✏️ Nov 9, 2021: “It’s a Marathon”

Twenty one months ago we entered full blown COVID-19. I remember it like it was yesterday. With a sense of urgency and anxiety about what we did not know, we buttoned things up and went home for a whole week. We figured it out just like you did, making decisions based on available data.

Monday in the news I read about the LA Marathon. I trained for, and ran the LA Marathon in 1994. Hard to believe that was 27 years ago. Really? Is that even possible? I remember it like it was yesterday. What I was wearing, how I felt at mile 18 when it was the furthest I had ever run continuously in my life, and how it felt when I realized I still had 8.2 miles to go. The signs by the golf course asking runners to “keep it down,” so we didn’t bother those teeing off. And the octogenarian I passed right before the finish line.

That was the same year that Oprah Winfrey ran a marathon. Her finish time was 4 minutes faster than mine. Really? Oprah? She did have a personal coach, a chef, and the Marine Corps course was about the flattest in the country. But still…

Six years ago I trained for and ran a 50K. I did this event solo for the first half. I remember it like it was yesterday. I left my driveway and 8 hours later returned, tired, dusty, and relieved to be done. My course included the flattest route I could find locally. I retraced part of this route on Saturday, my first time back on the Coast Trail since the Woodward Fire. What a trip to see the ceanothus burned. Just black sticks, and the new growth of baby plants blanketing the ground.

Ceanothus burned with baby ceanothus blanketing the ground below.  photo: A. Eichstaedt 

The regrowth of our local forest is encouraging.

Yesterday I ran 5 miles before work. It was cold, a calm day before the next atmospheric river that we experienced last night I remember it like it was yesterday, because it was yesterday. I also heard yesterday on NPR a story about a family that has experienced COVID-19 for a second time. Breakthrough cases for the fully vaccinated parents, and a second illness for their young child. It seems like we will be living with this Coronavirus for the long haul.

I was mulling this information over as I retraced my many steps on the Bear Valley Trail. Breathing fresh air, out in nature, dodging those beloved puddles. I have been running since I was 15 years old. I have only taken a few breaks due to illness or injury. I’m grateful to still be running. I am not, nor have I ever been fast, and I hike as much as I run these days. I am in it for the long haul. I appreciate the time on the trails to rejuvenate my brain, and keep my body strong.

Photo of me running near junction of Meadow and Sky trails in 2012.   photo: Robert Steinberg

We  are approaching the two-year anniversary for COVID in our lives. We are all in it for the long haul. We must take care of ourselves, and each other. KWMR is in it for the long haul. Thank you for supporting  community media.

Be well,

Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager/Executive Director
It’s been a while since you got to see Waylon.   photo: Ken Eichstaedt

p.s. Congratulation to the Inverness and Point Reyes Disaster Councils for their successful radio drill on Saturday, November 6th. Do you know who is in your local disaster council?