Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Matt, Tricia and the boys drove up the night before and then Matt, Trish and I started T-Day off by running the Wild Turkey 5-Miler in Salem. I've been battling this chest cold and cough all week, so I wasn't able to run Tuesday. I just wanted to get a decent run in, so I just ran comfortably for the most part and picked it up a little in the last mile, finishing in just under 39 minutes. I felt okay during the run, although my legs tightened up right afterward. Matt and Trish ran together; it was her second road race and first 5-miler and they came in at 52 minutes, about eight minutes faster than they had hoped for. It was a nice morning to run, with temps in the 30s. I saw a lot of folks I knew running.

Afterwards, we had the traditional turkey dinner downstairs at my mother-in-law's, and then headed up to NH later in the afternoon to have dinner with my mom. It was tough to drive after eating all that stuff, and even tougher to drive home. I was exhausted. But it was good to spend time with Mom.

Yesterday, Deb, Tricia and Susan got up at 3:30 and ventured out to do their annual Black Friday shopping. I don't know how they do it every year. They had some horror stories about battling the hordes at Wal-Mart, which was a total zoo. Susan got whacked in the face by a box and it was just chaos. But nothing like the scene in New York, where some poor W-M employee was trampled to death, like a scene out of that Who concert in Cincinnati in '79. Meanwhile, two dudes shot each other to death in a Toys R Us in California. All over holiday shopping. I just don't get it.

Matt and I got out of the house later in the day to see Role Models, the first movie I've seen in a theater in three years. Usually I just rent them from Netflix. The last one I saw (not counting the crappy Veggie Tales movie we took the kids to last year in NJ) was Jarhead. At any rate, Role Models was pretty damn funny. I recommend it.

Leftovers:

• I'm still in shock over the massive terrorist attacks in Mumbai, where the latest death is 183. I was watching it all unfold on Wednesday night and it was amazing how such a complex plan could be pulled off, with coordinated attacks on 10 different locations. Just insane.
• The worst-kept secret in hockey finally comes to fruition today when the Leafs announce that Brian Burke is their new GM. He's going to have a huge job to do to turn things around with that team and get it on track to win its first Stanley Cup since the year I was born. And he's going to have to do it under intense media scrutiny. Good luck to him. He's gonna need it.