Right before the 2020 Shamrock Shuffle, things started closing. The day before packet pickup the race was canceled. It would have been my 8th consecutive year to run it. It is tradition for me since it was the first race I ever ran (in 2013).
Jody, Nick, Matt and Heather were all joining me. It was almost as disappointing as the time we missed Bockfest. Jody and Nick came to Ohio anyway and the three of us ran it virtually and submitted our times. We can pick up our shirts and medals next month, hopefully.
Then there was the change in the 2020 Queen Bee Half Marathon. I was so excited to have been brave enough to sign up this year. I love the course and race, held in October, and had plans to continue my training through the summer. Well, the Flying Pig (which I hadn't decided about yet but was considering the 10K) was postponed until October, the same weekend as the Queen Bee.
The plan is that the Queen Bee Half and the Flying Pig Half will be run at the same time, on the Pig course (which I'm not as fond of) but if you sign up for both you get both shirts, medals and bags. You also get a discount. So the decision is whether to sign up for the Pig Half and do both or defer my Queen Bee Half to 2021. I'm leaning toward the former.
Also the Fifty West Mile (formerly the Little Kings Mile), which is part of the beer series and the Flying Pig weekend, was switched to the Friday night before the Queen Bee. I am already signed up for it and decided to run it virtually.
Another event (not a race) I was looking forward to was the Reds Opening Day Parade. It was also postponed so I got up that day, put on my RedLegs Run shirt and ran in my neighborhood. It was the best I could do.
Needless to say, the Saturday morning Runs with MoJo and the Tuesday evening Pub Runs have both been canceled for the unforeseeable future. :(
So I'm just running on my own, social distancing (six feet from other runners and walkers) and hoping this doesn't last through the summer.
😞😞😞
