It is almost a week after Thanksgiving, and most people seem to have completely forgotten about it, and moved into full Christmas mode. Trees for sale, exchanging Christmas lists with family and friends, Christmas Story and Grinch movies on TV, and Christmas lights galore all mean that Thanksgiving has passed, and Christmas season is here. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but Thanksgiving is a very under-rated holiday. Outside of the 4th of July, I can't think of a more American holiday than one that involves families coming together to stuff their bellies and watch football all day. Of course the main purpose of Thanksgiving is in the name, to give thanks. This seems to be something my generation is getting worse and worse at doing; we're all so worried about how to constantly improve our lives that we forget how fortunate we are to have the things we have.

Thinking about this makes me remember something Dr Stan Beechem talked about to Team USA Arizona about a year ago. It is a competitive advantage to be thankful for what you have, and not worry about the things you think you "need" to reach your goals. He pointed it out to us this way: he asked us how many pairs of running shoes we had in our closet, and if we really needed all of them in order to succeed. While I more than happily accept all the shoes adidas sends me, the rest of the group and I all conceded that no, we didn't need all of them to succeed. Therefore, Dr Stan points out, we already have more than what we need. We, like just about every American, are living in excess. But back to why it can be a competitive advantage: compare a runner who knows he has everything he needs to succeed to a runner who thinks he is lacking one or more tools to succeed. If they are racing against each other, going into the race the runner who believes he has all he needs to succeed is fully confident, knowing he has done the work needed to succeed; while the runner who thinks he is lacking something is sure to have that in the back of his mind, and will likely use it as a built-in excuse for why he may fail. Now which of these runners do you think has the competitive advantage?

This brings me back to my original premise, keeping that thanksgiving state of mind is something that can help you throughout the year. It doesn't matter if you're an athlete or not, being thankful for the things you have, and not worrying too much about the things you don't is the best way to reach your goals.

Now talking about all this makes me want to announce the things that I am thankful for, both last Thursday and everyday throughout the year: my beautiful and ever-supporting wife Annika, my daughter Makenzie who somehow manages to get cuter every single day, my parents who raised me to become the man I am today, my many other family and friends who also had big impacts in their own distinct/different ways, my opportunity provided by adidas to continue to pursue my dream of becoming the best runner I can possibly be, and finally God for setting out a plan for me that I am able to further discover everyday.

Happy Holidays everyone, be thankful!