Let’s hope this will be last for the peak cases for COVID19 cases.
Day 1 – Sunday, April 12, 2020 – Quarantine Day 27
Good news after so many days for fellow Michiganders. Surprisingly, the COVID19 positive cases have dramatically decreased to 645 from the previous number of 1,200. While communicating this to the general public, our Governor did really important thing, which I think, needs some acknowledgement.
Our Governor made sure to communicate to the public that this does not mean the positive cases will go down tomorrow onwards, it means, it is a positive news but we should not take it for granted and continue monitoring the situation. I loved how she used STATISTICS while announcing this. She communicated that there is a pattern of lower number of cases every SUNDAY for the last three weeks, so we shouldn’t be surprised if the count increases tomorrow.
I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this count will reduce as the week progresses and by the end of this week, we should have total control on this virus.
Getting back to my topic, I had to skip my running again due to weather and my not so great knee. I think, the knee is getting better, but I am giving it much needed rest so that I can bounce back with more energy.
We decided to take a bike tour of the lovely city of Ann Arbor, home of the UFM, one of the most reputed universities in the US. We chose the location called Bandemer Park and explored the city on our bikes. I must say, it was refreshing to witness the city like this, without many people and students around. It looked like a ghost town, strange times we live in, I tell you.
As you can see, we tried staying closer to lakes to get some good views and click some beautiful pictures. We were disappointed to cut short our biking at 9 miles, but I think, it was enough for a Sunday. We will have more opportunities like this in future, and should be able to cash on those later.
Let us hope for the best.
Day 2 – Monday April 13, 2020 – Quarantine Day 28
A positive news after many days. For the first, the number of legit COVID19 positive cases fell below 1,000. It is 997 but still counts. We are treating one day at a time, and hopefully within a week, we will have everything under control.
Let us hope for the best.
The weather today was not that great, so I chose to skip the run and made sure that I put in some work in the evening workout. Also, today was the last day of the Ford shutdown so I wanted to get in some CrossFit feeling before I “head to work” tomorrow.
The workout looked like this.
And doing 100 burpees along with the rest of the exercise sounded easy before I actually began my burpees. I was so drenched at the end of this session. Take a look yourself.
Man, it nearly killed me. I was glad I did not give up.
Day 3 – Tuesday April 14, 2020 – Quarantine Day 29
After yesterday’s good news, today was a worse day for number of positive COVID19 cases in Michigan. Today, we reported more than 1,300 cases in the state and the curve doesn’t seem to be flattening enough.
Hope we are strong enough to sail through these tough times.
Having given the bad news already, today was a good day for me on a personal note. I managed to go outside to run *like a normal person* and was so ecstatic that I clocked in the best time for my 5K. I was so happy after the run as I did not expect this kind of result after almost a week’s break.
My knees are in great shape right now. I would see if I can get an ice bath tomorrow just to give them some relaxation.
Day 4 – Wednesday April 15, 2020– Quarantine Day 30
A little relief after many days of high numbers of positive COVID19 cases. Today’s count was just over 1,000 giving us some relief after many days of speculation whether Michigan really is on the descent of the COVID19 graph. You know, statistics.
Anyway, it is a positive news. I know it is still a long way to go, but we are making progress one day at a time!
Talking about my Marathon preparation, as you know, I killed the 5K yesterday, so I took a feather of inspiration from yesterday’s run and tried to replicate the same feat, but this time for 10K. This time, I had a company for the run. My friend, Anupam, was running with me and his two kids were biking. Anupam is fitter for his age and runs faster than me, so even after trying hard catching up to him, I couldn’t.
Nevertheless, apart from the fast pace of Anupam, I had the extreme fluctuation of the weather to worry about. One thing constant about Michigan weather that it is always changing, so I had a tough time to be comfortable with the wind, snow, rain, and sunny weather that we witnessed this day. It was pathetic but some of you who do not experience such type of weather changes find it amusing. Trust me, it is not!
Even though I am expressing the downsides of this run, I had a great pace for the 6 mile run and could finish it under an hour. This is my best performance till date for 6 mile distance. Hope I will be able to better this performance. Amen!
Day 5 – Thursday April 16, 2020– Quarantine Day 31
As most of the statistical analysis predicted, I am starting each day with a better news. Today, the number of positive COVID19 cases dropped to 760 for Michigan and we are showing somewhat *positive* signs of recovering from the wrath of this deadly virus.
Talking about my fitness routine, today was the day of the 4 mile walk. I was looking to destress after a couple of days of continuous running and there wasn’t a better way to do it than an outdoor walk. Additionally, I had the longest day at work with way too many meetings to remember. A long walk was a perfect way to retrospect the day and spend time with my loved ones – Monika & family. I had a great time and could feel my knee to be in a better shape than yesterday.
Day 6 – Friday April 17, 2020– Quarantine Day 32
After two good days in a row, it was time for a step back and experience a slight increase in the number of positive COVID19 cases. Thank God that the number is below 1,000 – 996 to be precise. I think it is one of those days and we should see the drop in the numbers real soon.
It was REST DAY for me and I couldn’t be happier.
Day 7 – Saturday April 18, 2020– Quarantine Day 33
As predicted, Michigan experienced the drop in the COVID19 positive cases. Today’s count was 768, more than 200 lesser than yesterday. In any way, it is a good news and I hope that this count will *only decrease* from on. Something to feel hopeful about.
Now, coming back to my run. It was a big day for me.
THIRD HALF MARATHON OF 2020.
If you are following the Martian Races calendar, you would realize that today would have been the Half Marathon day at Martian Race. Alas, due to COVID19, they have rescheduled the event to July 25th. Nevertheless, to keep the momentum and stick to my preparation plan, I planned to run a Half Marathon thinking that I was running in the race.
The start of the run was extremely well. I was so in my zone and didn’t feel anything for the most part of the run. I remember the first time I refueled myself during the run was at 5 mile mark, where I had to stop at the traffic light. As soon as I hit the 8 mile mark, I knew I had to think about my return strategy as the 13 mile distance was gettting closer and closer.
Everything was going really good till 11 mile mark, where I had to stop again at the traffic light, this time, for more than 1 minute. This is where it all went downhill. The moment I restarted my run, I felt a shooting pain in my left knee. I don’t know where it came from. My friend, Anupam, thinks that it is because of the shoes that I am using. He may be right, I might have to upgrade my shoes. I think it might be because I am not using the proper socks, which can support my calf muscles. You never know what might work and what might not! The only thing that we can do is try, fail, and try again! Isn’t life is like that?
Anyway, as soon as I felt that pain, I knew I had to stop and take care of it. So, I ended up spending a good 5 minutes stretching my legs, refueling myself and taking rest basically. Nothing worked. So, I had to carry on with that pain. As soon as I started running again, the pain resurfaced, but as soon as I pushed through the initial part of the pain, I couldn’t feel it that much. It felt like the pain has become the part of the knee and I could carry on my running with that pain. I know some of you think that I shouldn’t have done that, but, being a motivated and extremely deterministic person, I did what I had to do.
Fortunately, I could finish the run soon and had to walk the rest of the distance (a good 1 mile) to reach my destination. Here’s the picture showing you how my run transpired.
The after effect of the run was that I had a mild pain in my left knee. I could walk but barely could run. I think I was okay with the pain, given the fact that I just finished the Half Marathon.
This day didn’t end here.
After the Half Marathon, it was time for some hike. As I told, I was okay with the walk, so please don’t bombard me with your comments. I know you won’t, still saying. This time, we decided to go to the Pinckney State Recreational Area for the hike.
Man, it was such a beautiful place. The most amazing part of the hike was the bridge on the Crooked Lake. Our fellow hiker, Mr. Arnav, called that bridge as the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Good that we still got our humor during these stressful times.
I will not bore you with the details as I will pen down my thoughts about this hike in the Travel section of this blog. So, I will stop here and conclude the week.
Before you go, please have a look at my Running Journal.
stochasticity 