Running Through Isolation

I also happen to work for the NHS in mental health service. All non-essential businesses, schools, colleges, and universities will be closing, working from home became my ‘new normal,’ and we had a thirty-minute slot to exercise outside…alone or with someone you live with. That thirty-minute slot became my lifeline, and running through isolation also became my ‘new normal.’

At times it seems like I’ve lived through a dream, but I will try and explain the impact this announcement has had on my running journey and well-being. Running was always my alone time before the pandemic with the added option of joining local running crews on track day training sessions or long runs on a Sunday. But as the pandemic continued and national lockdown rules became law, I had to quickly adapt and go back to my default settings: running alone for my safety and others.

That being said, I might have been running alone physically, but mentally and emotionally, I knew I had the support of the running community that I was always a part of. We like to call ourselves “Positive Peer Pressure Crew.” We started an online running “accountability partnership” by setting up and joining 100KM monthly challenges on the Nike Run App (NRC) and tagging each other on Instagram when completing a run to show the rest of the crew that running was still happening even during lockdown.