I think I’m running out of ways to describe the new normal that pandemic life has brought, and I’m also feeling like as we speed closer to the presidential election in 20 days, my mental real estate is becoming a hotter and sparser commodity, moreso now than ever before.

There are only so many different ways to say the same thing. 

SIB’s Generate Good Energy Challenge over the past couple weeks has reminded me daily that even with the cacophony of All That is 2020 raging on, a lot of good is still happening daily, even if it’s not always super evident. We’re the narrator to our own lives, and energy flows where energy goes.

When I begin to feel what I can only describe as an existential-level type of despair (or disdain, since TBH it’s sometimes hard to differentiate day to day), I remind myself that people are still doing good things, making real progress, and that not all hope is lost.

Call it self-care, self-compassion, self-preservation, or sheer naivete and privilege; I think all of the aforementioned apply. For me, it comes in the form of running as much and as hard as feels right (“training for life” is a fantastic way to run); it comes in the form of being pretty damn selective of what I’m reading online and in which types of social media I’m consuming; and beyond all else, it comes in maintaining connections with loved ones and being in the right here, right now with them. 

I sincerely hope that as life, and this school-year, has continued on in such a weird way these past seven+ months, you have found a healthy outlet into where you can pore some of your being when All of This has become suffocatingly, exceedingly tough. 

You don’t have to run (though I’d sure as hell recommend it!), but I can’t speak highly enough of the benefits of physical movement for both body and spirit right now. I cannot tell you how many times something as mundane as a daily run — pace and distance completely irrelevant — has flipped my mental state over the past 31+ weeks. 

For this being a little ol’ running blog, it doesn’t particularly make for titillating blog entries when I don’t have much in the way to talk about racing and training for racing, which has been the case for the better part of the past year-plus. Running’s not cancelled though, of course. Far from it.

If nothing else, though, let me be the first (or the second, or the third, or whatever) to implore you that if and when you start feeling some feelings over the next twenty days, get up and get going. 

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2 weeks and 6 days.  

Stay healthy and safe, take care of yourself and others, and keep reading and listening. And vote!