Running Ruminations

If memory serves, the kids have been in distance learning school for nearly 50 days already; we’re thick into the third trimester of this pandemic, with over 220,000 lives lost; and the last day of the election is in a week and change (sure, Election Day is on 11/3, but since people have been able to vote for weeks now, I think it’s more accurate to think of it all actually ending on 11/3, not beginning). 

Any of this on its own could easily be anxiety-inducing; all of it, together, is a completely different story. 

So what are you doing to mitigate all the stress that you’re shouldering? I talk all the time about how important physical activity, specifically running, is for my well-being, but sometimes, the non-running feels really rad, too. Sometimes it’s helpful to have the reminder. 

One thing that felt really good recently? Voting. I don’t think I’ve missed an election since I was eligible to vote, and admittedly, it’s something that I often feel “proud” to do (that’s not exactly the right word, but go with me here) because it’s a huge responsibility and a deep honor. You don’t need to be a historian to know that voting isn’t something that everyone, everywhere, gets to do. 

This time around, however, maybe because we’re all at home 24/7 and because politics have been the topic du jour in our household lately, it just felt different to vote at home, at my kitchen table, the same place where I sit shoulder-to-shoulder with my daughter in K every day, (and the same place where I do all my work, and the same place where I eat all my meals, and on and on) and participate in a civic responsibility that so many in this country are suppressed from doing. 

I’ve taken my kids to the polls before, so they’ve seen it and “know” what it entails, but this year was memorable, to say the least. I don’t know if it was relief, or hope, or fear, or a combination of all of that (and more) when I submitted my ballot this year, but it was deeply satisfying.

Aside from voting, and in addition to my daily run, nearly every morning, during our morning break in distance learning, I sweep leaves and little flowerbud-things (scientific name) that are falling in droves from the trees in front of my neighbors’ and my houses. It’s so mundane — I’m talking about sweeping leaves here, nothing earth-shattering — but honestly, there is something refreshing about it. 

Maybe it just seems so weirdly special due to the small fact that it’s our outdoor reprieve from screens for about a half hour or because it’s our time to interact with other humans outside for a quick moment (usually the mail carrier). The distinct, before-and-after transformation is also really gratifying. I take something that looks undesirable, and through sheer effort, I make it better. I think there’s a lot of value in simplicity, especially when everything is so heavy with nuance right now, and moving leaves and petals from one place to another to make our outdoor environment look better is about as simple as you can get. Many mornings, I sweep the sidewalks and walkways after talking to our mail carrier, with my fourth or four-hundredth cup of tea of the morning in hand, so in some ways, I feel like I may be living my best elder citizen life right now. 

And when I’m not running, writing, voting, or sweeping leaves and the little petal things that are the bane of my existence, I try to connect with friends and family as much as I (safely) can. Group video calls are a regular occurrence for me (and have been for much of the pandemic), and it’s nice to feel so connected, even as we’re away from each other and will be for the foreseeable future. Don’t get me wrong, videoconference fatigue is definitely real, but if that’s the best we can do right now, then so be it. We really can’t speak enough of the importance of connecting with, and looking out for, your people right now.  

Pertaining to connecting with our people, the big news in these parts is that within the past week, SCC moved to a more favorable COVID tier, so aspects of normal life are beginning to open up more than they have been since mid-March (think movie theaters, dining, bars, bowling alleys, and a lot more I’m spacing on). That said, I don’t think it’s prudent to go back to the way things were pre-32 weeks ago. I mean, I would love to, but I don’t want to be irresponsible and inadvertently hurt someone. 

This is one of those nuanced, not-quite-good, not-quite-bad developments in life during COVID that makes mundane tasks like raking leaves and petals refreshingly welcome. It’s great that we’re at a place right now where life can sorta begin to resemble what it looked like pre-COVID, but the answers to the question of yes but at what cost remains unknown.  

Being so far away, for so long, from my family sucks bad — and especially since we can’t even have a date on the calendar to which we can look forward to a reunion or a trip — but it’s temporary. It’s not going to be like this forever. I tell myself and my family this near-daily. (And besides, can’t say it enough, distancing is saving people’s lives). 

And finally, in the past week or so, in one of the few circumstances wherein I’m in control of what’s on the TV screen, my kids and I have found great entertainment value in the Netflix show Sing On!. They know a lot of the songs from the KidzBop versions, so it’s basically like a party of three in the living room each time we watch the show. We take turns evaluating the contestants and figuring out who should make it and who should be eliminated, and it’s pretty fantastic overall. Sometimes an escape — that doesn’t come in the form of physically working our bodies — ain’t half bad. 

Take care of yourself and others in this next week and change because you’ll (and they’ll) surely need it. 

Keep reading and listening. 

Stay healthy and safe. 

Vote (in the next 13 days).

I think I’m running out of ways to describe the new normal that pandemic life has brought, and I’m also feeling like as we speed closer to the presidential election in 20 days, my mental real estate is becoming a hotter and sparser commodity, moreso now than ever before.

There are only so many different ways to say the same thing. 

SIB’s Generate Good Energy Challenge over the past couple weeks has reminded me daily that even with the cacophony of All That is 2020 raging on, a lot of good is still happening daily, even if it’s not always super evident. We’re the narrator to our own lives, and energy flows where energy goes.

When I begin to feel what I can only describe as an existential-level type of despair (or disdain, since TBH it’s sometimes hard to differentiate day to day), I remind myself that people are still doing good things, making real progress, and that not all hope is lost.

Call it self-care, self-compassion, self-preservation, or sheer naivete and privilege; I think all of the aforementioned apply. For me, it comes in the form of running as much and as hard as feels right (“training for life” is a fantastic way to run); it comes in the form of being pretty damn selective of what I’m reading online and in which types of social media I’m consuming; and beyond all else, it comes in maintaining connections with loved ones and being in the right here, right now with them. 

I sincerely hope that as life, and this school-year, has continued on in such a weird way these past seven+ months, you have found a healthy outlet into where you can pore some of your being when All of This has become suffocatingly, exceedingly tough. 

You don’t have to run (though I’d sure as hell recommend it!), but I can’t speak highly enough of the benefits of physical movement for both body and spirit right now. I cannot tell you how many times something as mundane as a daily run — pace and distance completely irrelevant — has flipped my mental state over the past 31+ weeks. 

For this being a little ol’ running blog, it doesn’t particularly make for titillating blog entries when I don’t have much in the way to talk about racing and training for racing, which has been the case for the better part of the past year-plus. Running’s not cancelled though, of course. Far from it.

If nothing else, though, let me be the first (or the second, or the third, or whatever) to implore you that if and when you start feeling some feelings over the next twenty days, get up and get going. 

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2 weeks and 6 days.  

Stay healthy and safe, take care of yourself and others, and keep reading and listening. And vote!