COVID-19 is our marathon. We are finishing the eighth week of our training. We are already winded by the steep hill we have just climbed, but there are miles yet to go.
Have you ever run a marathon? You begin with the belief that you can actually do it. In your mind, you stride across the finish line, exhausted, glowing, head high, with a smile of victory on your face.
But between the vision and the reality, there is so much work to do. To train for a marathon, you have to develop the grit and discipline that makes you get up early every day, run in the rain and cold and the summer heat, season by season. You learn to endure the aching muscles and sore feet, the bumps, the bruises, the pains, the strains. But you get up more times than you fall. You shake off self-doubt over and over, and keep believing that the road will get easier, just beyond the next rise. Then you start a new day and go after it again.
COVID-19 is our marathon. We are finishing the eighth week of our training. Today the finish line seems to be moving further away. We are already winded by the steep hill we have just climbed, but there are miles yet to go.
Runners will tell you that you run the first third of a marathon with your head. You think about how to do it. You figure out a strategy and make a plan. You try, adjust, and get into rhythm.
The second third you run with your legs. You muster the strength and stamina that you built over months of training. You work that marvelous human machine, and learn its limits.
The last third you run with your heart. When your mind and body are fully spent, you somehow find the spirit to continue. You hear a voice that says: “Breathe. Keep going. One more step. One more.”
We cannot tell which third of the COVID-19 marathon we are in. The starting line is behind us, and the finish line is not yet in sight. But we can be sure of this: We have the intellect, the strength, and the heart to stay the course.
Keep going. One more step. Breathe. We’ve got this.
(Photo credit: "Sneakers" by Mista.Boos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)
Disclaimer: Elm Voices & Opinions articles reflect the thoughts or opinions of their individual authors, and may not represent the thoughts or values of UMB as an institution.