Weekly Log 16-Mar to 22-Mar-2020: Coping in Strange Times (COVID-19)

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Is it just me, or is there just a little more civility and bipartisanship at present during the pandemic?  It reminds me of how our country came together after 9/11.
• Yes, on the other hand, xenophobia is on the rise (e.g., the student from Singapore that got beat up in London because his assailants didn't want "his Coronavirus in their country"), but there will be always be ignoramus-types, fortunately a minority.  (He didn't have Coronavirus, and he wasn't from China, not that either would warrant the assault.)
• In our first week of working 100% remotely for all but a skeletal crew, HR called me via video conference to check in on how I was doing and suggested I do the same with my staff.  I setup a video conference for the team, insisted each turn on their cameras, and it turns out they all appreciated it, were feeling isolated, and wanted that on a recurring basis.  I kicked myself for not thinking of that, and am trying to learn and adjust to the "new normal".
• I have observed many more people getting outside at parks and trails.  Is it all due to social distancing recommendations, or is it also because there's no sports on TV and movie theatres are closed?
• I'm trying to continue to support local restaurants in these challenging times, and I've got to say Haversham has it down pat:  pay for your order over the phone, give them the color and make/model of your vehicle, and pull up to the curb and they bring your meal out to you.
• How is everyone else holding up?  Feel free to comment.  Would love to hear from running friends.  Stay safe out there.

Monday:  1 walk
First day working indefinitely from home is quite weird.  Have certainly worked from home before, but a bit weird knowing it'll be for a while.  I'm tempted to keep working into the evening, but I need to set some work/life boundaries.

The stock market dropped 3,000 points today (Dow), biggest point
loss in history.  So much for an early retirement?

Finished about 5pm, and then went to Avondale Preserve for a walk with Brady.  Beautiful weather.  More people out than normal.  Probably having cabin fever just like me.

Avondale Farm Preserve.
Popular with people and dogs today.

Tuesday:  5
Late afternoon road, trails, and fields from home, with Brady.

It looks like I'll be working from home for a while, so hooked up
a 2nd monitor to my work laptop for efficiency.

Wednesday:  11
Morning run at Haley Farm and Bluff State Park with Matthew and Brady.  Fun twisty trails are always in vogue with me.  It was only 33° when we arrived, but it was sunny with no wind and warmed up quickly.

At Bluff State Park
Weird close up angle, but
Brady looks clean here before he intentionally went into many
mud puddles, and needed a bath.

Thursday:  3
Late afternoon post-work run with Brady, running from South Woody Hill.  I had planned about 5 easy miles, but that was nixed after a collision with a rock and then landing on roots on my hip.

Ouch.  Really hurt.  One of those where I stayed down on
the ground for a bit before getting up.

First day of spring!  Nice colorful greeting in front of our house.

Today is St. Joseph's Day.  Debated on whether it was smart to
go to McQuades to pick up zeppoles, and in the end went for it.
Practiced social distancing as others were doing as well, and
when my turn came to order, some really old guy came up and
stood right next to me.  Seriously?  I don't think I have coronavirus,
and he likely doesn't either and wasn't being malicious,
but come on now, smarten up.
-----
(BTW, the zeppoles were delicious, one chocolate and one traditional.)

Friday:  5
Another post-work trail run.  This time at Grills Preserve with Matthew and Brady.  Hip still hurts from yesterday's clumsy debacle, but I got out there for the usual easy loop.

Received the following survey from BAA.  Since it's not binding,
and I'd prefer not to run a marathon in late summer when it's potentially hot and humid,
I answered "No".  Let's see what they come back with for options, if any.

Saturday:  8
Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, CT.  Decent drive from Westerly at 1 hour, 15 minutes each way (do I sound like a Rhode Islander?), but it's a beautiful day and after being semi-cooped up in the house all week, when Matthew floated this idea, it sounded good to me.  Here's a brief pictorial recap:

Main entrance to park.  There were a lot of people (and dogs) out today,
but it appeared most were taking this main easy path shown here.

Started out uphill pretty quickly

A lot of rock on the blue trail

A lot of lookout spots (there's a cliff right behind Brady and me)

From whence we came, looking down on main entrance
and Quinnipiac College, where we parked

Beautiful sunny day out there.  Made sure to stop at each stream
to let Brady get a drink.

Wanted to go inside this tower, but there were
way too many people for a time where we're supposed to
be practicing COVID-19 "social distancing".
Took a pic and kept going.

Yes, the trail goes up here to where Brady and Matthew are
standing, waiting for the old man
(you can see blue blaze at 5 o'clock in pic)

Tommy would have loved this trail!

I thought the Parthenon was in Greece?
(No idea what or why this building remains was out in the woods.)

Made sure to give him cooling breaks where available.

Overall, a really cool place, with many very challenging, hilly, technical trails.  So many people were kind and moved out of our way when we came running through on the trail.  There was one super steep short section that we had to lift Brady up onto the rocks above, but overall, he did awesome and was waiting for us.

I certainly hope this level of quarantine never is enacted here.
(Not that I "jog", of course.)

Sunday:  10 run, 1 walk
Yawgoog.  Technical trails with Brady.  29° at start, but being sunny and with no wind, it warmed up quickly.  Never get tired of these trails.

Lots o' rocks
(Narragansett Trail near Long Pond)

Was curious how Brady would do on the very technical
rock-laden red trail out to Southwest Marker.
(He was cautious, but did just fine, and certainly navigated the
rocks faster than I could.)

Pretty cool out there at the RI/CT border.
Have never seen anyone else out here in my life.

Climbing up a rock at Hidden Lake.

Yawgoog Pond:  deserted and idyllic

Yes, this picture was staged.
He is getting much better at "stay" command.

Late afternoon family walk at Avondale Farm Preserve, before heading to the grocery store for picking over what's left while practicing good social distancing.  Ample fruits and vegetables, virtually no meats, paper products, or bread.

Weekly mileage:  43 run, 2 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Really a good week, especially given the crazy world around us.  I no longer have any running weekly goals or long run needs, but I do want to keep up at least in the 40-50 mile weekly range.

Weekly highlight:  Sleeping Giant grueling run, with 2K+ feet of elevation gains.  Tough run, but a really neat place.

Weekly lowlight:  Falling and banging myself up on Thursday.  Set me back probably 5-10 miles on the week.