Adventures in London: Issue 19

What a week this has been. It is quite late here and I have a bunch to type so I am going to jump right in. 

This week was (as most of you know), Thanksgiving. I realised that for the first time in 28 years I was away from my family. The great thing about Thanksgiving is that it is not centered around gift giving ad receiving. It is centered around the most important thing in the world - food....I mean family, but really people it is all about the food. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday in the US as it marks a time to hang out with your family and eat your weight in delicious autumn foods. I was thankful that on Thanksgiving Thursday I did have the chance to see my family over Skype. While catching up with family, I got to see the enormous turkey, the pies, the table and of course the large pot of Bhai's mashed potatoes in the oven. I will admit, I was rather sad that I did not choose to go home for TG break, but all was not lost. I still had the pleasure to have my own TG dinner in London - only catch was I had to wait until Saturday. 

On Saturday, the "Americans" gathered in Borough for a traditional TG dinner. For the majority of us at the table, this marked the first time we all were away from our families. Contrary to the common  belief that there are no turkeys in the UK, we will very pleased to find a 16lb turkey. If you were at our dinner table (seated for 8),  you would not have known that you were in London. 

Our 3 course meal included a fine selection of cheese canapes (made by yours truly - pic to the left), an 9 entree dinner (mashed potatoes, candied yams, 2 styles of stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffed mushrooms, green bean casserole, and roasted potatoes) and for dessert homemade pumpkin and apple pie!! We even had the football games on to make it truly authentic!  

Granted it does not replace being with the family and nothing ever will, but when you are 6000 miles away from your loved ones this certainly satisfied the craving :-) Today we all went back for Thanksgiving leftovers with a few additions to the menu!! Have discovered a new found love for Chinese Turkey hash - YUMMY! Come on you cannot beat that!!! All the delights of Thanksgiving dinner without having to answer "when are you getting married?" - jk

Other than that, it has been a pretty low key week. On Tuesday, I went for a run outside. 

Rather than running towards Hyde park, I decided to run along the Thames towards Tower Bridge. I am still in awe of all the history and attractions that are just a stone throw away from the office. On my 5 mile circle, I ran by Tower Hill (sorry KU, I have yet to go inside), City Hall, HMS Belfast, the BFI, the National Gallery, etc. This run was exactly what I needed to clear my head. 

I have drawn up a training program and just like 2004, I am going to be very OCD about following it this year.  As of right now, I have a half marathon in March and the marathon in 2009 that I am focusing on. Rather than just having the goal of finishing, I want to focus on time. For the half in March, I would like to break the 2hr marker. For the Marathon - I have a number of goals. The main is to run a sub-4hr marathon - ideal would be to run a 3h48min marathon, but given it is my first I need to be a little realistic.  Man, these times seem so slow especially while reading "A Race Like No Other".... 

This afternoon while on my 9 mile run (up and around Battersea Park and back around Clapham Common), my iPod died. Any other week I probably would have turned around and gone back, but I was rather determined to run my full 9 miles today - it was the only way I was going to make it through round 2 of TG dinner ;-) I realised while running that I am thankful for you all and this blog. For the remainder of my run I spoke my thoughts to you all, took some photos and enjoyed a music free run. The sliver lining to the run was the lack of music forced me to focus on my form and breathing. I am still adjusting to the notion of running outdoors and have yet to break my "treadmill" form of short strides and heavy foot-strikes. It was nice to be able to open up and be lighter on the feet. Running through the mud, although messy and slippery, reminded me why I enjoyed running. I had flashback to a race when I was 14 in Rochester. The course was 3 laps through a mud pit park. We were sliding everywhere, but it was one of my fastest races. My knees and hips appreciated it - they sent me a dozen flowers to show there gratitude. 

This weekend I will be in Vienna for the Christmas market, so I will post the update on Monday. In the meantime, you can enjoy the video recap from the last 10 weeks of adventures! 

As always, if you use Skype, please let me know what your ID is and we can arrange a date to catch up. 

xxx