COVID-19 impact, semi-quarantine, and social distancing
At this point, I think everyone around the world knows what COVID-19 is.
Just in case you were born after 2020 and we did not have an apocalypse, and this blog is still working/active so you are still able to read this post, COVID-19 is the name for novel coronavirus disease that is a respiratory illness, which can spread from person to person. It's originated in Wuhan, China in late December 2019 and spread across China in early 2020 (Jan-Feb). Now (March 2020) it's spread around the world causing deaths among vulnerable groups such as seniors or people with pre-existing health conditions.
How are our lives affected by this pandemic? - After the virus was spread in the US and got to Ohio (where I live), the Governor started to shut down schools, restaurants, bars, gyms and canceled every social/public gathering. The University where I work decided to cancel classes until the end of March to allow the students to stay home or go home and all classes will be moved online until the end of the semester. Compared to some people, I am still lucky to be able to keep my job. I just have to deal with the challenges of moving all classes online but nothing is too hard/complicated to do.
Ok. I don't want to get into the discussion on the global and local economic impacts caused by COVID-19 or even health/mental effects on people because this blog is about running/racing.
What are the impacts on races/exercise/running? - Ohio also shut down gyms, recreation centers, and studios as we were told to stay home. The shut down also resulted in race cancellations (at this point, all races until the end of April are either canceled or postponed). I was supposed to run a 50K at the Buzzard Day Trail Races on March 14 but the RD decided to cancel the race last minute because the Park did not allow anyone to host a public event/gathering, which was good for the community/society but a bummer for me.
Why? - because I already carb-loaded for a couple of days and I had to get those extra calories out somehow.
So, I decided to do a fat ass run (unsupported) with friends. The Race Director (R.) said that he would be at the start line if anyone decided to show up and run the course. A. signed up to do a 100K at this race and she determined to still go out and run a couple of loops on the course. She knew the course so I asked if I could tag along. We got there at 8am and ran all day. The weather was PERFECT for the long run. I already told hubby that I would be gone all day so I should take advantage of this opportunity to play in the woods as long as I could. After 3 loops (30 miles), I still felt really good so I went out to do more because I still had time (I told P. that I would be home by 6pm).
Who knows how long this crisis will last? but it is important to stay positive and reduce information overload from reading all the news. Now I'm just hoping that my race in May will not be canceled (which is very likely) and that we can still travel in June/July.
Sydney
Just in case you were born after 2020 and we did not have an apocalypse, and this blog is still working/active so you are still able to read this post, COVID-19 is the name for novel coronavirus disease that is a respiratory illness, which can spread from person to person. It's originated in Wuhan, China in late December 2019 and spread across China in early 2020 (Jan-Feb). Now (March 2020) it's spread around the world causing deaths among vulnerable groups such as seniors or people with pre-existing health conditions.
How are our lives affected by this pandemic? - After the virus was spread in the US and got to Ohio (where I live), the Governor started to shut down schools, restaurants, bars, gyms and canceled every social/public gathering. The University where I work decided to cancel classes until the end of March to allow the students to stay home or go home and all classes will be moved online until the end of the semester. Compared to some people, I am still lucky to be able to keep my job. I just have to deal with the challenges of moving all classes online but nothing is too hard/complicated to do.
Ok. I don't want to get into the discussion on the global and local economic impacts caused by COVID-19 or even health/mental effects on people because this blog is about running/racing.
What are the impacts on races/exercise/running? - Ohio also shut down gyms, recreation centers, and studios as we were told to stay home. The shut down also resulted in race cancellations (at this point, all races until the end of April are either canceled or postponed). I was supposed to run a 50K at the Buzzard Day Trail Races on March 14 but the RD decided to cancel the race last minute because the Park did not allow anyone to host a public event/gathering, which was good for the community/society but a bummer for me.
Why? - because I already carb-loaded for a couple of days and I had to get those extra calories out somehow.
So, I decided to do a fat ass run (unsupported) with friends. The Race Director (R.) said that he would be at the start line if anyone decided to show up and run the course. A. signed up to do a 100K at this race and she determined to still go out and run a couple of loops on the course. She knew the course so I asked if I could tag along. We got there at 8am and ran all day. The weather was PERFECT for the long run. I already told hubby that I would be gone all day so I should take advantage of this opportunity to play in the woods as long as I could. After 3 loops (30 miles), I still felt really good so I went out to do more because I still had time (I told P. that I would be home by 6pm).
On Sunday, I went out and did a social distancing run/walk for 6 miles with another group of friends. It was a good weekend.
Now, back to the COVID-19 situation. Many people are working from home. Schools are closed so kids have to stay home. My husband already works from home and I usually work at home 3-4 days a week so our lives have not changed much except for that now we cannot go out to eat or go to breweries on weekends.
The situation made us think about the board game - Pandemic - that we used to play a lot last year but somehow we got busier and had something else to do this year that we hadn't played for a while. On Friday night, we thought it would be fun to play this game again during this real pandemic.
Being at home more + gyms/studios/pools closed = we have to find more indoor activities to do at home. We gave away my old piano before we moved to Ohio and I missed playing the piano. I checked online for used acoustic ones but P. thought it would be too big for our house so we decided to buy a digital piano. This could be a great opportunity for me to resume my music skills.
Sydney
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