I took a rest day today, somewhat unintentionally, but it's ok. Last night I did 40 minutes on the elliptical and I considered doing another 30-40 minutes tonight, but I decided to save up for a good run tomorrow. I've decided that I'm going to limit my longer runs to the weekend, because they take me close to an hour and it's going to be hard to squeeze in an hour run during the weekday. Plus, I don't want to overdo it and risk injury. I'd like to keep my weekday runs to the 2.5 - 3.1 mile range, so that will be my plan for the morning.
On another note, I've been a little sad today, as I always am on September 11th. Luckily, I was pretty busy most of the day, which kept my mind occupied. Every generation has that historical moment when people ask you where were you when...and September 11th is that moment for me. I still remember being in my apartment my sophomore year of college and watching the news with my roommates. We were watching a live feed on one of the news channels and saw the South Tower fall before our eyes. We couldn't believe what we saw and it was all so confusing and scary. I remember going to one of my classes that day, hoping for some sense of normalcy in my daily routine. My French professor at the time, starting going on and on about how it was the end of the world and you could tell that he genuinely believed this was the apocalypse (yes, he used that word) and he was scared. He was a bit radical, but going to class that day obviously did nothing to soothe my fears. I still thought of myself as a kid, and at 19, I guess I still was, but I hoped that being away from home, my professors (the adults in my life) would offer some sense of stability and comfort to me at that time. It was a profound moment for me, in that I realized that I was, in fact, a grown up and that by sharing his fears with us, this professor considered us peers.
I also remember coming home to St. Louis that Friday, September 14th, because Truman was closed for the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance and I wanted to come home to be with my Mom and Matt. The fact that school was cancelled was pretty significant because the university typically didn't cancel classes, even in inclement weather. On the nearly 4 hour drive home from school, I noticed so many American flags and displays of patriotism; on cars, in front yards, on local businesses. It was amazing to see how we could band together as a nation in a time of need and I will never forget that drive home.
I had the opportunity to visit Ground Zero in 2007 when I was pregnant with Nick and it was an incredibly emotional experience. Nearly 6 years after the tragedy, there were notes to victims, photos of loved ones, flowers and memorials that had been freshly placed. It was a bitterly cold March day, but there were hundreds of people there paying their respects to the lives lost that day. Each year, on the anniversary of September 11th, I usually watch coverage on the History Channel, which is almost always a documentary I have already seen several times, but it's how I honor the memory of the brave men, women, and children who perished that day.
"Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11."
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