Veteran's Day Virtual Run

For the third time, I pinned on my bib, and hit the road for the Veteran's Day Virtual Run, an 11K run in honor of our Nation's Veterans.

I woke up still a little achey from Saturday's hilly Half Marathon, and I wondered how my time would be at the end of this run. I wore my Dad's dog tags as motivation and hit the road.

It is beautiful here at the Jersey Shore, and I was only chilled for the first half mile. I had a hard time getting into the groove though, and stopped multiple times during the first three miles to stretch my shin and calf. Holy heck, it ached! I stopped to walk a few times, and started to worry about my pace. I only let it bother me for about 2 seconds, though. I am training for Dopey, and want to maintain a 13 minute mile, to help with character stops, and I knew I was on track, even ahead of that pace, so it was all good. I stopped at my usual turnaround, the 5K mark, and remembered that there was a beautiful monument inside the park.

entrance to Windward Beach

It wasn't a War Memorial, exactly, but just as important in my eyes, because it honors the casualties of war o our own home front, the victims of 9-11. Living so close to NYC, very few can say that theory have no connection to a victim. If you don't know someone who passed, you know someone who lost friends or family.

Weeping Angel

 As I was preparing to leave, I noticed my shadow and paused for one more picture.

The run back was so much easier. I don't know what changed, other than visiting that memorial, but my steps were lighter and my legs loosened up, and made up a lot of time. I took a slight detour through some neighborhoods to lengthen the second half, and hit my house at 11K exactly! Perfection.
My time was not great (1:21:52) but it was better than my first year, and my average pace was under 12 minutes, so I am thrilled with it!

I love my new shirt, and the medal is fabulous. I am going to give the pin to my Dad when I saw him on Thanksgiving. It's only fair, since I still have his dog tags, and don't plan to give them back! I have had them since High School, when I used to wear them all the time as a fashion statement. I even started a trend, and a pretty good one if I say so myself!

I discovered something interesting today, when I looked back at last year's blog post about this race. I was complaining that I was tired. Very tired. Like I have been for almost 2 weeks now. During my run today, I thought about this a lot. Can one hour difference really make you this tired? I guess it is entirely possible. I do know that I was sick for a few days before the time change. Could the two combined be the culprit? My eating habits have not been great. A lot of comfort foods and easy meals. That can't be helping. I am thinking that I am my own worse enemy right now. Something so quick to get over, like a one hour time change, snowballed into pure exhaustion, due to poor eating habits along the way.

I have promised myself to get back on the wagon, eating better, no more comfort foods, and getting back into the toning workouts.

Did the time change make you feel as tired as me?