It has been almost two weeks since the start of the quarantine for COVID-19. We are all homebound now, and as of today, even non-essential businesses are closed. One part of Italy lives isolated and grappling with a condition unseen by most; another will begin these days to live with it.
I am not a sociologist and this is not a treatise on sociology, nor am I a psychologist. However, I do not fear being proved wrong if I say that no one or very few of us have ever found ourselves living for a prolonged period in such a strange and unprecedented condition. I do not want to call it one of hardship or deprivation (although for many it is: because of economic concerns or relationship difficulties) and so I use more neutral terms, such as precisely “strangeness.”
Certain conditions bring out people’s character, and we are all somewhat observing how we react to this changed scenario. There are those who adapt, those who experience it as a very special break or vacation and perhaps try to make the best of it (reading, watching movies, strengthening human relationships, cooking), those who feel a perfect discomfort, and those who are simply annoyed at not being able to do what they are used to doing and what makes them feel good.
Things around us have changed so quickly and so tragically that I can’t help but look with some amazement at the kind of people who experience what is happening these days *to everyone* as an attack on their normalcy. As if the world or the government had decided to conspire to ruin a tranquilizing routine for him.
The discovery of empathy
In recent weeks we have taken a very clear and firm position: don’t go running. We’ve said it in our social channels, we’ve discussed it, we’ve repeated it in the many Instagram feeds or special podcasts we’re doing. The message was clear and remains unchanged: while initially motivated by sanitation beliefs, over time it has evolved into a more complex form of respect for the suffering of those struggling with the virus or their family members or relatives.
Running is a joyful act, and we did not feel it was appropriate to defend our freedom to practice it in the face of more complex and painful problems. Yes, it is everyone’s right but sometimes we have to accept that it is all relative and that individual physical needs are irrelevant in the face of a more serious common problem.
We decided to be empathetic, which is an exercise that should be practiced all the time, not only when global tragedies happen. It is basically about identifying with others and “feeling” as they feel. At least to try. In this national and global emergency situation, it was worth it, wasn’t it?
Beyond what happened to the runners who ventured out-although respectful of the distances-and were pointed at as anointers and propagators of the virus, it made a certain impression that many felt limited or misunderstood in their existential need to go running. The impression from talking to us about it is that of people who see nothing but their own personal discomfort, mixed with disregard for those who are suffering.
There are so many people who suffer every day, and it’s not as if that’s a good reason not to run, mind you. At this juncture, however, those people seemed to us to know them. The more days passed, the more the deaths were no longer just numbers but took on the appearance of relatives or friends or acquaintances of people we also knew. As death was less and less of a distant affair, not running for sympathy was getting easier. But not for everyone. Many have always put their personal and mental well-being in front of everything. And that’s fine, it fits, I’m not condemning anybody. I only note the different attitudes. I observe that those who have changed their lives by embracing running have not learned a lesson from running: that you can always change and that you must adapt.
Adapt
It happens in racing and it happens in life: unexpected things happen, and this unexpected thing is gigantic and will affect our lives for a long time. Better to make peace with it now and not think that nothing and no one can stop us from running. Better to think of alternatives, right?
Here we have tried to do that with Elisa’s home workouts, articles on workouts you can do at home, and talking about alternatives, such as rollers or treadmills. They are not the same thing but they can be equally challenging and complementary loosening and most importantly: everything around has changed, the way we train must also change.
One always forgets that Darwin did not say that the fittest survive: he said that those who adapt survive. This new reality will not be final and permanent but will force us to change many habits. Who will survive? Those who can adapt intelligently and flexibly. In the isolation in which we are confined, training is even more necessary to maintain balance and clarity. If, however, the race becomes so important that you do not realize that everything around you has changed and that you have to adapt to it, then the problem is not the limits imposed by a decree but you who have not yet figured out how to relocate to this new reality.