Looking Ahead: Post-COVID

I have not felt capable of writing my IIRM blog for months. Today I sat down and began to reflect on the past year and where we are today.

If our collective prayers and wishes make a difference, then 2021 will be better; we will get back to normal. By spring we will be back to doing all the things we did before. Once we have the vaccine, we will be fine. Races will start again; people will come back. Beer tents and race stories will return. But, then again, maybe it won't be until the summer.

Will the Olympics happen? The NBA bubble was great but look at the NBA now. College sports are shutting down and starting up again. High school sports are going on as normal or being played in empty gymnasiums with or without video feeds. Or they are not happening at all. Athletes at all levels have tested positive for COVID-19, some with devastating effects to their hearts and ending their careers or worse. This summer my 25-year-old son got COVID-19. He also had pneumonia in two lobes and cardiomyopathy. Today he is doing better.

Many of us have watched while others have had their events cancelled, and we’ve experienced our own cancellation after cancellation. We hear conflicting information about runners and events. Among the many comments floating around are: Virtual events are great. Virtual events will not last. We will include virtual events as an option with all our future events. Runners are not ready to come back. Runners are wanting to compete in-person. Waves and spacing work. Can we really manage spacing in larger events? Running with a mask may impede respiratory function. Running with a mask does not affect oxygenation levels.

We can socially distance (from the beginning I felt it should be physically distance and we should keep the social part). We can have drive-thru packet pick-ups and virtual expos. Permits are not being issued for many events yet. Boston April 2021 is not happening; maybe it will be Boston in October. Or, perhaps, November. What about the World Marathon Majors? Will we have runners and Marines in the streets of DC in October? Maybe it will all need to wait until 2022.

We held two small live events this year out of the 19 scheduled. Each had less than 325 entrants, spaced in waves and on wide courses. Everything after the finish was self-serve. There were no sponsors. I measured circles six feet apart at start lines and spray-painted dots on the ground at finish lines to keep runners apart. I reviewed medical protocols with my providers. I answered questions from runners and staff and volunteers. Medical staff wore full PPE in open air tents. In two events we saw only two runners with injuries. Most of our staff time was spent packing up shirts, medals, and premiums to mail out to our virtual runners. I decided to walk our 10K and marathon since I did not have anywhere to be on what would have been race day. I am fortunate, I still have a job.

I attended online training with other event staff persons to learn best practices and share "survival" ideas. I met with my medical counterparts to talk about COVID-19 testing, mitigation strategies, and how to talk to our race directors about our concerns. I wore and continue to wear a mask every day. On January 22nd I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I feel lucky. Hopefully in three weeks there will be enough for me to get my second shot.

Many of you could write a similar story. Some of our colleagues have lost their jobs. Others, like me, are not planning race operations; instead, we are doing other things in hopes that we will soon be back to planning race operations. One year ago I was in Washington state visiting friends and having tea and talking about the year ahead. I had no idea what 2020 had in store for us. None of us did.

Nowadays many of us are hoping that we will see an abundance of vaccine, that everyone will take it, and that the variants will not take hold. We are also hoping we can get permits and attend expos. Personally, I am hoping that on this November 1st, I can reflect on the prior day and grumble about my fatigue of being awake for 19 hours—and smile knowing we have come out on the other side.