First Weeks of Spring

Happy springtime! 

I know with the Coronavirus running rampant, it’s not the spring I was envisioning in my head all winter (and I'm sure you weren't either), but I am determined to find joy in our newly warmer weather. By now I believe the BMX tracks in the Midwest would be opening and welcoming riders onto the track, but with the pandemic, the tracks are closed except for a few riders around the country I’ve seen on Facebook. The parks here (and from what I can gather, Houston, too) seem to be having the opposite problem, with too many people packed in and not enough social distancing. I want this over as quickly as possible, so I am doing my best to stay away from the parks, opting instead to run around my subdivision for a few miles almost every day. While my first winter in the Midwest was not very fun, my first Spring here is turning out to be amazing.

Recently, a friend and teammate helped me put together my new ride for the year, and I’m really liking it. It originally had a BRIGHT neon pink and black color scheme, and I quickly realized that I’m not into that much flash, so after a few days of consideration I took the stickers all off and am opting instead for a little tamer color combo - still pink but a touch lighter. Hopefully my new sticker pack arrives soon; I’m so excited to put them on and take some photos.

Another thing that has popped up with a stay at home order is more use of Facebook. Even though I like to use it to keep in touch with far away family and friends, I will admit that I’m not really a fan of Facebook in general. It’s a time suck, so many pages dedicated to hobbies seem like a pissing contest and a place for people to talk crap, all the while professing their intense dislike of drama, and most days you can’t scroll down your feed without something divisively political (and nowhere near educated) jumping out. Because of this I’ve been staying off Facebook as much as I can, snoozing certain pages, and doing projects around the house after work instead. I’ve got a few fun projects lined up, so hopefully soon I can start.

I hope you guys are all doing okay, I know that social distancing is harder on some than others, but stay strong, because we will all get through this. The faster we all properly social distance and stay at home, the faster we can get back to our regularly scheduled programs, lol! I don’t know about you guys, but I am looking forward to seeing my family, friends and coworkers again, as well as going to races.

Much love!

Big Sur Update and the Coronavirus

Well, our marathon is officially postponed. 

Today the race coordinators of Big Sur posted on their website that the Big Sur Marathon will be postponed (with more details to follow). With everything going on with the Coronavirus, I'm SO glad it just wasn't cancelled. This is the best situation possible at the moment!

Our BMX national, the Spring Nationals in Albuquerque, NM has also been postponed. I am beyond grateful to the USABMX and the Big Sur organizers for making the tough but safe choice, and despite our fears and a super rocky start to 2020, I'm looking forward to a fun Summer of BMX and running. After all, besides taking preventative measures and avoiding crowds (and perhaps NOT mean buying up all the toilet paper and water around), what else can we do? This is very scary, but I won't live my life out of fear. I also won't be flying or going anywhere crowded until it's under control. 

Saturday long run with my awesome run club is also off, not because of Coronavirus, but because of my toe. Two days ago I hit my little toe on something in the house while I was switching out some laundry in the evening, and it's swollen and black and blue. I'm not sure if it's broken but it will definitely be a few days of not being in any shoe other than my Uggs. Hopefully it heals up soon. My coworker told me to tape it, but I don't know anything about that so it's something to look into. 

Also, for the first time in what I can remember, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was cancelled. It makes sense though. There will always be people complaining about missed concerts, and not that it matters at all, but you can't please everyone, and I'm sure that's not the CDC's main concern. I'm glad measures are being taken. And for the first time in...well, ever, Starbucks doesn't have the world's longest line in the mornings. It seems most people are taking this virus seriously, and everywhere I go there seems to be a sort of nervous energy in the air.

The situation isn't ideal, but all we can do is try to keep ourselves healthy and wait it out. The St. Patrick's Day party at our friend's house this weekend will also most likely be marked off the schedule as well, super bummer. I know there are some who are trying their best to continue to go out, etc., like everything is fine, but this is something I'm willing to be proven wrong about later. Everyone stay safe! 

And With That, No More Marathon

A few weeks more to go till Big Sur and yet another curve ball came our way.

With concerns over the Coronavirus, as well as non-essential plane travel being discouraged by just about everyone, it is with an extremely heavy heart that Yuan and I have decided to pull out of the Big Sur International Marathon this year. Currently, the marathon itself is still a go, even though 40+ entrants are from outside the country and most likely can't go either.

To be honest, I'm really bummed that there is still a huge push from the race promoters to continue on with it; it feels like a slap in the face to all the organizations, companies and others who are willingly limiting their own travel in favor of their own sense of social responsibility. I'm also feeling a ton of FOMO, but we are planning on running this race again in a year or two. I love the Big Sur Marathon, and I'm really beside myself right now, especially after fighting through the winter blues, ice and treadmill time to get those miles in.

Regardless, Yuan and I don't feel like going would be a good idea at this point, especially since we would need to fly into northern California, where new cases are still popping up. I have been looking forward to this race for an entire year, but it's not worth possibly exposing ourselves to this virus and bringing more than a medal back home with us.

I'm not gonna lie, I will probably be crying my eyes out on race day, but for now I'm going to stay strong, keep running, and remind myself that there will be another Big Sur Marathon in our future in a year or two.