Safer at Home 50

By Ilana JesseAdventures

Update:

It went well!! Lots of time with my daughter at our aid station, every five miles, which was amazing. Huge showing of community support and some socially distanced friends.

 

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Races around the world are cancelled. So, I shifted my mindset from ‘training to race’ to ‘racing to train’ and ran a 50 miler…out my front door, no more than a 2-mile radius from my home at any given point. . 51.03 miles out my front door. Turns out cement sucks as bad as I thought it would for 50 miles. I am blown away by my community’s support. None of this would have been possible without Eric (@sendapotamus) as superstar crew and toddler wrangler. Huge thanks to Kali, Linda, Jack and Sharon for showing up and cheering me on for parts of this journey. My neighbors, whom I’ve never met, cheered me on from laps 3-10, and gave me the most thoughtful ‘medal’ on my final lap, a training journal and finisher socks. . I ran this as an opportunity for self reflection. I got that and so much more. It turns out running a 50-miler is so many experiences jumbled into one big day. More to write later, but for now, hydration and toddler cuddles as well as a gratitude high. . Photo: @sendapotamus | 50.6 miles in. . #SaferAtHome50 @guenergylabs @dynafit

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What?

One 5-mile loop, out my front door, repeated 10 times. 50 miles, all said and done at an average elevation of 6,900′.

When?

Saturday, April 25, 2020 at approximately 0600 MDT

Why?

Times are strange right now, and really difficult to process. I’m an ER nurse with a 2.5-year-old daughter. I’m on the “frontlines” and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have not been myself. From fear of the unknown, to confronting the known, to adjusting to a dynamic situation daily if not hourly; running has consistently enabled me to realign and reset.

Selfishly, I am doing this for myself. I want time to focus on my thoughts and feelings. I want time to grieve the loss of essential workers who died because they were exposed to COVID-19 without access to proper personal protective equipment. I want time to feel immense gratitude to members of the community whom have come together to support each other during this pandemic.

If you live in the Pine Creek area and see me running past your house, please take part in my journey by shouting a cheer of support or a wave to say hello.

I hope to see you out there, of course from a safe distance.

Live Event Viewing?

My husband, Eric, will be attempting to upload updates to the stories section of my instagram account while wrangling a toddler. If you are nearby and snap a photo, please tag @ilana_jesse and #SaferAtHome50 so I can see your post. At the very least, hopefully the armchair viewing of my own personal race will provide a boost in morale for quarantine life.