Run Streak Day 300 - A QuaRANtine Story

It’s been 200 days since my last post. It might as well have been 200 years considering how much has changed. I know I don’t need to tell you what I mean. We have all been affected by this pandemic in ways we could have never imagined. 
But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: I’m still running every day. And I just reached day 300!

I think it’s fate that I chose to start this running streak when I did. It has provided a constant in a world I no longer recognize. It’s helped me to keep a sense of self when so many other things in my life feel foreign. It’s kept me motivated to stay active despite having nothing to train for.

 

I have to chuckle when I look back at my last post. I had so many grand expectations of what this year and the rest of my streak would look like. At first, it did continue to look like that. I travelled and ran in a few more places.

Then in early March, on the eve of my very first race of the season, came the news that the race was canceled. And boom, boom, boom, race after race was canceled, including the marathon I was nearly finished training for. Everything was suddenly closed, I found myself working from home every other week, and all upcoming travel plans were out the window.

We all naively thought this thing would blow over in a month. Or maybe two. Three? There’s no way it will stay this way for more than three, right? Well, here we are nearly five months in and no end in sight. Perhaps the most difficult part of it all was when the reality hit Jin and I that our wedding was not going to happen this year; at least not in the way we want it to. So we made the difficult decision to postpone it by a year. What does that mean for my streak? Now it will be a two-year streak!

 

Don’t get me wrong, there have been good things too! My family is healthy. I’m healthy. Each mile I run, each time I take a stride and fill my lungs, I am reminded of that. I still have a job, a steady income. I have the luxury of being able to quarantine. I am not risking exposure on the front lines like so many others. Being home more has enabled me to revive some of my long-neglected interests. And we were able to adopt another pup!

On my daily runs, I have loved seeing words of encouragement. Signs on storefront windows, or written in chalk on the sidewalk. They are little bright spots in the dark.

And although all the in-person races have been canceled I have found a new appreciation of virtual racing. I joined the Un-Canceled Project. It started as four weeks of virtual racing where each runner chooses the distance and number of times to race (I did one per week). Soon it expanded to six weeks, then ultimately twelve! Each week had a different theme and you could earn a virtual bib for each race. It may not sound like much, but committing to a race each week breathed new life into my running. Not to mention it made me feel like a part of a running community again – connecting with other runners and sharing positivity and encouragement with each other on social media.

 

I chose to race the first six weeks on the road, racing a different distance each week. I found out just how much my daily runs have been keeping me in shape when I ran a new personal best in the 5K, 10K, and 8K!

 

For weeks 7-12 I decided to try something new and take my running to the trails. Trail running has always held a certain allure and what better time to try something new! Plus it’s much easier to be socially distant on the trails.

 

My streak so far has turned into something very different than what I first imagined. But I wouldn’t change it. What a unique experience to run through a global pandemic. What a unique perspective I have gained as my daily runs have helped me to cope. To reconnect with myself, with others, and with nature. To appreciate the remarkability of every 1+ mile, even as I run down the same old streets.