For a third year, I’m a member of the Runners Roost Race Team. The team coordinator solicited feedback on whether current members would be interested in serving as captains. I indicated I was, wrote a small bit on my ideas for the team, and submitted it. That was last fall and I didn’t give it much thought until two weeks ago when it was announced that I would be co-captain of our local store’s team. Though I approach leadership roles with the knowledge that you really don’t know what will land in your lap, I think there are some things our team can do, internally and externally, to boost our own performance and further enhance the store’s presence in the community.
Around the time that I received this notice, I also was getting emails from the London Marathon advertising their virtual marathon on 3 October. Regular readers may recall that I entered the London lottery for the 2020 race and though I was disappointed in October of 2019 when I didn’t make it in, for obvious reasons that has turned out for the better. I’ve been a little skeptical about virtual races but once I was named as a captain, I figured this virtual marathon would be a way, albeit a difficult one, to cement my participation for the year, and perhaps have some of my teammates help out on the course. So, I signed up.
I get to choose the course and I’ve basically got one nailed down. There will be some elevation gain and given that we’re mile-high where we live, I’ll keep my time goals modest. Yet, there’s reasonable chance for a good time. My marathon personal best was set in Boulder and while that may have had something to do with more maturity and better pacing than my earlier attempts, it was one of my best races. Bonus points for this virtual race–the start line will be my driveway, which means no packing a bag for the race or having to get to the start line. In the event of inclement weather, like an early October snow or something else that’s not racing-conducive, I can run my neighborhood loop approximately 56 times. Bad for scenery, good for being able to switch out clothes and shoes if necessary.
I actually signed up for the race before giving it too much thought so I didn’t have a chance to give in to the second and third and fourth thoughts I’ve had since I clicked that payment button. And, I’m glad for that. Unless there’s a thick fog obscuring most views, what I am seeing will look nothing like London but I’m looking forward to it, especially if I’m able to have some friends join me along the course.
This coming year will still look different for the running world. Yet with a little creativity, we can keep supporting our local communities and those that are further away, try some things we haven’t done, and be ready to embrace a return to normalcy, even if some of our changes from this past year remain permanent.
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