Running in 2020: Taking It All in Stride

An incredibly tough year is drawing to a close. In the final few days of 2020, Coach Melanie Kann offers a few reflections on why we might want to take a moment—on a run or whenever we find some quiet time—to consider the gifts that running has brought us this year, in the midst of many challenges.

2020 wasn’t the best year for a lot of things, but looking back, I have to say—as a runner, there were some silver linings.

I know, I know… most of our in-person races got canceled, we had to pause our in-person training groups, and our social events moved to virtual spaces. Gyms and fitness studios closed for months on end. I haven’t hugged someone outside my household or high-fived anyone in months. As a coach, hugs and high-fives are as essential to the trade as a baton is to an orchestra conductor!

Running took on new meaning as many of the goals we’d laid out at the start of the year fell by the wayside, leaving us with this sweaty hobby that somehow—at least for me—became essential to my existence. Running was not canceled. Quite the opposite, in fact: With so many of the extras stripped away, what remained for us was simply our running shoes and (pardon the pun) a wide-open road.

And so, we put on masks, we sought out new, less travelled routes, and we socially distanced from one another. We waved at training buddies from across the street as we ran solo. We ran for sanity and solace. We ran to get out of our homes. We ran for change. We ran for Maud.

We connected through virtual spaces. I got to lead several training groups per week on video calls and had a front-row seat as I watched our runners, who were strangers in the real world, become a tightly knit community. “Man,” I said to myself time and time again after wrapping up an NYRR Coaching Lab call, “what if I wasn’t a runner right now?”

Ask yourself that question: What if you hadn’t been a runner in 2020? I’ve long held the belief that runners are the best people… but now I truly believe we are the luckiest people, too. We get access to the magical escape that only a few miles on the roads or trails can bring. We get to be a part of this magical community.

While this may not have been the year many of us hoped for, we still can recognize all that it has given us.

This holiday season, when you make a gift to support NYRR's free programs between now and December 31, 2020, it will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000 thanks to a generous contribution by the Keough family. Learn more and consider a donation today.