Keep on Running through COVID-19: Staying Healthy in Mind and Body

So many things are on hold right now as we wait out the COVID-19 pandemic, but your running  doesn’t have to be one of them!  It’s true, we’ve canceled this year’s Alaska Salmon Runs’ King Salmon Marathon and Sockeye Half-marathon that are usually held as part of the Salmon Jam weekend (https://salmonjam.org/ak-salmon-runs/).  We are still planning to host a scaled-back, socially-distanced running event in July for the shorter distances (10K, 5K and 1 mile). Click here to read the details!

But running is almost certainly a key activity that can help folks with managing the generally curtailed movement in our lives.  Runner’s World magazine and the Road Runners Club of America both advise that running outdoors still provides great health benefits as long as you maintain a safe distance from others. Running can boost your immune system, as well as create that runner’s high that makes the rest of your day easier.

There are several tactics for getting through this disruption of our regular patterns and staying motivated, and here’s one of them: join the Camaraderie Challenge at trailsisters.net and log your miles with others.  The site is offering random prize drawings, and is free but will take optional donations for the CDC’s Emergency Response Fund.

Spring is finally here, so of course it’s still a good time to get outside and stretch our legs. For Irene Webber (1937 – 2018), our race founder, I’ll say “See you on the road!”