Vaccination Day

It was vaccination day, so I set the alarm for 5:00 a.m.  I told Martha later that it felt much like a race morning, when I would set the alarm for an absurdly early hour in anticipation  of the event, as we have in past years here in Atlantic Beach for the Cocoa 5-K, the Havelock 5-K, and the Crystal Coast 10-K and Half Marathon.  The only difference was that I did not have my running clothes meticulously chosen the night before and laid out for the next morning.

I did not sleep well, and I awoke on my own at 4:59,a.m., checked my phone on the bedside table, and cut off the alarm just as it began to ring.  We left the condo in ample time, as we do on race mornings, and arrived at “Race Headquarters” well before our 8:15 appointment time.  Race Headquarters was the old K-Mart building in a shopping center on Arendell, where we were greeted by a team of well-organized and friendly volunteers in a community program that I later learned had resulted in as many as 1500 people being vaccinated.  K-Mart had been out of business for a year or two, and it was the perfect place for Covid vaccines to be administered, with plenty of space for social distancing among the old aisles and merchandise displays now long gone.  There were widely-spaced tables set up where we were directed to sit and complete our “entry forms.”  I had no underlying conditions except being in the 70-and-over age group.  It all went smoothly, and a friendly man about my age asked me to remove my hat so he could take my temperature.  “What is that hat you’re wearing?” he asked, and I told him I had gotten it at the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama, many years ago.  He told me he used to live in Huntsville and we chatted for a bit about that beautiful city, just as I would have at race registration anywhere.

Finally, it was time to line up for the race start, and I sat down at the table to which I was directed for the first of my two Moderna Covid vaccines.  “Oh, that’s cold!” I said, as a friendly woman gave me the shot, and I remembered that this was a vaccine that needed to be stored at about 40 degrees. 

We went from there to the check-out area, where two women gave me a certificate indicating I had received my first vaccine.  “I understand I might need that some day to get on an airplane,” I said, and they agreed.  Then I said, “It’s strange being in this old K-Mart store.  I keep thinking someone’s going to say there’s a Blue Light Special going on!”  One of the women said, “That is your Blue Light Special,” and we laughed together.  I had crossed the finish line.

We waited the requisite 15 minutes in the cool-down area to ensure that neither of us was going into anaphylactic shock, a rare side-effect of the vaccine.  I learned later that two million Americans had been vaccinated on this same day.  Hospitalizations and new cases are on the decline, and I am thankful that we may finally be looking forward to a year of near-normalcy as more and more of us have been vaccinated.  My only side-effect is a little soreness on my shoulder. 

I think I will take a rest day tomorrow.