“Do you want to train for a 10K?,” I asked my friend, Gabrielle.
“Yeah, sure!” came her response. Gab was always up for my random adventures and hare-brained ideas, so I was delighted when she said yes.
At the beginning of the COVID lockdown, we had joined a local running group that had coordinated a virtual scavenger hunt. We were in the process of running some local streets trying to locate a plastic pink flamingo. It was one of our last items to find and it was proving elusive. This scavenger hunt had kept us moving when it was easier to stay inside, attached to our laptops and grazing in the kitchen cupboards. It was a bit of a salvation to have a reason to go outside, run around like children (masked, of course) and forget for a moment that life was not as simple as locating a garden gnome and taking a photo of us in front of it.
Once the scavenger hunt was over, I needed to keep focused on something. I needed a goal, a plan, something to look forward to. I’ve always been that person who is forward-facing, what’s next and exciting? With all the uncertainty in the world, I desperately needed a driving force to keep me motivated. The pandemic had cancelled the trip to France and the surprise 80th birthday party for my father, work was remote and the lack of human conversation and contact beyond my little bubble was wearing thin. So, why not a 10K? Especially one that had no date, no race location, just me, my best friend and an hour and 15 minutes.
For 12 weeks, Gab and I met three times a week to train. We followed an app that led us through a consistent increase in time and mileage. We spent the warmup and cool down periods catching up on each other’s life and family news; alternating between laughing and cheering each other up.
We are both social creatures, so this new pandemic world was not something we thrived in, but I did notice something that gave me pause. Were it not for the pandemic, we wouldn’t have had the flexibility to train for this race. Pre-pandemic we would have been in our respective offices from 9am to 5pm, too tired or busy with other obligations to meet after work and run. COVID gave us the chance to meet at lunchtime and run over the Walkway or the Rail Trail. The silver lining in the last year has been the opportunity to shift gears and work (or workout) clothes to suit each of us to what we needed at that moment. And I needed to run.
On April 12 at 9am on the Ashokan Reservoir Rail Trail, Gab and I finished our 10k and celebrated with brunch at a Kingston diner. There were no cheering crowds, post-race banana or time clock, but the sense of accomplishment for a self-driven goal more than made up for all the hoopla.
As we return to our new normal, let us hope that we can incorporate the work-life balance and flexibility that the pandemic has gifted us. Let us strive as women to advocate for a healthier distribution of mental, physical and emotional currency in comparison to the expenditures of career, family and relationships. Let us all find our 10K and train for it.
Lori Krzeminski, Director of Business Events & Marketing; Chapter Advisor for Beta Gamma Sigma; Board Regional Representative, NY State ACE Women’s Network