Turkey Day Leftovers

Welcome back readers from a long holiday weekend. Hope everyone got to enjoy their time off and replenish their energy stores. I cannot speak for everyone, but after persevering through three holiday feasts in four days, I feel more bloated than an oversized stuffed turkey right now. As I try to remember what it felt like to be hungry again, let me give a brief recap of the festivities.

Thanksgiving Day started with a nice 6 mile run back in the Queens ‘hood where I grew up. The day was warm, the sun was shining, and the fall foliage was out in full splendor for all to see. It always feels great to run past the streets, stores, and playgrounds where I once roamed as a kid. Now, when I pass by these same locales and see different kids playing the same games I did when I was their age, I always have to contain the impulse to stop a few of them and educate them about the “old school” days and neighborhood traditions and superstitions. I’m not sure if they’d be impressed or just not care, either way, I’d like to think it’d be my way of giving something back to the old ‘hood.

After my run, I met up with my little brother who came home from college, and after catching up a bit and showing him who’s still king of the family on the handball courts, we headed off to Thanksgiving dinner at my aunts. Unfortunately, my parents and another aunt couldn’t join us this year because they were invited to a wedding banquet (who holds a wedding banquet on Thanksgiving anyway!). So Thanksgiving this year consisted of two sets of parents and about 15 teenagers and twenty-somethings (I’m counting myself in this mix even though I’m barely older than the twenty-somethings!) which is a little out of the ordinary. It was fun though because I got to see the latest videogames the kids these days are surrendering their minds and their parents’ money on. What was more fun for me was the way my aunts and cousin try every year to congratulate me on running a marathon even though they really have no idea what a marathon is, or what it takes to train for one. This year I got questions like “So, was the marathon this year longer than the one last year?” or “Oh, I heard Tom Cruise’s wife ran in a marathon in New York. Did you run in the same one? Did you see her? She’s so talented.” I try very hard to keep a straight face and answer the questions as best as I could because in the end I know they mean well. But in my mind, my head hurts from all the kicking and screaming that’s going on in there. Maybe by my tenth marathon, I can get to explaining what a BQ is. A man can dream, can’t he?

I can’t complain though, because dinner was fantastic. The turkey was tremendous, the mash potatoes and chicken were well worth the wait, and to top it all off, my cousin made like five different kinds of dessert including a white chocolate cheesecake that made my knees shake...apparently, someone gave her the memo that I have a secret weakness for white chocolate cheesecake but didn’t tell me. It was so delicious that I was angry at myself for having too much dinner beforehand.

All in all, it was a memorable Thanksgiving. The rest of the weekend progressed in much the same fashion. I managed to struggle through an eleven miler on Saturday in between feasts but otherwise it was all about eating, friends, family, and not running.

Until now, I never understood why gluttony is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Now I do, oh so well. Payback on the road this week is going to be a bitch!