want and even if someone thinks they know, they don't know what's going to happen that may change that. Anything can happen, and anything will happen.

My First Half Marathon Experience

                 

It was over 130 days ago I signed up for my first half marathon. I had always dreamed of running more than a 5K race but never thought I could get my legs going more than 4 miles. It was that thought that actually inspired me to sign up for it. It was months away at the time and I decided if I made the commitment, I couldn't back out.

The Baystate Half and Full Marathon takes place in Lowell, MA every year. My father is a long-time runner of the Baystate and so are many of his friends. Many years we went down along the race course and waited for my dad to run by us. His last Baystate was run in 2012.

My dream was to run my first half marathon with my Dad, the man who made me the runner I am today. My first race I ever ran was when I was 12 years old. My dad trained with me and pushed me. I still ended up walking most of it and came in dead last behind a power walker. It wasn't until I got to college I really started to push myself into running. My Dad has always been my coach and inspiration. 

One thing holding back my dad has been his injuries. He has a bad back and common running injuries like to the calf and leg. It wasn't until this year though we found out he needed to have surgery on his hip in October with a 6 week recovery. He wouldn't be able to run with me like we planned.

I trained all summer running outside and at the UMass Lowell Rec Center. I made it up to 13.1 miles but race day came and I still felt like it could go great or terrible.

Sunday, October 19th 2014

My parents and boyfriend dropped me off at the race start at 7:40 am. It was a frigid 40 degrees and I was dressed in running spandex to my knees and a tank top. I knew quite a few people running the race, but couldn't see anyone I knew in the crowd of a few thousand people.

We lined up in front of Lowell High School and after the anthem, we took off.

Running the first mile was slow and exciting. Seeing thousands of people fill the streets bobbing up and down in bright colors was truly a sight. The marathoners and half marathoners were all together running for the first 3 miles so half of the street was closed for runners. I saw familiar faces along the way including the Lowell High and UMass Lowell Track teams and parents of people I knew. 

My parents and Jesse camped out at Walgreen's about 3 miles from the start right before the Rourke Bridge. Nothing was more motivating than seeing them waving and cheering for me especially when my legs got heavy.

The first loop of the race was relatively relaxing until the halfway point when I realized I had to do it all again. The hills became harder and my legs became heavier. I could feel my weight in my achilles tendons as I used my arms to push on. My parents and Jesse were waiting for me still but this time it was Mile 9 when I passed a second time. My aunt Joni joined them and it once again became easier to see the finish.

Mile 10 and 11 were probably the hardest times to get through. I was so close yet so far away. They were never ending and my legs were screaming for me to stop. I didn't though. When I hit Mile 12 and saw the "1 Mile to Go" sign, I felt a surge of energy come through me. I knew the end was near and so was my family waiting for me. I powered though and finished my first half marathon in 2:21. 

I ran this race to push myself to work hard to achieve something I thought I could never do. I know I can do anything I set my mind to now.

The big question I've been asked now is, "Are you going to do a full?"

I don't really know. I would love to run a full marathon someday. It's always been my dream to run Boston and actually have a time to qualify for it. For now, I am content with my 13.1. I know I will run again next year because looking back, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Thank you to my family and friends for all the love and support!!!!

The Blerch in my Life

The other day, I came home to a surprise package from my mom. She told me to open it, and behold, I found this:

I had no idea what it was to be honest, but my mom was so excited that she had received this book the first day it came out and wanted me to have it.

While reading the opening pages I began to see the humor in the book. It was funny and really enjoyable.

The most striking thing about this book was the talk about "The Blerch." The Blerch is described as "a fat little cherub who follows me when I run. He is a wretched, lazy beast. He tells me to slow down, to walk, to quit. 'Blerch' is the sound food makes when it is squeezed from a tube. Blerch is the shape of my tummy after a huge meal. If I am sedentary at a time when I have ZERO excuse for being sedentary, I call this 'blerching.' The Blerch represents all forms of gluttony, apathy, and indifference that plague my life."

This instantly made me feel a connection with this stranger writing this book. It was like he knew me, knew my struggles, and finally identified the voice that tells me to stop running. I kept reading until I read this: "A wall is an obstinate, immovable object. You cannot silence it, you cannot outrun it, and you cannot beat it. The Blerch, however, can be outrun. He CAN be silenced."

The Blerch isn't just a fat creature who follows me while you try to exercise and tell you that you need a bag of chips instead of a 3 mile run. The Blerch is bigger, and follows me around all day everyday telling me to quit. There is a Blerch for just about everything we do.

When waking up for school at 8:30am, I hear the Blerch telling me, "Go back to bed! You want to sleep more. You can skip one day, what is the big deal?"

When shopping at the mall and seeing the newest Nike Free Runs, I hear the Blerch saying, "You deserve those, $90 on shoes is nothing. They would look so good and don't you want to run fast?"

And when it's the weekend and I am having a drink, the Blerch encourages me, "Just have a couple more, what's the big deal? You want to have fun don't you?"

The Blerch in reality is the devil sitting on my left shoulder while the angel on my right fights him off. Not to say that every bad decision I make is to blame on the Blerch, because I ultimately make the decision to do or not do something.

The problem with the Blerch, is that I am fighting with myself because the Blerch is me. I am the only one who can ignore or listen to the Blerch. He tells me to stop running, and I have to find the other voice WAY DEEP down in me to tell him "No thanks Blerch, I am going to keep running."

The Blerch is present in almost every situation I am in. When it comes to running, it is easier to give in to the Blerch especially when you feel tired and sore. It can be demeaning sometimes when you listen to the Blerch instead of continuing on. However, silencing the Blerch is just about the most rewarding feeling ever.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is by the running legend Pre who said,"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started."

The Blerch will keep you where you are, or even push you back closer to where you started. Setting your mind, staying motivated, and always looking back at how far you have come will silence the Blerch and remind you how strong you really are.

Running for my Life: The First Post

Most of my friends have created blogs, and I enjoy reading them. I never thought I would start blogging for many reasons: time, creativity, interest, etc. Not many people can perfect the act of blogging and if you can't blog correctly, you can't blog at all.

One of my family's closest friends Patrick Cook created his own blog called "A Wicked Good Blog." And you guessed it, it's wicked good! I've read Pat's blogs as often as I can and watched a true master of blogging perfect the art. I've also been lucky enough to be featured in a few of the blogs. His son Andrew recently took up blogging as well, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They are both extremely talented writers.

Blogs define who you are, so you can expect to see a lot of talk about the things I love most in this world which include:
Running
The Boston Bruins
Extreme Couponing
My Family
Adventures
etc.

They also will include other non the less exciting topics such as:
The struggles of College
Entering the "Real World"
Job experiences
Being in my early twenties
Figuring out the rest of my life
Overcoming everyday challenges
Forgiving and being Happy
etc.

So I guess the real question is, why did I start blogging? I thought about it and I came up with some interesting reasons:
1. I want to show the world who I am and what I do.
2. Because everyone else is doing it
3. It's a way to prove that I actually am doing something with my life
and 4. I have too much free time

Well none of these were true, and these reasons seem more applicable to justify drinking in college rather than why to start a blog.

The real reason I started a blog was because I would like to look back on my years of blogging in the future, and to be able to connect to the person I once was. The way I feel now about situations and ideas will be different down the road. I want to relive who I once was not through just pictures, distant memories, and faded dreams, but through writing and descriptive memories.

After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, so why not skip the picture and write out the words instead?