What I am doing during the pandemic

Like most of you, I have been subject to a stay-at-home order issued by my governor.  He was a little late to the party but he finally came around and issued the order on March 30th.  It feels very strange to be quarantined in my own home.  If you are like me, you are healthy and can’t fully understand why we have to do this to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  We all know that it is the right thing to do because it will protect others from us if we are sick and don’t know it or we happen to be an asymptomatic carrier.  Since the order was issued, I have been practicing social distancing and staying at home only venturing out to get groceries.  As weird as it all seems, I have been taking this time at home with my wife to read a lot and reflect on what is really important in my life.

My reflections have made me realize that so much of what I thought was critical and important really isn’t in the grand scheme of things.  I have concluded that staying at home has some real benefits.  The first being that I get to spending more time with my wife.  My son and his fiancée come over once a week to visit which is helping keep some semblance of normalcy in my life.  As we spend time together it helps to reinforce how much my family matters to me especially when I can’t see them as often as I would like.  They are with me no matter what and I have realized how important they are in keeping me grounded.  I am choosing to take this once in a lifetime opportunity to spend as much time with my family and cherish every moment.

I have found that being quarantined plus being out of work has given me more ‘me time’.  I have chosen to take this time to evaluate myself, my career and to try to figure out who I am today.   If nothing else, it has taught me that I am more than my job.  I have so much more to me than I realized.  I have started to get rid of the doubts I have in my abilities and simply taught myself how to be more comfortable in my own skin.  Best of all it has made me love myself more which ultimately will allow me to love others more easily.  During this stay-at-home period, I have found productive ways to keep myself busy like taking an on-line class for my real estate license, reading books I have always meant to read and exercising more intensely.  This is helping me to maintain some sense of normalcy during this trying time.

The toughest part of this whole quarantine is that I have always thrived on my social interactions.  Now I can’t go out and at meet friends, go shopping for fun, get a haircut, see a movie or more importantly going to my gym.  These are all places where I can get the social interactions I so enjoy.  There are times that I feel I am being lazy and I definitely get bored more often.  The worst part is I cannot do a full job search as there simply are no jobs hiring at this time.  If they were, interviewing would be problematic.  Since I am unable to have these interactions, I have come to value my freedom to go out and meet friends and family anytime and anywhere even more.

One of the challenges of spending so much time at home is that I tend to snack more than usual.  I try to avoid snacking unnecessarily.  I don’t want to gain any weight.  In fact, I am trying to get back down to the weight I was when I ran Boston in 2009.  I felt really good at that weight and was actually faster on the road.  To avoid it, I have set a routine for myself on when and how much I consume.  I use the My Fitness Pal app which shows me how many calories I am burning and consuming. This way I can make sure I am not overeating.  Don’t get me wrong I have bad days where I snack and eat more than I should.  But I get right back on track the next day and don’t punish myself for not following my plan.

I am sticking to my running routine.  I get up early every morning but Wednesday and run.  My routine includes hill repeats on Monday, speed work on Tuesday, tempo runs on Thursday, recovery miles on Friday, long runs on Saturday and more recovery miles on Sunday.  The goal is to run at least 30 miles per week.  Since I am not training for a specific race right now these are good maintenance runs and miles.  When I am ready to ramp up for a race, I will be prepared.  Running is the one thing that I do each day that gives me a little bit of a sense of the freedom I have lost even if I cross the street when I see a runner coming towards me.  Can’t be too safe these days.

My hope is that when we all finally emerge from this period of isolation; we will all realize how important our freedom is in our daily lives.  I hope that we will all be a little friendlier and more forgiving.  I hope that it makes us all want to lead a healthier lifestyle which will include maintaining a healthy body.  And finally, I hope that it will give us all a feeling of gratitude towards all of the people who worked to help those struck down with the virus and all those individuals who were considered essential workers.  They are the true heroes who risked their well-being to allow us to maintain a little bit of normalcy in our daily lives. 

I will close with this prayer:

A Prayer of Hope During this Pandemic
By Rabbi Naomi Levy, originally appeared on nashuva.com

We are frightened, God,
Worried for our loved ones,
Worried for our world.
Helpless and confused,
We turn to You
Seeking comfort, faith and hope.
Teach us God, to turn our panic into patience,
And our fear into acts of kindness and support.
Our strong must watch out for our weak,
Our young must take care of our old.
Help each one of us to do our part to halt the spread of this virus
Send strength and courage to the doctors and nurses
In the frontlines of this battle,
Fortify them with the full force of their healing powers.
Send wisdom and insight to the scientists
Working day and night across the world to discover healing treatments.
Bless their efforts, God.
Fill our leaders with the wisdom and the courage
To choose wisely and act quickly.
Help us, God, to see that we are one world,
One people
Who will rise above this pandemic together.
Send us health God,
Watch over us,
Grace us with Your love,
Bless us with Your healing light.
Hear us God,
Heal us God,
Amen.

Mar 30 – 7.10 miles (1:11:21, 10:03 pace) – Hill Repeats
Mar 31 – 3.10 miles (24:25, 7:53 pace) – Speed Work
Apr 2 – 5.10 miles (41:53, 8:13 pace) – Tempo Run
Apr 3 – 5.50 miles (48:53, 8:53 pace)
Apr 4 – 8.10 miles (1:14:32, 9:12 pace)
Apr 5 – 5.10 miles (45:19, 8:53 pace)
Apr 6 – 6.10 miles (1:03:17, 10:13 pace) – Hill Repeats
Apr 7 – 3.10 miles (24:07, 7:47 pace) – Speed Work
Apr 9 – 5.10 miles (41:52, 8:12 pace) – Tempo Run
Apr 10 – 6.20 miles (55:21, 8:56 pace)
Apr 11 – 8.20 miles (1:16:08, 9:17 pace)
Apr 12 – 5.10 miles (47:21, 9:17 pace)

Total Miles:  67.80 miles
2020 Total Miles:  512.90 miles