Back when Covid-19 was still more commonly called the Corona Virus and there were no cases in the United States, I got in the habit of reading every news update with my morning coffee after I dropped the kids off at school.

Once it hit the U.S., my “morning read everything” routine had escalated at a similar rate to the virus and I found myself hitting refresh on the NY Times interactive map a hundred times a day. I would leave the table from dinner and check the map before I loaded the dishwasher.

Once the virus hit my hometown and two schools (not mine, yet) closed for cleaning… well, I knew I needed an intervention.

I had been keeping my phone in my pocket, panicking when I switched laundry and realized it was on the counter downstairs and WHAT IF THE SCHOOLS CLOSED RIGHT NOW AND I FORGET TO LOOK!?. It became a constant fear that I would be away from my phone and miss THE call.

But I’ve found a solution – I’m wearing my Garmin running watch all day. I inherited the fancy pants Forerunner 735XT from Greg when he upgraded his for one that was even better at counting indoor swimming laps. I was thrilled to have my heartbeat on my wrist for workouts, and it was kind of neat that I could see text messages or incoming calls I received while running without digging my phone out.

“Kind of neat” has become “essential for keeping my cool” because now I can wear my watch and know that it doesn’t matter if my phone is on the counter downstairs or tucked into a jacket pocket at the grocery store, my wrist will vibrate if I have an incoming call. If school is canceled, I won’t miss it.

No more checking the phone every time I walk back into the room.

This has lightened my mental load considerably. I can even wear it in the shower. If I need to get a kid from school, I will know.

Now for tackling my desire to refresh the US Covid-19 map every three minutes. First of all, the map doesn’t update every three minutes. So I figured out that my state updates their Covid-19 case report at 4:00 p.m. every day. My town sends out a Covid-19 policy announcement update at 5:00 p.m. I now check all the news at 5:30 to see what’s happening for the day, knowing that if it involves school closings, I’ll most likely get an automated phone call on my watch before it even hits the news.

Other things I’ve done to stay calm are to focus on my sphere of influence, what I can vs. what I cannot control, and to get news and medical advice from reputable sources like the CDC.

I can wash my hands regularly and try not to touch my face. I can keep my kids and myself home if we display any signs of illness. I can stock my pantry with staples that would allow us to self-quarantine.

I can reach out to people in a more vulnerable demographic and make sure they know I’m willing to run errands for them if they want to avoid public spaces or pick up their grandchildren from school.

I can cancel non-essential gatherings and make jokes about drinking alone that get quoted by my local news source.

I cannot change the president’s response to the crisis or people’s statements on social media that either veer callously toward disregard and endangerment of our vulnerable population or the other way toward panic and hysteria.

But I can limit my social media time and take long breaks from it.

Exercise has helped there, too. You can’t Facebook or Tweet while you’re Zwifting!

I’m lucky to have a bike trainer and a treadmill set up at home so I can avoid the gym. But if you’re in an area where social distancing could help prevent the spread of the virus, you can use youtube or one of the many great fitness apps out there to do your yoga or workout at home. I use Aaptiv for their core workouts and yoga, but find one you like, and don’t forget that the great outdoors is the original gym.

Wherever you are, I hope you stay well and find ways to balance your desire to remain up-to-date with information without immersing yourself full time in obsessive clicking on Covid maps or scrolling through people’s Facebook posts on whether the schools should close or why they should even worry since they’re only 45.

Have a cup of tea, do what’s in your power to help yourself and your community prepare, and get your news from reliable sources like the CDC and not viral posts “from a doctor”. Limit your alcohol intake and boost your immunity with lots of leafy greens and whole, plant-based foods.

Buy enough toilet paper for a few weeks, not a few years, so you’re contributing to preparedness and not creating shortages.

Be the awesome, motivated, thoughtful person runners so often are.

Wishing you the best. Stay well!

Kelly

It’s March! Time for a goal check.

I’m still ahead on my biking mileage goal and behind on running but I’m closing the gap on running. I should be at about 18% toward the end of the first week of March (any math enthusiasts who would delight in providing a precise number please feel free). I’m only at 13%, but I’m also comfortably running more miles at a time which will make it easier to catch up as spring weather approaches.

This morning I ran 6.2 miles, most of it with a new friend I met through the sustainability circuit in Wellesley which was amazing. I forget sometimes how nice it is to have a conversation during a run. While I love the convenience of running any time and any pace when I run solo, the miles go much quicker when you’re talking to someone.

I needed this run, and the sunshine and conversation. I’m a big Warren supporter and seeing someone as exceptional as she is being overlooked in this primary was very hard for me.

After realizing that I was struggling emotionally more than I thought I would, I went all in and tried to release the pent up sadness and despair in the most dramatic possible way last night. I lit a candle (organic soy based lavender that I had to buy for the occasion), poured myself a big glass of wine, and watched Kate McKinnon dressed as Hillary Clinton singing Hallelujah on repeat while I let the tears stream down my face because once again America has betrayed me by not electing the candidate I consider to be the most qualified to help the most people.

Yes. That happened. I will not apologize for it.

Greg told me last night that I have a big heart and I want what’s best for the world so badly that it makes me suffer and get depressed during election seasons. He’s not wrong.

But as Kate McKinnon playing HRC says “I’m not giving up, and neither should you.”

That said, sometimes it’s time to close the browser tabs, blow out the candle, switch the wine for water, and go for a run in the sunshine rather than agonizing over what people’s voting decisions will mean for family separations at the border and EPA rollbacks and people in jail for medical debt.

Do what you can, yes, but when you’re not doing what you can do, don’t worry and agonize over what you can’t. Focus on your sphere of influence.

And now for happier news – my kiddo made homemade bagels! He used the recipe from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and they were DELICIOUS and more importantly so fun and satisfying and exciting to make.

Happy Spring!

Happy February!

If I were on track for the year I’d be at just over 8% for each goal. I’m a tiny bit behind for running and way ahead for biking (thanks to Tour de Zwift!).

This is where last year I got all motivated and decided that I could definitely do 1,000 miles of biking at 500 of running… not realizing that averaging 20 miles a week means it’s harder to get those 10 miles a week of running in. That’s committing to at least 4 workouts per week, maybe five, assuming 10 miles a week is split across 3 runs and biking 20 miles is 1-2.

This year I’m going to play the long game and remember that each month has different strengths. In the summer when I’m preparing for the Maine Half Marathon, I’ll be running 20+ mile weeks and may not be biking much. In January, I was doing Tour de Zwift and just getting back into running after a dry December so my biking mileage was great. Instead of taking that as a sign to double my goal, I can bank those miles for when I’m focused on my running in August.

Goals have to hit that sweet spot of challenging but doable, and year long goals have to take the seasons into account.

I think I’m right where I should be, and I’ve had a really enjoyable January getting here.

As the end of January looms, I find myself ahead on my biking goal for the year and behind on my running.

I’ve primarily let Tour de Zwift dictate my distances for January, and it’s meant that running has come up short. It takes more time and effort to run a mile than to bike one, and after a languid December indulging in gourmet teas and chocolates I’m happy that I’ve landed myself over 30 miles so far this month without any issues. (I ran 2 miles in December. Slow clap.)

I should run 6 more by Friday, since Tour de Zwift run #5 is a 6 mile loop in virtual NYC. That will put me less behind, but still a bit lagging in my 10 mile per week goal.

One thing I’ve noticed after a less active December is just how good I feel on days that I work out. I was listening to a podcast episode about habit formation, it might have been someone on Rich Roll, and the guest said that the biggest commonality between people who successfully maintain healthy habits is that the habits themselves are rewarding and people enjoy them.

People who successfully get up and work out or drink that green smoothie or skip the second glass of wine are people who notice how good doing those things make them feel.

Makes sense to me. I haven’t eaten plants since 2013 because I have some sort of magical iron willpower. My dedication to eating in a way that causes less environmental harm and is kinder and healthier is bolstered by how good it feels to eat this way.

Some things I ate this week:

9 days into January and I’m beginning to have more compassion for the Kelly of last year who, without a resolution to tackle things that annoy me that could be fixed, didn’t roll up her sleeves for every nuisance. Because things that look deceptively simple to fix are not always so simple.

What I assumed would be a quick download to set up mobile banking for my kids’ savings accounts so I could deposit money they’d received for Christmas ended up requiring four phone calls and then a physical trip to the bank to open my own checking account (savings accounts aren’t eligible for mobile deposits, apparently). It took another phone call and then an online e-signature to set up paperless statements. BUT – now I can deposit gifts from family into my checking account and then transfer them into their savings and I won’t get paper mail that I have to shred after I do it. So… it’s done, yay, but I get why I didn’t feel like tackling it earlier. Because these things can be a pain.

Other “fix it” things this week were easier and more fun.

Wasting less food: I ordered some produce saver containers to try to keep my celery and cilantro crisp in the fridge for longer. Because while my kids have been great sports about eating ants on a log whenever the celery is about to go limp, it’s nice when it lasts and is available for soup and snacks when we actually want it.

I also used my existing silicone stasher bag to store peeled ginger in the freezer where it won’t shrivel up before we eat it. Frozen ginger is actually easier to grate and keeps for months in the freezer.

In the fun category, I feel like I want to wear leggings more but don’t have many flattering winter options to wear with them. So I went to a local consignment shop and scored a soft, cozy sweater dress. Consignment shopping is guilt-free shopping at its finest. The environmental side is great because you’re not producing consumer demand for new clothing and things are not being shipped to the store or to you in plastic bags, and the economic side is great because you’re paying a fraction of the original price.

I also got another dress, a beach cover-up, a teal button-down shirt made by a company that retails for about $200 originally for which I paid $6, and a sleeveless sequined top that begs to be worn out for cocktails. I think it would enjoy a cosmopolitan but I could also see it ordering a manhattan (whiskey with a cherry on top? yes please).

If you’ve never shopped consignment, it might be because… you’re worried it will smell like someone else’s closet. I’ve found overwhelmingly that everything I buy second-hand smells like dry cleaning chemicals. Not dirty, but not like it belongs to me, either. I solve that by using an enzyme based detergent and following their soaking instructions.

Poof! Goodbye dry cleaning smell. It says it’s designed for active wear, I have found it works great both on running stuff that could use a deep clean and on consignment items. I’ve even used it on hand wash only stuff and then rinsed by hand and laid flat to dry.

And since it’s Veganuary – here are some things I ate this week!