Last Saturday morning, I worked a track meet at the college. I needed to be there at 10am to get my COVID test.
I still wanted to run 6 miles before the meet and didn’t want to run and get in my truck to drive to the track. So, I decided to run from the UMW track through Alum Springs Park onto the Virginia Central Trail and finally onto Lee Drive where I turned around at the circle of friends.
I started at 8:20am on a Saturday morning and finished an hour later. During my entire 6 miles, I did not pass one other runner. There were a couple of walkers on Lee Drive and a couple pushing a stroller on the VCR trail.
The weather was nice, sunny in the high 40s to low 50s. It’s spring time in Virginia with beautiful mornings to run.
With the Chatham Bridge closing, this was my first run on Lee Drive in a while. Prior to the bridge closing, I would get out there 3 or 4 times a month.
And, I have not been on Lee Drive on a Saturday morning in probably 13 years. From 1996 to 2008, my typical long run was Saturday morning on Lee Drive, followed by a trip to Paul’s.
Since 1993, when I first started running on Lee Drive, I don’t remember one time where I did not pass at least one other runner, taking snow storms, heavy rains and darkness out of the mix.
Where have all the runners gone? There are no races to run. Maybe, are they all doing the FARC group run in the city? With the lack of long races, is there is no longer the desire to train? Were they running on the trail rather than the pavement? Lee Drive is still one of the beautiful, mostly flat, traffic free locations for a long run.
Back at the track, it’s been 3 weeks since my second Pfizer COVID vaccine shot. I passed my COVID test.
On May 15, Virginia has relaxed the COVID restrictions on races to allow of 1300 runners per race mile, assuming a 20 foot wide course and 250 runner start waves. CDC may be lifting outside mask requirements. It’s time for in-person races and seeing friendly faces.