I’m thankful for Heidi and David and their generous donation (and plug) to Team in Training.

I’m thankful for Kim, who is busy collecting donations for me at the Toledo Hospital while raising 5 kids, working, and cleaning up this mess. God bless her.

I’m thankful for the health of my family. We have had a difficult past year with my aunt’s breast cancer, my grandma’s bypass surgery, and my mother-in-law’s leukemia and subsequent bone marrow transplant. I’m grateful that I still have these people in my life.

I’m thankful that, for the first time in weeks, I was able to run this morning without the threat of ice stopping me dead in my tracks for fear of breaking my ankle (or neck…or bum).

I’m thankful that I recycle, which means I have a nice collection of plastic containers that are perfect for catching the rain that is dripping through our ceiling in the family room. I’m not as thankful for whatever it is going on with our roof that is causing the leaking, nor the bill that we’ll receive for hiring someone to fix it.

I’m thankful that Kade has an eye for style (or at least a nice, full head of hair). His favorite show as of late is America’s Funniest Home Videos, and while watching Sunday night he said this priceless nugget, “That Tom Bergeron (yes, he knows the guy’s last name) has some beautiful hair.” (He was referring to this Tom, not this one, but his hair is equally beautiful…a little suspicious, but beautiful, in that obnoxious newscaster sort of way). Could it be…do I have a little Jonathan on my hands? I’m envisioning the prospect of never having to pay for highlights again….

I’m thankful that Liv is sitting up (as long as there’s a toy in front of her for balance). She is now realizing that the world is her oyster and is ready to take off for anything and everything in her line of sight (by “taking off” I mean slowly leaning and subsequently flopping over in an attempt to reach her desired destination…it’s absolutely adorable, and a little heart-wrenching…the poor little thing tries so hard).

I’m thankful that I have two days of rest before I run 13.1 miles on Sunday. I’ll be really thankful on Sunday afternoon when the race is over, and even more thankful on Sunday night as I sip a glass of red wine in the bathtub…you didn’t think that I would run that far and not come home and celebrate, did you?