2008 Thanksgiving Blessings: Day 349

Our Thanksgiving began this year as it usually does...waking up early to head to Manchester for the Manchester Road Race, followed by a wonderful dinner, this year at Bill and Mimi's home. The Manchester Road Race is a footrace that attracts runners from all over New England and beyond...there were almost 12,000 registered runners this year. Most of us in my family run or walk the race...this was brother Bill's 27th Manchester RR in a row.

And along with Bill, his wife Mimi and their 2 girls Molly and Rebecca ran; My sister Mary and her daughter Anna ran; my sister Kath and her son Brooks walked the race; Lyndsay, Taylor and my niece Claire also walked/ran the 5 mile course. Jim and I, along with Dabi, walked 2 miles of the course...hopefully more next year :)

And most special of all....Joe ran his FIRST Manchester Road Race this year, after practicing for months on the treadmill at Marist. Not only was this his first MRR, but it was his first footrace ever.

And he did so well (38:36) that he qualified to be seeded next year!

Here he is right before the start getting his iPod set....

And here comes Anna, Mary, Lyndsay, Claire and Taylor!

2 minutes until the start...Mary yells for Anna to hurry...

And off they go, headed for the start line, along with about 12,000 other people.

And the gun sounds precisely at 10am sharp, but the crowd is so large, it takes everyone but the most elite runners many minutes to get past the start line.