Reopening Underway

It was 60 degrees and sunny when I showed up at Founders Park this morning, and over the next two hours the temperature kept climbing.  It was hard to believe that I had run in snow flurries only last Tuesday, four days ago!  Karen was there, and by the time we had gone three miles we both realized we were over-dressed; I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and she was wearing a light vest.  We returned to the Park, and I called Martha on my mobile; she had just been getting ready to leave the house.  "Can you bring up a singlet when you come?" I asked.  "I'm overdressed."  Art and Vicki showed up just then, and the four of us started out, chatting about this and that, keeping a safe distance between us.  By the time I returned to the car after another mile, Martha had arrived and brought my lighter singlet.

The next four miles I completed on my own, running down Main Street, where a few cars were parked, back up Spring Street, and circling back, once again on some roads I had not traveled lately.  The Town is really starting to fill up this weekend, with hotels preparing to open in a few days under new stringent guidelines.  REOPENING UNDERWAY, said the headline in The Highlander this week.  Mountain Findings thrift shop was open, too (face masks required); Martha told me over lunch that she had planned to visit, but there had been cars everywhere and she had changed her mind.  Near Harris Lake, I passed a group of ten or twelve people walking together, not at all observing the social distancing requirements.  The simple practices of social distancing and wearing masks in public places would help this pandemic come to an end, health experts say, but apparently both have become political issues.  A certain contingent on Facebook defiantly refuses to wear face masks anywhere.  Does everything have to be a divisive partisan issue these days?

I completed seven miles, stopped for a few sips of Gatorade, and considered whether to go farther.  The rule of thumb is not to increase weekly mileage by more than 10%, and another mile would put me over that.  But it was a beautiful morning, I had plenty of time, and rules of thumb are only broadly accurate when it comes to training.  I circled the block for another mile, and was glad that I did.  Then I went looking for Martha, and I didn't have to drive very far.  She was just coming into sight down Fifth Street, looking strong, that joyous look of satisfaction on her face that marks a good run.  Later, over lunch, Martha told me that during her six-mile run she had seen something she had never seen before:  a red fox, standing in the road in front of her.  I have seen snakes, bears, and deer while running in Highlands, but never a fox!

I stopped at Dusty's - Rhodes Superette - on the way home, and was surprised to see the parking lot filled up; inside there was a line of seven or eight customers waiting to check out, all wearing masks and spaced appropriately apart.  Dusty's has required face masks since the very beginning of the pandemic, and also insists that all who enter the store take a pair of latex gloves from a box on  the counter.

The reality is that we know someone will probably carry the coronavirus to Highlands sometime this summer, and here it will be, in our midst, as it has been carried to so many other places around the globe.  All we can do is try to be as safe as we possibly can, observing social distancing, sanitizing everything we touch, washing our hands - the simple things.  Is it too much to ask?