Thoughts on Being Cancelled

[The following narrative depicts the views of the writer and does not represent any official statements nor policies of the Department of Defense or Marine Corps Marathon Organization.]

We dodged a bullet, or so we thought. The Army Ten-Miler announced its cancellation. We had heard rumors earlier in the day and were anticipating the announcement. But we were not concerned about the Marine Corps Marathon suffering the same fate. Although we shared many of the same partners for our events, we had a solid plan in place to keep moving forward with our race. We were in constant contact with our partners and had affirmative responses to the questions posed to us.

Was the threat outlook low for the National Mall and federal lands? YES. Did we meet the intent of the National Park Service rules for COVID-19? YES. Did we meet with our medical partners to discuss staffing, support, and hospital bed space? YES. Did we collaborate with other scheduled races to be sure we had viable plans for best practices, concerns, and solutions? YES. Did we meet with Public Health Leads from our region and share our mitigation strategies and answer their concerns? YES.

On Friday, September 17, we had a late afternoon call with a senior member of one of our partners. He voiced some concerns about our mitigation and wanted to know why we thought we could make this work when other military events cancelled. He had to take our final race approval to a higher level but voiced support for our plan and the detailed process we had gone through to get the “YES.”

 On Monday, September 20, I left for the Inaugural Annual Meeting & Scientific Conference, a sports medicine conference in Indianapolis. I was super excited because I was presenting twice on topics that support my role at the Marine Corps Marathon Organization; this is something for which I am passionate. The first talk, “Sideline Management and Emergency Response of Adaptive Sports,” is based on lessons learned from our 2019 race. The second talk, “Physical Therapists Running the Show: Exploring Leadership Roles of the Sports Physical Therapist at Large Running Events,” would be presented with Dr. David Nolan, the lead physical therapist for the Boston Marathon. Dave and I have collaborated on and shared many of our work experiences. Our presentation highlighted the roles PTs can and do play in the administration and execution of large-scale events.

 Throughout the conference I was checking in with work via text and email because I knew I had a lot to do upon my return to Quantico. We had only five weeks remaining to complete everything for our events. In addition, because of the move to virtual in 2020, several of our team members and volunteers were new and had no real experience with managing care at races. This, of course, added the pressure of getting them prepared. But we were excited for the event. There is something “electric” about race week preparation and, for me, I enjoy the chaos and problem-solving that happens on race day. Also, I always see people rise to the occasion and figure things out; that is very satisfying.

Wednesday night I saw a message on my cell phone. It was my boss. He rarely calls outside of working hours, but I thought it was related to a personnel issue he and I were both managing (I did not review the message as I was trying to enjoy the conference and knew I would speak with him in the morning). Then, on Thursday morning, I received a message that I needed to join a conference call. I called my boss; the news was not good, but there was still a chance. We huddled for over 90 minutes talking about other options should one of our partners not support. We needed to move forward and see if we could gain momentum and support for another plan. In the meantime, we also needed to stop contracts where we could, if possible. There would be another meeting on Thursday afternoon with an advocate who we hoped would keep us at YES. I reached out to my medical partners asking them to keep this information at close hold and we reviewed our plan again with them. They were still giving us a YES.

I presented my first talk on Thursday. I focused, and we had a great response from the audience. But the day did not go so well; before it was over, we were told “NO.” The tears started. I honestly believed we could safely run our events and provide a morale boost to those within and outside of our organization. I was so beyond disappointed, it is hard to describe. I reached out to each of the partners I was coordinating with and some were surprised, others were not. Each commented on our superb planning efforts to provide a safe event.

We sent out a press release which, in part, read:

The 2021 Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) Weekend events scheduled for Friday, October 29 through Sunday, October 31 in Arlington, Virginia and the nation’s capital, have been canceled due to security and safety precautions currently in place. “After exhausting all possibilities, the opportunity to safely operate and execute a live event is just not feasible at this time,” said Rick Nealis, director of Marine Corps Marathon Organization (MCMO). “Though we had high hopes to welcome home our running community this October…”

The most difficult part was reading comments on social media. Some were brutal and the attacks felt personal, many implying that we failed in our planning and execution. Others were sympathetic with many of my friends and volunteers reaching out to me. I had to stop looking.

I told my fellow presenter Dave about the cancellation. Of course, we still had to deliver the second talk at the conference but I did not know if I could keep my emotions in check. After outlining everything we do to prepare for the race, my last slide read “CANCELLED.” There was nothing more. 

Friends continued to reach out. Several staff members from other races sent messages and I am happy to see that many races are still being held. I continue to process the loss of our event. In the scheme of life, it is a blip, but when you are passionate and ready to return to some normalcy it hurts.