Wow. What A Week.

Wow. A lot has changed since I last wrote.

The coronavirus has been spreading rapidly pretty much everywhere, even throughout the US despite what our ridiculous president has to say about it. Stores and everywhere online has been out of masks and sanitizer for a while now, and toilet paper aisles have been empty. Crazy. News has been pouring in of shutdowns and school closing in other states and countries. And while Maine held out as one of the last states without a positive outbreak, the inevitable eventually happened. On Thursday, the news broke that we were seeing Maine's first recorded case. And then the dominos started falling over the weekend.

First school was going to be closed on Monday so the schools could convene and figure out how to move forward with a possible closure but by last night, our district, along with the surrounding districts, moved to close for two weeks, as did schools across the state. Colleges had already asked kids not to return after spring break. Ski areas posted that they were closing at the end of this weekend. Races have been cancelled. Events as well. Several stores and restaurants listed voluntary closures. We are in for our first bout of social distancing. Keeping my fingers crossed that we here in this household, and the larger "we" of our community in general, get through it OK but my heart hurts for so many reasons. The economic strain on our neighbors, on our local businesses, on those in healthcare, on those working at grocery stores, for those kids who do not have a stable, safe home, for those who are teetering on the edge, for those who are hungry. On the work side, I am not sure what is going to happen. The shelters will no doubt be at high risk for passing around the virus between guests and staff. The anxiety is real. I am hopeful these upcoming two weeks will do the work to keep the magnitude of sickness at bay, and "flatten the curve," with so many closures, but it is going to be hard for everyone, there is no doubt. I still don't understand the hoarding of toilet paper though 😉

Grateful for the health of our little family and those we love in this moment, and that I can still get out and breathe fresh air and enjoy the views and stay active through running. At its core, running is truly the perfect social distancing exercise!

And because this is my running log as much as it is a log of our lives, here's the rundown on the week.

Didn't get up and out on Tuesday morning as had been the plan so left work a bit early and headed to the bike path in the late afternoon instead. A bit cooler and windier than I had anticipated but legs felt decent. Just ran along, listening to Jenny Jurek on Running on Om. (6.0 miles)

Wednesday morning was another no go. I am blaming daylight savings, but when I look at my running log, I realize that Wednesday mornings have really not be productive for me all winter long! Sigh. Ah well. Perhaps I should just accept that the Sparkplug 4-day block style of training is what I do best 😆

And with that, Thursday morning, I got up and out on the powerlines. Temps were just below freezing and it was a nice morning. Conditions were variable, with some bare ground, frozen ground and still a lot of ice, but thankfully the ice was pretty grippy with screwshoes. Still, as it warms up, it is going to get messy out there for sure! (7.1 miles)

I think the stress of the news about the virus started to sink in and frankly I just did not have the energy for a long run on Friday. Plus it was in the mid 30s, windy and raw, with rain predicted for most of the day. Blech. Managed to get in six of my eight miles without getting rained on at least, but it wasn't the nicest of mornings to be out. Ran the cart paths and did the short loop down to the river and back. The cart paths were squishy but 90% clear of ice and snow. The Heath and the trail down to the river was also surprisingly clear, about 70%, but the ice that remains was treacherous. There was no way I was going farther out into the system without traction. Way too much ice on the singletrack. (8.0 miles)

Saturday, I was once again feeling a bit overwhelmed and paralyzed by the news and spent a little bit too long cuddling with Gigi on the mat in front of the heater in the early morning hours to get in quite the miles I had hoped for, but oh well, cat cuddles work in an attempt to find some calm amidst the swirling chaos too! 😻 Finally got out around 6:30 am just as civil twilight began and enjoyed a meander around town and over the river. After Friday's rains, the pavement had a thin veneer of ice in many spots, but there was some gorgeous morning light to enjoy. Made it back just in time for Ryan to head out at 8:00 to meet up with friends for a run on the Freeport trails. (9.0 miles)

While Ryan was out running, Sam and I headed out to do a few errands. We went to Target for a big vat of glue for slime-making, and managed to find toilet paper and wipes on the shelves! A miracle. They had finally decided to deal with the hoarding of cleaning supplies and toilet paper and there was a 1 item limit for both, but I didn't mind. I want everyone to be clean and be able to use the toilet! Then we headed to the farmer's market for veggies and eggs. A lot of the vendors were not there, but I appreciated those who had made the effort to get local food to us. No eggs to be found so we stopped at Morning Glory where social distancing was not in effect but long lines were. Seriously NUTS. We decided not to wait in line for eggs. Then it was off to Brooks for cat food and a big bag of birdseed plus eggs, and finally a stop at Hannaford for a few ingredients for soup. Did we do the right thing going out? I don't know, but at the time, it seemed like business as usual with a bit more people buying food and a bit more hand washing and sanitizing.

Ryan came back from his run to find out that Umstead 100 had been cancelled. In reality, we had already made the decision on Friday that traveling there for the race was probably not the wisest move, and mentally accepted that he wouldn't be running. So the cancellation was simply a confirmation that that was the right decision. But still, once again, it stinks. For the runners, the RDs, the businesses surrounding the race. None of this is easy. In the end, not doing a race seems like a trivial thing to be disappointed about, but running and racing brings us joy and is something that is a big part of our lives. It is hard when things happen out of your control and a race is cancelled, but I know the RDs did the right thing. I spent some of the afternoon canceling hotel reservations and one of Sam and my flights. The other I'll have to deal with closer to the flight date. I know I am not the only one changing plans and reservations, and again, the economic impacts are potentially staggering.

Sam had a sleepover at a friend's house - again, was it the right thing? I don't know but it seemed OK at the time, plus they had all just spent all week at school together! - so Ryan and I went out for a nice dinner at Frontier. It was a bit quieter than normal but there were still people out enjoying good food, and we were glad to support a friend and local business.

Later in the evening, we got the news of the school closure and things seemed to escalate from there in terms of closures and cancellations and social distancing messaging. Crazy how different the climate is from just the beginning of the week!

Honestly wasn't sure I had it in me to get in a long run today. With everything going on, it is likely that we won't be traveling to NC for April vacation this year, and therefore likely I won't be racing Mountaineer Rumble in SC either, whether because the race is cancelled like so many other April events, or because we don't make the trip.  If we do go, we will be driving for sure, but it's hard to know now what the climate will be like in 5 weeks and if it will be a wise decision for us or my parents at that point. We're just playing it by ear at this point.

But in any event, I did get myself suited up and out the door. Despite my stomach not feeling great before I left, probably from a rather rich but delicious dinner last night, my legs felt good once I got going and I just listened to my podcasts and kept running. I had planned a bit road loop out into Brunswick but once I got out into town, the wind was whipping and I didn't really want to do the intended loop, so I changed plans midstream 😉🙈 and headed out into the Crystal Spring Farm trails. A lot of bare, solid ground but definitely still some ice. Not quite the correct shoe choice with my road shoes 😅 but it was fun to back on the trails and I just tiptoed around the ice I came across. Ran across the blueberry barrens to hook into the extended Commons and then out onto Pennelville down to Simpson's Point. Breezy but lovely.

Returned via the Commons, down Federal Street to the bike path and back home. A nice mid-winter Brunswick road and trail run, and a good way to wrap up another (just over) 50 mile week. (20.2 miles)

Now to get through these two weeks (and maybe more...) of social distancing... 👊