Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day!  THANK YOU to all the men and women who sacrifice so much for us to live free!

I took the photo above yesterday morning after the Veteran's Day 10K in Washington DC.

The race went well.  I had a late night on Saturday, and it was tempting to sleep in and skip the race - but determination prevailed.  I woke up & bundled up.  It was a bit chilly out.  I wore my long running tights & gloves for the first time this season.  

I was a little late getting to the race.  As I was approaching the starting line, I could hear the announcer say, "Last call for the 10K runners."  I sprinted to the starting line, and just kept running.  The race had already started and I was in the very back of the pack.  I started working my way up past the walkers and some slower runners.  I didn't mind the late start.  I prefer to pass  runners than to be the one that is being passed.  After the rushed start, I soon settled in to a comfortable pace. I started to warm up, and enjoy the beautiful fall scenery.  Then, a little past mile two I started to see the elite runners on my left.  They had already made the turn around and were about 2 miles from the finish line. Talk about impressive!  I also saw a few older runners on the course powering through the run, a guy running with an American flag, and 2 soldiers dressed in combat uniforms running with rucks (military backpacks weighing about 40 pounds).  I would definitely do this race again - only next year I'll work in a little more time post race for some local sightseeing.  I really should take more advantage of my close proximity to our nation's capital.  Here's one more photo from Saturday - good ole' Abe :)

It was the perfect distance leading up to my BIG race this weekend - the Philadelphia Marathon - more on that later this week!

As for the earlier parts of last week, I didn't have a chance to write much, so to give you a brief update - I successfully completed 3 AM runs (not including Saturday's race).  And I was rewarded with some beautiful fall scenery:

Have a great week followers. Get out there and enjoy it while you can!  Rumor is we're expected to have a cold snowy winter this year.