"If you go through hell, keep going." ~ Winston Churchill
A few weeks ago, the Greek government announced that our quarantine should continue "well beyond April 6," the original date for which it was scheduled. We knew this would come, but it was still difficult to hear. And at that moment my memories came back as a long distance runner.
When I was eleven I started running on the racetrack and off-road. I joined the Los Gatos High School track and cross country team when I went to high school where we trained hard all year round. Our trainer gave us a program for the summer and in the end we spent a week in Lake Tahoe and trained where the air was thinner. This thin air made our lungs work harder and we became stronger.
I wasn't just a long distance runner, I was a long distance runner with asthma, and that made things a little more difficult. For me, running was not a matter of mind over the body, it was a delicate balance of mind that squeezed my body but stayed within reach of what my lungs were capable of.
Most of the time my asthma was not a problem. But sometimes it was, and if you've ever suffered from inflammatory lung disease, you know that even the strongest will will be powerless if you can't breathe. It humiliates you and this humility is useful.
As a former asthmatic long-distance runner, I don't think we can defeat the corona virus with willpower. We beat it with patience, intelligence, discipline and perseverance.
We stay at home so that the virus can spread less. We wait while the doctors first develop an antibody test so that we know who is now immune, and then a vaccine so that we can actually eliminate it. This takes time and this requires patience.
When I concentrate on my daily life in the middle of a block in Athens, it seems familiar to me – it feels like I'm on a cross-country trail again.
The first week of self-isolation was like the first half mile. I started quickly and optimistically. "This is going to be good. I have that! "I said to myself when I cleaned up my house, made healthy food, held video meetings with my friends around the world, improved my home exercise program, and organized my new work life.
But in the second week, the second half of the first mile, I started to feel the effects. It wasn't that fun. I missed going to restaurants and events. I missed human interaction. "When will that end?" I wondered. On a cross-country trail, your body begins to embark on a long, painful journey, and that's when you do it right.
As a long-distance runner, I look beyond the horizon of this pandemic, so I know what's coming. There are waves of pain, moments of boredom and waves of determination that are all connected. In a race, I would focus on the long run, the finish line, but I wouldn't be obsessed with it. It is too far away.
Mostly I would look at the floor in front of me to make sure I didn't trip. I would manage my breath, check my energy, strain myself when I saw other people get tired, and stop me for the long distances in between.
When I get really tired, I start counting in my head. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 and then start again. Doing something about order and structure in the situation made it easier for me to continue.
This quarantine is similar. I break my day into tiny pieces and just concentrate on the piece in front of me. I take the dog for their morning walk, prepare my home studio and teach a live streaming yoga class, make my next meal, spend two hours answering and writing emails, the list goes on and on Day finds a rhythm. It is lonelier than before, but I adapt and find my way.
And I've learned to understand the finish line flexibly. I had a really great coach in William Harmatz. He would push us hard, but he took care of us, so we worked hard to make him proud. And his efforts have paid off. Our teams were among the best in the country.
I remember a track meeting in a neighboring town where we raced, drove well and went back to our school. He had the bus stop about a mile and a half away and told us to go out and run home. I was shocked. But he looked us straight in the eye and said, "You are tired. It's a good time to run."
I hated him right now, but he trained me well because this pandemic trip is likely to be like this.
It will be difficult to know when the race is over. And probably if we think we're done and tired we will be asked to do a little more. But if your thinking is stable and you have the right tools, the journey could be long and the journey painful, but it will be fine.
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