Veteran's Day 5k

I have developed a great appreciation for the military the last few years, and taking part in some of the military running events has helped foster that appreciation. It was with that appreciation in mind that I traveled to Chapel Hill in the early hours of a cold Tuesday morning to run a cross-country Veteran's Day 5k sponsored by the Carolina Veterans Organization (CVO).

Only about 40+ runners gathered at the UNC cross-country course where one Army gentleman was organizing the race. There was one platoon of Army guys in matching Army running outfits, a group of Army soldiers in fatigues and packs that were going to monitor the course, and a few Army-looking guys that were hardy enough to run in shorts and t-shirts -- and enjoy it -- on a 38-degree morning.

It was a very informal run around UNC's Ranson-Hamrick Cross-Country Course, which I had not run before. It's a nice course, constructed, I believe, from parts of the old UNC golf course and near the current course. The ACC cross-country championships were held there just a couple of weeks ago. All the mile markers and even the big hill were endowed and named after someone. There were plenty of opportunities to see other runners on the multiple-loop course, and fortunately I didn't get lapped. The race organizer was calling out finish times, but missed me; however, when the runner behind me finished, he called out the time, "26:05". If that's right, it would put me under 26 minutes, which doesn't seem possible unless the course was a little bit short. (And given the posted 5k directions, and that we ran a different combination of the loops, it's possible we were short of the full 5k distance.) Instead of having t-shirts made up for the run, each participant received a gift certificate to either the Carolina Brewery or the Top of the Hill Grill.

At any rate, it was a great morning to be out for a run, and having servicemen and servicewomen there as part of the event made it more of a moving event. All the proceeds from the race went into a developing fund that will eventually endow scholarships at UNC for the sons and daughters of our military veterans. Hopefully some more organizations, both at Carolina and elsewhere, will get behind the idea of this Veteran's Day 5k and really help it develop into something big in the area. Congrats to the race organizer and all the runners, and a Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served our country.