News - May 2020

May 28

The Boston Marathon has been canceled and will be held as a virtual race, Sept 7-14. more info from CNN

They've trained for months. Then their marathons got canceled. more by Ivana Kottasová, CNN

May 26

What We Know About Your Chances of Catching the Virus Outdoors

A stir-crazy nation wonders: Is it safe to stroll on the beach in a deadly pandemic? How about a picnic in the park? Or coffee with a friend at an outdoor table? The risk is in the details. more

May 22 - "Never forget flexibility"

¿Pueden leer español? If you can read Spanish or want to practice reading, here's an article from ESPN Run: Nunca olvides la flexibilidad

La flexibilidad de nuestros músculos y articulaciones es fundamental tanto para prevenir lesiones como para mantener nuestro rendimiento deportivo. more

Those of us who don't know Spanish, use Google Translate by copy/pasting the text.

Returning to Exercise After Recovery From Coronavirus

Is it OK to resume athletic training, even if you have gotten through a bout of Covid-19 or tested positive for coronavirus or suspect you might have been infected? Two new expert-consensus statements from pulmonologists and cardiologists, published separately in The Lancet and JAMA Cardiology, urge caution.

The new statements point out that the always-thorny issue of when injured or ill athletes can return to training is further complicated now, since the novel coronavirus is novel and much about its short- and long-term effects on the body remain unknown. So, the authors of the new statements lay out tentative evaluations and protocols that, ideally, ill or homebound athletes would complete before returning to strenuous exercise. They also highlight a few troubling symptoms that potentially could raise new concerns down the road. more
(by Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times, May 20, 2020)

May 21 - Marathon racing brings big money to cities across America. Some events may not survive the pandemic.

Key Points

The fate of road racing remains uncertain as the coronavirus has forced race cancellations during the busiest time of year.
There are now more than 40 million runners in the U.S., and 35,000 races across the country. Billions of dollars and thousands of jobs are on the line.
“Without specifically targeted help from the federal government, endurance sports may not survive the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Endurance Sports Coalition, founded in April, said in a statement. more
(Pippa Stevens, CNBC, May 17, 2020)

May 19

Lawrence runner can virtually race now. The Paw Valley 5K has two events in May. The 5K Home Run is underway this week. And in June the Westward Ho has a week for the 5K plus a Oregon Trail Relay. Check the links under "Coming Events." Still checking the status of the Tonganoxie Library Run for June 13.

May 17

RDRC Interview with Tomokazu Ihara: the Barkley Marathons

Tomokazu Ihara’s story is well-known to many members of the Red Dot Running Company community. In 2007, Tomo was an overweight Japanese salaryman with an unhealthy lifestyle, but having just joined a sporting goods company, he entered a company-wide competition to see who could lose the most weight within three months. He set himself a goal of running 5 kilometres every day, and lost seven kilogrammes, winning the contest. After that, 5km turned into 10, then 15, 20, 50 and 100, and now Tomo is in the process of running 100 miles 100 times. more (Red Dot Running Company - May 12, 2020, photo by Sho Fujimaki)

May 15

Here’s What Race Directors Want You to Know About Canceled Races

Many races wouldn't survive if they offered refunds for races canceled due to COVID-19.

The video, titled “2020 Bighorn Race Announcement”, begins ominously.

Dark clouds hang over the race’s signature landmarks as drone footage sweeps through the Tongue River Canyon. Michelle Maneval, the long-time Race Director, stands at an outdoor lectern surrounded by stone-faced members of her mostly-volunteer race team.

“It is with a heavy, heavy heart that we have had to make the decision to cancel the 2020 running of the Bighorn Trail Run due to the global health challenge of the COVID-19 virus,” she says to the camera. “Thinking realistically, we do not believe this will resolve completely by the end of summer 2020, thus we are not planning a postponement date.” more
(Alex Kurt, Trail Runner, May 11, 2020)

May 14 - Why Do Rich People Love Endurance Sports?

Participating in endurance sports requires two main things: lots of time and money. Time because training, traveling, racing, recovery, and the inevitable hours one spends tinkering with gear accumulate—training just one hour per day, for example, adds up to more than two full weeks over the course of a year. And money because, well, our sports are not cheap: According to the New York Times, the total cost of running a marathon—arguably the least gear-intensive and costly of all endurance sports — can easily be north of $1,600. more
(from Pocket Worthy, article by Brad Stulberg, Outside Magazine, Aug 3, 2017)