Yes, it was rather chilly this morning, Mother Nature let us know that Winter will be here sooner than later. I did get a good 7.0 miles in and managed to dress properly for it. Finally, I made some difficult decisions regarding my racing schedule, and while I am comfortable with the choices I made, I do wish that I could have chosen differently.

This morning the temps were in the mid-’20s and a bit of a breeze brought the temps down to the damn chilly range. Even though it warmed up to around freezing when I ran, I still dug out my winter running jacket and wore a buff under my ball cap in addition to gloves and running pants. That little breeze was definitely a difference-maker and when the gust picked up the temps dropped even more.

Welcome to, late Fall in Maine.

Other than that, the run wasn’t all that bad. 

I wasn’t out to do a fast run, but I wanted to get a little longer one than usual. So, I did the Goodhue 7.0 miler. The first 6.0 miles were pretty consistent and then the last mile coming up Stevens Hill, I slowed down quite a bit before picking it up for the last bit. Another one of those “no zone” runs, but that is the pace that is most comfortable for me, so I don’t sweat the small stuff and run a little faster than what the pacing charts say I am supposed to for a longer run.

The Saucony Endorphin Speed 2s now have over 50-miles on them, and I will be doing a full review within the next few days.

After supper, TheWife and I sat down and discussed my racing over the next couple of weeks. The COVID-19 hospitalization rates and deaths are at record levels in Maine and increasing — not decreasing. While we both have received our booster vaccination shots and are pretty healthy. However, during the pandemic we have been very conservative about what we do and where we go throughout the entire thing.

Yes, both of my planned races are outside (no dah) and the probability of transmission is very low. Especially, since I am not staying overnight anywhere and would be driving to both in the truck. With me being fully vaccinated, we both feel confident that racing wouldn’t be an undue risk, to us. However, we do have an immuno-compromised person in the house and if I were to bring COVID-19 home to that person, it could be a bad situation.

With the numbers continuing to increase and based on our conversation, I decided that the best thing to do was not race this year or at least wait until the numbers start to improve considerably, which isn’t going to happen soon enough for my races over the next few weeks. As a result, I canceled my registration to the Millinocket Half Marathon tonight and am pretty certain that I will not run the Turkey Trot over at Cony on Thanksgiving Day.

Could I have waited longer before canceling Millinocket — maybe? 

However, I don’t foresee the numbers going lower over the next few weeks and didn’t want to keep harping or thinking about the race when the prospects of me running were getting slimmer and slimmer each day. It was better to cancel and get it over with. 

I will make alternative plans to run a half-marathon time trial and do my own Turkey Day 5K this year.

Am I disappointed? Of course, I am.

I haven’t run in a race since August 2019 and was excited to see how my training is progressing. Now that I have been training well for a few months. However, we have waited this long to do things beyond our limited lifestyle. Waiting a few more months to not needlessly expose ourselves and others to COVID-19, when the numbers are going in the wrong direction, only makes sense to me.

It isn’t the choice that most are going to make or the one that I wanted, but it is the one I am making. Sometimes thinking about how your choices impact others, is the correct thing to do and in this case, it was what I felt comfortable doing.

Honestly, I can’t wait to join everyone in resuming whatever the new normal life will be like after the pandemic. It has been almost 2 years of this crap, but for me, I need to keep doing what we have been doing for a while longer. 

Hopefully, 2022 will be a year when I get to race and re-join my running community once more.