Veteran's Day Report

It was an eventful morning to say the least. Since it is actually lighter out now at 6AM vs. 6PM, a couple of us decided to give the Ridge Rd. morning run a try again. So, in keeping with my new plan to begin every day listening to Eye of the Tiger (note: this song turns even the most mundane activities into pure awesomeness), I sang along from my apartment to the parking lot. After finally psyching myself up enough to get out of the car, I turned off my MP3 player and... well... the music was still playing. And, because it was 5:42AM, my first thought was... "Sean was right! I do have music playing in my head! I am insane!" Luckily, Jennifer heard the music too, as did Rita, Brad B., and Oyler. Good... I'm not crazy... but the guy rocking out to whatever the heck he was listening to in the Ridgewood parking lot at quarter to six in the morning might be! On that note (hahaha), we departed.

The plan was to run for a bit and then head down Hillsbourough St. to see if we saw Brad S. (he told me yesterday that he and a few buddies of his were doing a 50K from the Capitol to Chapel Hill starting at 6AM). Down Gorman, through campus, back to Hillsborough St... ummmmm... why are there a bunch of police cars out? We were all a little concerned, and even more concerned when we heard a whole bunch of shouting. Ok, it is Veteran's Day... was there some sort of protest going on? Then, we saw them... about 100+ ROTC members and other military / retired military personnel running down Hillsborough St. shouting and chanting and carrying flags. AWESOME. I mean I can count on one finger the amount of runs that I've been on when I've seen something like this. We looked for Brad, but it was hard to spot him in the sea of people (note: when Brad told me his plan yesterday, I was thinking there were going to be like 3 people... I just hope not all of them were running 31 miles). Also, it was still kind of dark out at 6:15.

Luckily, Whole Foods was open when we finished our run, so wahooo for coffee (know my 8:05 lab section was happy that I had caffeine... no need to make the zombie lab simulation too realistic). I think I can safely say that this is the most eventful Thursday morning run that I've ever been on... glad I got to run with my friends at a ridiculous hour and see a whole bunch of people running and chanting down the street! Hopefully Brad S. will let us know how the next 29 miles went.

Happy Veteran's Day!!!