With my teaching assignments going online, and my children all off from school (2 youngest @ home and oldest still in college dorm), life has been altered (quite disrupted) to say the least. All events, rehearsals, lessons, everything has been cancelled. The state of California and much of the nation (as well as the world) is practicing "social distancing." No longer do I need to wake by 7:00 am to get my boys off to school. No longer do I drive 60 miles a day. Nowadays, I try to sleep in as late as I can possibly stand it (which is between 8:00 and 9:00 am). I feel like I need the rest. Most of the businesses in my town are closed and with the off and on rain, the streets most days are empty. The shelves in the groceries stores are empty as well. Every single store. It’s an odd thing. Surreal. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
We are not in a literal “shelter-in-place,” though there’s cities in San Francisco County that are, and probably even more areas in California by now too. In my county, there’s an order against gathering publicly or privately. Church services are cancelled. Bars and restaurants (except for take out) are closed. Gyms are closed. Theaters are closed. It’s a screeching grinding halt to the economy. We can’t find grocery essentials (like toilet paper, eggs and rice), but on the other hand, I just paid $2.85 a gallon to fill up my gas tank. I can’t remember when fuel has been that low. It's been years.
On the 16th (Monday, the first day of my official “spring break”), we got a break in the rain. Much to to my surprise, I was living my spring break in a surreal world. I knew that I needed to get out and put some miles beneath my feet. (I believe my husband even pleaded with me to do so 😅) But I didn't feel like it; in fact, I dreaded it. I watched the weather reports, and they said rain, rain, rain for the next several days. And here I was on March 16 with a break in the rain. I felt I just couldn’t chance it. I feared that I may not see another break in the rain for a while. So, I took off locally, with pavement beneath my feet (and a new pair of road running shoes -- yay!). My left foot injury felt very faint, and it fared no worse, I am grateful to say, from this run. Even though I dreaded it, within 15 seconds of my feet hitting the ground, I was glad to be out pounding pavement. My spirit felt lighter. I don't think I enjoyed the running as much as I enjoyed the freedom. Running does that; it breaks the chains between you and everything that is. Running down Pacific Coast Highway toward the ocean gave me something else to focus on, something other than the coronavirus (COVID 19). All of that was kept at bay. And that was lovely!
What started out as a 5 mile out-and-and back to where the sidewalk ends in Capistrano Beach, grew as I made my way back through Doheny Beach. The weather was perfect, the clouds were majestic and awesomely eerie at times. I ran through the campgrounds which had just a few campers. There were a couple of other runners out. A few people strolled about on the sand. After making my way back through Doheny Beach where I would have normally made my way back to Pacific Coast Highway, I decided to head on off to the jetty to get a good look over at the marina, a spot that I always enjoy taking in.
After running out to the jetty and back, I was already at about 6 miles in my run, and I thought, well, heck, push it to 7 and see how that feels. By the time I hit 7 miles, I was so close to 10, in my warped mind, that I thought heck, just do three more miles -- you can do that!
And I did. And the land and skies out before me were beautiful. It was a tiresome journey for sure. And I didn't quite come in at 10 miles. My sports watch AmazFit read 9.61 miles, but uploaded to Strava, the data read 9.5 miles. Either way, I had no more energy to run around the block a couple times (like the old days) to make sure I hit the intended mileage. 😂 9.5 or 9.61 was good enough for me. Left foot is still a little sore, but I don't think that I re-injured it. I think I will try and stay off the pavement for a bit, just to be safe.
"Baby Beach" in the Dana Point Harbor pictured left, during what is Spring Break 2020 for many. I know many local community apps and social media pages are showing pictures of groups of teens gathering publicly, and there's been quite a bit of discourse on these matters. This is what I saw. Barely a person around. A few runners here and there. A couple people on the sand, a couple eating a Jon's Fish Market (this was before the restaurant closures). A few people at the wharf. A few people in Turk's Bar. That was about it. We are "social distancing".