It’s weird to have a birthday during a pandemic, when very little about life resembles its normal self. It’s not that I especially care about the pomp and circumstance related to birthdays (though I dig it for my kids), but joyously celebrating one’s birth right now is such a stark contrast to the daily reminders of the sheer amount of death related to this poorly-managed pandemic (over 234k Americans gone now, and with 103k+ cases diagnosed today, a new high). 

Why is this still a thing, 34 weeks later? 

And yet, how (or maybe why) did so many people willingly elect to have more of the same ineptitude for the next four years? 

Which “corners” could we possibly be turning right now? 

I simply cannot fathom.  

Whatever the immediate future holds, though, it’s obviously in our best interests to remember to zoom out and look at the entirety of the picture at hand and not simply focus on the pixels closest to our faces. This holds true whether we’re talking about navigating fundamental political disagreements or more pertinent to this blog, about training and racing. 

And as sacrilege as it may sound, part of taking the long view includes rest. Yes, rest. As I was reading a NYT parenting newsletter this morning, author Jessica Grose’s words jumped out at me, and her sagacious insight is applicable to a wide swath of our lives right now, whether we’re talking about working during a pandemic (possibly at home, with kids under foot), distance learning-educating at home, or training in such a way, even in the absence of in-person races, to make us feel just a little bit “normal”: “rest up for what lies ahead.” 

Rest doesn’t need to be literal rest, though that’s definitely important; instead, I think we can interpret her call as a rallying cry for taking the long view and doing what you need to do, today, every day, for yourself, so that you can show up later. Like most advice, it’s easier said than done. 

In this vein, though I’d love to tell you about the past week and about my TT last Saturday morning, I’m heeding her advice and wrapping this up now (and will likely regret publishing this under-developed piece later).  

I hope that you are doing whatever you need to do to allow yourself to “rest up” so that showing up later becomes even just a little more manageable.