“Are you doing a race?” a woman asked as I ran past her house. I was heading towards the bridge over the highway towards DHMC.  

“Yes, it raises money for the NH Food Bank,” I responded. 

She looked to my left. “Where are the other runners?” she asked.

“Oh, this is a virtual run,” I said.  

She glanced at my running bib, and I was glad I’d pinned it to my vest. It felt good to be running for a cause. It made the difference between getting out the door and staying home. Thank you, fundraisers. It was a virtual half marathon.  Someone had donated on my behalf. Now I had to do the race.  

I really missed running when I sprained my ankle in February. I had reached day 588 on my running streak. I broke my running streak to rest the injury. But three days later I started again and am now on day 40.  

The biggest hurdle for me with running (get it) is getting dressed. Once I have running clothes and sneakers on, I am 90% of the way there. After that is getting out the door. Don’t I need to open today’s mail before I go and load a cup into the dishwasher? Do I have enough water? Check the weather one more time?  

I like to set goals before I leave. Outcome goals: “A goal”; a time that I think is beyond my reach, “B goal”: pretty sure I can do it and “C goal”, just finish. I’ve slowed down a lot since last year, so I don’t want to tell you how long it took to do the ½ marathon. I also set a process goal such as to enjoy birds. I saw three cardinals, my favorite bird, this time.  

I opened the package from Millennium running and pulled out my ½ marathon shamrock shuffle long sleeved t-shirt, the green rainbow medal and a race bib. That was a surprise.   

“Jeff look they even gave me a running bib,” I said. He smiled. I felt like a little kid but pinned it to my vest.