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COVID, week 5 & predicting the future?

COVID, week 5 & predicting the future?

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Life sure has been weird since the initial announcements on Friday, March 13, and even though in the grand scheme of things, today is not that much later — it’s April 15 — all I can think is that time is going both really fast and really slowly simultaneously. It makes me think of having a newborn, except it’s like we’re all newborns, and we’re all caring for newborns. It’s disorienting. 

Two recent developments, closely related, worth discussing come to mind right now: Governor Newsom’s conference yesterday and the recent announcement of a rescheduled race date for Big Sur. The tl;dr version of Newsom’s address is that everyone wants to have a date on the calendar when life will go back to normal (or normal-ish), but alas, this virus doesn’t play nicely like that. No one knows because none of us can foretell the future, much to our chagrin. 

why are you even here reading this? — the signs are getting sassy. #seenonmyrun

At the conclusion of his address, a reporter asked about big public gatherings– 49ers games, parades, whatever– and Newsom remarked that having anything like that is basically inconceivable until there’s a vaccine and herd immunity. I think it’s the answer that everyone rationally knows but no one wants to hear because we know that that stuff takes time, a lot of time, and no one wants to give any more of their lives, livelihood, the whole gamut to this pandemic than they already have. Let’s use a running metaphor here and say that the road ahead of us is long, quite long indeed. 

Just a day before Gov. Newsom’s address came Big Sur’s announcement of a rescheduled BSIM date, November 15, 2020, over the same weekend as the regularly-scheduled Monterey Bay Half Marathon, with the half occurring on Saturday and the marathon (and several other distances that are usually part of marathon weekend) happening on Sunday. Runners’ registrations will default to the November 2020 race date, but we can instead elect to register for the 2021 edition (in April) or the 2022 edition (also in April) at 60% of race cost. Alternately, we can decide not to run it at all, anytime, and use the registration as a charitable donation to the BS foundation that runs the race. In a moment in time where so few of us have options, the BS race team is giving runners many options, and that is impressive and commendable. 

Here’s the thing. As much as I’d love to run this race — and I’ve tried for many years, unsuccessfully, to enter it via the lottery and finally got in this year — right now it is unfathomable to me that it’ll go on in November. 

BSIM is a huge event, in terms of participant numbers, in a relatively small location, and thinking about those realities against the current reality where we find ourselves — where we’re being instructed to maintain a six-foot physical distance between ourselves and strangers at all times, where we’re really not supposed to be galavanting around in public or hell, where we’re not even supposed to be spending time with people with whom we don’t reside — having a large-scale race (or rather, several large-scale races) over a single weekend in seven months is inconceivable to me right now. 

I would love to be wrong about this, and I remain optimistic that the best in the world will create something that will protect all of humanity against this nefarious enemy that has upended everyone’s lives, but we can’t be naiive. This stuff takes time. In the grand scheme of thing, seven months is nothing. 

Let’s also talk about the (financial and otherwise) risk that the BS organizers are taking with moving the marathon (and marathon weekend races) to November. In one of the posts I linked to a few weeks ago, from a RD about cancelling races, they talked about the huge financial risks that the BS board (who also run the Monterey Bay Half Marathon) took by allowing the 2018 MBHM entrants to register for the 2019, 2020, or 2021 race since the ‘18 iteration was cancelled, literally the day before race day, due to the poor air quality from the horrific Camp Fire ~100 miles north of Monterey. It was a terrible fire, among the worst in California history, responsible for tons of deaths and destruction and event cancellations up and down California. 

With BSIM now slated for November, the same organizers may find themselves in the same dilemma in November — in the midst of a pandemic AND in fire season — and with several events that routinely draw in thousands of runners from all over the world and country. I cannot imagine the decision-making processes, logistics, and the enormous financial ramifications involved in possibly moving thousands of runners, over several different races, again this year to a future year (or years, plural). 

Again: that the board is even trying is laudable in my book. We’ll see what happens. Your thoughts? 

On occupying time and settling mental unrest:     

  • Watching: Trolls World Tour three times this past weekend, since we rented it on Friday night for 48 hours. Let me know what you think (and tell me what you make of the plot compared to Frozen 2)! 
  • Celebrating: Easter over the weekend with the family, though not in any religious sense. The kids were completely amped about it, which was sweet to see.  
  • Running: Daily, #lonewolf (or sometimes with the girls), however I want and typically not more than 8-10 miles, usually on fairly hilly or rolling routes that I can easily create out my door. I developed an unintentional run streak since 3/9, so I imagine that I’ll keep it up because … why not? 
the green is gorgeous right now
  • Cooking: I had a lot of leftovers in the past week but also created some vegetarian marathon bolognese (excellent taco fillings!) and the superfoods soup from the Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow cookbooks. I’ve made the soup twice now and haven’t been impressed with it, which is odd because it’s fairly idiot-proof. 
  • Reading: Still going strong on Hitchhiker’s Guide (albeit slowly) and in the last week I finished Mitch Albom’s Finding Chika and started Gavin Edwards’ Kindness and Wonder about Mr. Rogers. Chika was predictably depressing– I’m not sure why I decided to read this now– and so far, learning about Mr. Rogers has been a bit of a palate-cleanser to life. 
  • Listening: the second episode of the Growth Equation podcast was pretty interesting, especially since I knew nothing about Sabrina Ionescu. Highly recommended.  

Stay safe, and be well.  xo

COVID, week 4 & more of the same

COVID, week 4 & more of the same

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Another week is behind us in this COVID-19 world we’re living in. Not a lot has changed from last week (that I can readily think of) in terms of California’s/the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place orders or remote education through the end of the school-year, though of course the daily (or hourly) news updates assault us all with ongoing existential threats that all but preclude any type of “normalcy” from setting in. We’re all hour-to-hour right now, but it doesn’t make things any easier or less stressful. Strength isn’t always in numbers. 

Actually, now that I think of it a bit more, two new developments come to mind that manifested in the past seven days: (one) the WHO, CDC, and local governments advising that everyone wear masks (of any type) when out and about, performing essential tasks and (two) stores beginning to more stringently crowd-control how many people are shopping indoors at any given time. 

At this point, I can’t speak to the ramifications of the latter because I haven’t been shopping anywhere in the past week. 

As to the former, for me, all it has meant is that I generally don’t leave home for my runs without a balaclava that I can quickly pull over my mouth and nose in the event that I can’t easily get around people I encounter. Admittedly, I feel pretty idiotic wearing a balaclava over my face when I go to the post office to drop-off packages (and where I don’t even interact with anyone or touch any surface) and when I pull it up over my face when I’m running in the proximity of other people. I guess if the government (and respected, reputable health organizations) worldwide are advising that we do this, though, then so be it. These types of recommendations seem to change frequently, so who knows if this will even be relevant next week. Hard telling. 

I sincerely hope that you and yours are all doing well and are staying safe and healthy. We are all riding this wave together, and accompanying our high highs are no doubt low lows. Our respective challenges (and celebrations!) may look different on the surface level, but I think it’s also worth remembering that we are at our best when we recognize our shared humanity. This recognition doesn’t necessarily make anything easier — we can still be sad, or angry, or anxious, or experience whatever the feeling of the moment is — but remembering that we’re all navigating uncertain waters can help center us and bring us back. There is value in being informed and apprised of the latest surrounding all of this, and I’d also argue that there’s also real value in surrounding ourselves — and our very precious mental real estate — with cautious optimism, too. Look for the helpers. Be a helper. Do and be the best you can do and be right now because that’s enough. 

On occupying time and settling mental unrest:     

  • Watching: I don’t remember what inspired us, but we watched The Pink Panther Strikes Again over the weekend. Somewhat remarkably, we watched it from start to finish, and nobody left or fell asleep! It’s silly but a lot of fun for kids (and adults). C and I just realized that we haven’t shown the kids any of the Back to the Future movies yet, so that’s probably up next. 
  • Celebrating: Nothing like turning the big 4-0 in the throes of a pandemic. In the preceding weeks, the kids and I painted more than 40 mostly rainbow-filled signs adorned with messages like “happy 40th birthday, Daddy!”, “40 is the way to be!”, “we love you lots!” and other equally encouraging and uplifting messages. I usually like to post and remove decorations fast, but we decided to keep everything up for the rest of the month, just ‘cuz. 
#thisisforty
  • Failing at: Sewing. I am beyond terrible. T-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. I had been sitting on the idea of getting a sewing machine for a long time, in part because I wanted to learn how to sew-on all the patches and badges A earns from Girl Scouts. Then, everything with COVID happened, and I thought perfect, I’ll learn to sew, do some GS stuff, maybe make some masks, and so on the aspirational thinking went. A little backstory: when I last learned how to use a sewing machine, it was 7th grade, and it took me a solid quarter learning how to thread the damn thing (and literally, I successfully did it for the first time on the last day of our sewing unit, before we switched to cooking and baking). At this point, I can say that I’m at least *a little* more adept than I was as a middle-schooler … but it’s not by much, unfortunately. I know I have to keep working at it, but damn, it’s not easy! I’m so outside my comfort zone here. There’s value in learning new things, absolutely, but seriously… I am horrible!  
  • Running: In the absence of races and being allowed to run my fav local trails, I figure this is as good a time as any to go after all the road hills close to home that I usually don’t run very often. At this point, I’ve traded speedy running workouts with all the hills, and it’s a fun way to start my day, plus I feel like it’s helping me get stronger and faster. My club has a little spiel going on instagram where we’re posting about our #lonewolf runs, so if you’re running solo now, too, hop in on the action and talk about your #lonewolf training. It’s encouraging to see other people doing the same and to give kudos from afar.  
more livestock than people in these parts
I ran in the late morning both on Saturday and Sunday, so she came with. Note the balaclava (since we stopped at the PO). We got rained on both days, but she didn’t mind. It won’t be much longer before she sizes out of the running stroller. 🙁
  • Cooking: We’ve continued to eat at home for virtually all of our meals, which I don’t mind (being vegetarian kinda lends itself to eating at home more often than not). I could eat soup or stew every day of the week and not get bored of it, but in the past week, I only made two: a lentil pumpkin curry stew and a roasted tomato and white bean soup. Otherwise, I made roasted sweet potatoes; chickpea ratatouille (which also makes fantastic taco fillings), and some homemade bread. I see people talking online about comfort foods that they’re consuming in voluminous amounts during the SIP orders, and I think I will forever associate tacos with this time period. I’m certain I’ve consumed more tacos in the past ~month than I have in most of my adulthood. It’s not a bad thing. 
  • Listening: As a result of exclusively running solo now, I’ve re-introduced podcasts into my runs as I feel like it; sometimes I just want to listen to the birds outside, but other times I want to hear humans. Arguably the best one that I’ve heard in recent weeks was the debut episode from the Growth Equation, hosted by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, who are also the co-writers of the newsletter by the same name that I’ve mentioned in recent weeks. I listened during my Monday morning run, and I really, really enjoyed it. I think I may re-listen to it so I can write about it in more detail later, but if you want to think about how you can navigate “performance” and “well-being” in the backdrop that is the pandemic right now, look no further. I was impressed at how well-done and seamless the episode was — their first! — and genuinely look forward to future episodes. 
  • Watching: Another recommendation but this time for a YouTube series by John Krasinski. The fam and I watched the first episode, and I shamelessly cried a good, uplifting cry. It’s worth it. 

Be safe, and stay well. xo