2020 Was My Best Year Ever (By One Measure)
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. “When opportunity knocks, open the door”. “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”.
There are many quotes to encourage us in tough times. Well, 2020 could be the definition of tough times. The COVID pandemic has caused death, illness, unemployment, financial hardship, stress on mental health, put strains on relationships and much more. It also forced many of us to begin to work remotely instead of driving to an office. For parents of school-age children that meant learning to juggle working from home while helping their children adjust to remote school and virtual learning.
Control What You Can Control
COVID literally affected everyone in the country, and maybe everyone in the world. If you did not personally get infected or become ill, you likely knew someone who did. Or you lost income. Or you were affected by the closure of schools, stores and businesses and had to change your routines. Most of those changes were out of our control. We had to deal with things we could not control. But, as always, we could still control how we reacted to the situation.
It’s often easy to focus on the challenges we face and the things we can not control. It can be difficult to focus on the things we can control instead. But that is the way to get through tough times. Learn to control what you can control. That may be big things or it may be small, subtle things.
Adjust Your Goal When Needed
My running goal for 2020 was to log 1200 miles. In 2019 I was just short of that at 1165. I didn’t have any marathon plans for 2020 and I thought running 20-25 miles per week would keep me competitive in the handful of 5k and 10k races I planned to run this year. In the last few years I had placed in several races and wanted to try to bring home more race “hardware” in 2020.
When I started working from home in March I kept my same routine. I woke up at the same time, went out for a run, had breakfast and got ready for work. Normally I would then have a 45+ minute commute to downtown Detroit. But now, I would simply go into my home office and start working. I soon realized the time I normally used to commute was time I could use for other things. Including more running!
As the pandemic dragged on I started adding miles to my runs and thinking about other goals. The 1200 mile goal was no longer enough. As the months went on I began to think 1500 miles was attainable. The only question was would my body hold up.
Physician, Heal Thyself
For most people it’s easier to give advice to others than it is to follow that same advice yourself. In the area of running injuries, I’m afraid I’m no different.
I had been nursing Achilles tendonitis since early summer. For an athlete I was coaching or for a friend, I’d suggest they take a couple weeks off and let it heal. I did reduce my mileage for a week in June but it was about then that I started targeting 1500 miles and also was considering running an in-person marathon still planned for November. So I increased my stretching and ankle exercises to keep me running. After the marathon I reduced my weekly miles significantly to let my Achilles rest but I kept my eye on the calendar and my running log. Since I was so close to my goal I decided to pace myself to balance rest with the mileage goal.
Some Normalcy In A World Of Chaos
While 2020 certainly presented unprecedented challenges and was devastating in many ways, it also gave us opportunities to excel. For some people that meant going above and beyond to help a neighbor or community, for others it was to step up at work and help their team adjust to the remote environment, or to help in many other ways.
For me, one way I was able to stay engaged and help family, friends, work and my community was to also focus on one thing I could control. Running 1500 miles instead of my goal of 1200 helped me maintain at least a bit of normalcy amidst the chaos of this year. So while 2020 was a year we will remember for many “lows” and problems, it was also a year I reached a new high in terms of running miles. Find little victories where you can. They will impact other areas and lead to greater victories.
