Covid and Running

Covid disrupted day to day activities for almost two years and most people have adapted in some way or the other.

Work from home has reduced travel, many have used the time saved to their advantage and used it to learn something new and/or focus on health.

Personally, for me, the initial period was difficult as lockdowns prevented us from going out and even if one went out, running with a mask was difficult. Slowly but surely we adapted. We got used to the restrictions for outdoor activity. We went to Virtual Gyms, ran solo and did everything to maintain our fitness. The training continued in spite of the lack of live race events which always had a pull factor to train and train hard.

The hard part was to stay motivated to train in the absence of races, we adjusted to that too, by convincing ourselves to maintain fitness and be semi race-ready.

When I look back at the last 2 years, I do see some positives:

1. I have been more consistent with training, both at the Virtual Gym, as well as running. This has led to some personal bests in virtual races too.
2. Eating out, during this period, has reduced to almost zero during the last two years. Eating home-cooked food has had positive effects, foremost being a reduction in body weight.

Covid has certainly impacted race organisers, but they too have adapted by organising virtual events, supported by Apps. The novelty of virtual events is wearing out though. There are too many of them. Some trying to make a quick buck, others trying to do their best in terms of organising and being fair in ranking runners.

Top honours for virtual events go to Fast and Up and here is why:

• Clear race and route rules and ruthless enforcement
• The only event with Gender and Age group-wise prizes for the virtual race!
• One does NOT have to carry a phone to participate

I am looking forward to doing the 3rd edition of the 5k Fast&Up Fizztival race.

Things are looking better now. Live events are coming back. NEB Sports has been most active in terms of organising the events with upcoming (March/April 2022) marathons at Kolkota, Delhi and Bangalore followed by Bangalore Stadium run towards the end of April.

The Ultrarunning events have been active too. Malnad Ultra 2021 went off well, coming soon is the TwinBirds OOTYULTRA (April 2022)

Looking forward to racing in live events.

Please do leave your thoughts on this subject in the comments section below. I would certainly like to hear about your experience of the last two years and what you think of Virtual races?

Thanks for reading.