Running in the time of COVID

On April 4, 2020April 4, 2020 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

**Stay off the road and no one gets hurt**

These days, every conversation has something to do with COVID19, either directly (Do you have it? Do you think you have it?) or indirectly (“We’d be in a completely different situation with competent leadership” or “Let’s light a fire on the neighbor’s lawn then sneak in through the back door and steal their toilet paper.”). The toll of Coronavirus is dominating the news channels and this is very unfair to me because I prefer more uplifting content.

(Non-runners: please skip to the next paragraph) Since I stopped commuting almost a year ago, my weekly running has increased to almost 20 miles and my standing goal is 75 miles a month. So far I’ve met or exceeded that in 2020. My average run is still about 3.1 miles, so this week I’ve increased that by an average of 10% per run. I’m looking to do more 4+ mile runs in spring and possibly add another off day (I only have one rest day a week now) while maintaining my weekly target.

While I’ve had time to run over the past year, I found it frustrating to navigate my neighborhood due to waves of school buses, sanitation trucks and middle school parents flying down the road to drop off their kids. With Coronavirus, school traffic has vanished. There’s still Fedex and UPS trucks and I’m starting to see landscapers, but the roads are often clear of vehicles when I go out.

It’s not all good news though. Nice weather and stay at home orders have turned my neighborhood into a park. Unless it’s raining or especially chilly, I see people everywhere, walking in small groups or alone, some with dogs, some on bikes and some running like me. I deeply resent this. I have great respect for Governor Cuomo and he says to stay in your home. Yet these people are violating the social contract and turning the streets into a Petri dish. The things I want to say as I run by them.

Since the governor hasn’t given me special powers to arrest my neighbors who violate his orders, I decided to take things into my own hands. This morning, due to the new recommendation from the CDC to wear a mask in public, I decided I needed one for this morning’s run. I have a mask that I use when I do home improvement projects but I don’t think it’s COVID19 approved. Instead, I went with one of the buffs that KWL’s sister sewed for me and my family. I usually wear it in winter to keep my face from freezing on cold windy days, but it seemed light enough for 45° weather.

I took off on my run with the mask placed over my nose and mouth and headed south. That was fine for about five minutes but then I started feeling claustrophobic. My breathing began to feel restricted and the cloth felt damp. I reached an area that had no signs of my law breaking neighbors so I pulled down the mask and immediately felt better. I decided that I’d run with the mask off my face except in cases when I encountered other people. I was able to endure having it up for the short time it took to get past these selfish, non-mask-wearing interlopers. I ended up running about 3.25 and no one got hurt.

Some of my Runsketeer buddies (shown above modeling their COVIDwear) responded as expected when I showed a picture with my running mask (see top pic). TPP said she was having trouble breathing just thinking about running with a mask. Professor Mike said he’d wear his (homemade) mask walking but not running. And SIOR, always supportive, asked me if I was on an Everest Base Camp trek and then said her nurse friend told her running with a mask will make you hyperventilate and make you end up in the ER. Well the jokes on her because I hyperventilated just fine without medical help. However, I will give SIOR credit for inspiring the title of this post.

Should I wear the mask during tomorrow’s run? Probably, but I’ll only invoke it during those moments when I’m forced to share my road with someone violating ~~house arrest~~ stay at home guidance. I’ve been discouraged in the past from yelling at neighbors for walking or running on the wrong side of the road so I’ll hold back (for now) from berating them for not wearing masks. I mean really, why are these people out there?

Hanging Over with the Runsketeers

On January 1, 2019 By Emerging Runner8 Comments

Flower inserted due to behavioral issue

According to my records, I only had three Emerging Runner posts in all of 2018. That’s pretty pathetic. This was mostly due to the fact that I didn’t post on the other 362 days. However, I am proud to say that I’ve posted every day in 2019. I’ve also run every day this year. Not so pathetic now, huh?!

I give credit for today’s run to my long time running ~~nemesis~~ friend, She Is Out Running (SIOR) who decided that the Runsketeers would return to Eisenhower Park to do the 2019 LIRRC Hangover Run. For some reason we skipped it last year, but now we’re back on track. While some Runskies weren’t able to make it today, they were with us in spirit.

The Hangover Run is a great event because it provides all the great stuff about being in a race (organization, other runners, time clock, free food!) without the pressure of competing. Everyone starts together, but after that you’re on your own to do as many loops of the one mile course as you’d like. Since the event happens on New Year’s Day, it’s usually a chilly proposition, but today’s morning temperature was about 56°, albeit with some stiff winds along the route.

I arrived at the park around 9:20 AM for the 9:30 start and looked for SIOR. I knew TPP needed to work, but wasn’t sure if Professor Mike (PM) or KWL would be joining us. I didn’t see anyone from the crew so I lined up for the start, figuring I’d run into the others along the way. After the LIRRC guy counted down the start, we were off. I knew I’d be running this course a lot slower than in the past due to some medication I’m taking. It was both interesting and a little humiliating to go from being a solid mid-packer to back-of-packer. At least I was passing walkers!

About 3/10ths into the run, a couple of speedsters slipped by and were running directly ahead of me when I realized they were SIOR and PM. I said something snarky, which they ignored, so I tapped SIOR on the shoulder and surprised them. We ran together for a couple of minutes. It was probably my fastest quarter and definitely SIOR’s slowest of the day. She caught up with PM and they resumed their pace. I watched them on the other side of the loop each time I went around, getting ever closer to lapping me. On my third mile, that’s exactly what happened and I ran the remainder of the route with SIOR.

It was the fastest three miles I’ve run since April 1st of last year. Still nothing to write home about in terms of pace, but it underscored how much I’d regressed by running solo much of 2018. We grabbed some coffee and food and then SIOR decided to run one more loop before we headed off to Runsketeer HQ, also known as the closest Starbucks.

Rare pic of SIOR acting like a grownup

PM and SIOR were waiting at a table by the time I arrived. Starbucks was sparsely populated and I gave my buddies holiday presents because last year we skipped the Hangover and I didn’t give them their gifts until July. I grabbed a coffee and we got into it right away — politics, religion, medical issues, work, kids, anything but running. It didn’t matter that it had been months since we got together, it’s always as if we saw each other the day before.

Seeing my buddies and running better than I have in a long time was inspiring. I really hope we can get the whole group together soon. I wouldn’t call it a resolution, but I am serious about getting back to 18-21 mile weeks before mid year. I have a strategy to get me there, and running more with the Runsketeers is part of that plan.

The Runsketeers hit the track and the porch

On July 15, 2018 By Emerging Runner7 Comments

Runsketeers™ L-R: KWL, Prof Mike, TPP, SIOR, ER

Today’s run (track & street): 3.5 miles

Happy Bastille Day! In that spirit, the mighty Runsketeers™ got together this morning for the first time since last November. Today’s run was at a high school track in Rockville Center, the same place where SIOR, TPP and I did speed work a few years ago. This morning we were joined by KWL, Professor Mike and a friend of SOIR’s who is training for a big triathlon. SIOR needed to be home before 9:00 AM so our run was relatively short. The Runsketeers mostly ran in circles while the triathlete did ladders. Well that’s what SIOR said he was doing, but I didn’t see anything on the track that looked like a ladder.

When I arrived, KWL and TPP were already running on the track. SIOR and tri-man showed up soon after. They had run from SIOR’s house and had already covered 1.5 miles. Professor Mike recently tweaked his back and was taking it easy and walking. I ran at times with KWL and TPP and with SIOR and Mike who decided to run easy for a while. Even with easy pacing, they broke away from me. I was happy to run at my pace with my buds joining me from time to time. I actually passed Mike on the track once. Full disclosure, he was walking.

Due to time constraints, we finished quickly and convoyed to SIOR’s house. SIOR hosted us to coffee and food on her enclosed front porch that kept us in shade and free of bugs. Happily, it didn’t keep us free of daughters or dogs. Mike brought home baked banana bread and SIOR served melons, grapes and fruit salad. SIOR was having trouble getting the kettle to boil, but managed to get the coffee to us in short order. I, of course, brought my Runsketeer coffee mug.

Couldn’t say it better myself

We hadn’t all gotten together as a group in a long time. Besides being Bastille Day, it was also Christmas in July, as I FINALLY had the chance to give TPP her Christmas present. We covered the usual subjects: jobs, commutes, home improvements, cycling, movies, TV shows, file sharing, cable alternatives, running injuries and, as always, Stew Leonard’s. Interestingly, we hardly talked about running.

I have a picture on my Facebook page that always makes me laugh when I look at it. It’s a Runsketeer selfie where, at the last second, SIOR covered my face with her hand. I always think how that picture visually captures who we are. Today, TPP decided to continue the tradition (below).

The original

It was really great seeing all my buds and running together today. I ran another mile when I got home to get at least three miles in today. Although I’m still pretty slow by Runsketeer standards, I ran over a minute per mile faster than normal this morning. There’s a few reasons why I think that’s the case and I’m planning to continue what I’m doing to keep improving. More running with the Runsketeers will help get me there.

The Runsketeers discuss their interesting ancestors

On November 26, 2017 By Emerging Runner3 Comments

L to R: KWL, PM, SIOR, TPP, ER

Today’s run (Bethpage State Park): 3.1 miles

It has been a month and five days since I’ve posted anything on this blog. I can’t really say why I’d stopped. I’ve continued to run, following the same schedule and covering the same distances, but my interest in documenting those runs had waned. It wasn’t until today that I felt compelled to resume my posting and that’s because the mighty Runsketeers all came together this morning for the first time since July. That’s just crazy.

The last time we all got together, I ended my post with, “I’m looking forward to our next Runsketeer outing. Hopefully the humidity will be a little lower than yesterday’s 89%.” Well, my hopes were realized, because no one was complaining about the humidity today. We were supposed to get a lot of wind but it wasn’t a factor this morning. A little chilly, but overall good running weather.

Shady shot along the trail

We agreed to meet at the Bethpage lot at 8:15 AM. Then it was between 8:30 and 8:45. Then it was 9:00. I won’t say who kept changing the time, but it wouldn’t be hard to guess. SIOR was probably frustrated that the park wasn’t charging an entry fee because she likes to fight with the toll taker there. I always get my fee waved because I’m not pugnacious. Everyone arrived on time and we quickly made our way up the hill, turning left to follow the northern trail. SIOR and TPP took off in a flash while KWL and I ran a lot easier. We kept it to 3.2 miles and had great conversations on the path.

Once we got back to the lot, we convoyed to Starbucks for coffee and second breakfast (for me anyway). You’d think we would have spent time catching up on everything that had happened in the last five months, but we went right to what was on our minds at the moment: politics, races, racing t-shirts, running magazines, and KWL’s and my long history working together. We also collectively agreed that Yonkers is a dump.

The usual suspects at the usual place

About halfway through our coffee time, we were joined by Professor Mike who had competed in Rob’s Run this morning while we were at Bethpage. Rob’s Run is a trail race that happens at Stillwell Woods. It’s a grueling run but PM looked as refreshed as the rest of us. He had a Rob’s Run thermos that was a giveaway to participants. That’s what started the conversation about race shirts. TPP uses her old race shirts as cleaning rags (blasphemy) and PM raffles them off to his students. I’ve kept every one I’ve earned, even the hideously ugly ones.

At some point conversation turned to almost naked fathers and grandfathers. This started when PM showed us a picture of his dad from the 40’s wearing little more than a loincloth. His muscles had muscles. KWL pointed out that was long before steroids. PM’s dad was a circus performer who was once on the Ernie Kovacs show where he swung on a trapeze while eating pizza. Then SIOR showed us a picture of her half naked grandfather who was a professional wrestler back in the 30’s or 40’s.

Capping that off, TPP told us about her dad who is an amazing engineer who invented the jet ski and developed a bunch of other cool stuff while working for an avionics company. He still creates stuff like 3-D printers and robots. He does all that fully clothed. Amazing accomplishments from the Runsketeer lineage.

It was great to see my buds and get in my fourth run in a row, starting with Thanksgiving day. I may have run on Wednesday, but that was a lot of turkey and pie ago and my memory is shaky. I’d like to continue my streak but the work week makes it tough. I hope the Runsketeers don’t go months again before we run together. We can’t allow that. At the very least, we should all do the Hangover Run on January 1.