"Marathoners know that the finish line is not all that far past the wall, at 26.2 miles. We have no idea how close we are to the end of the pandemic.
The vaccines are here; so are the variants. Herd immunity might be further away than health officials had hoped. Are we hitting the wall at Mile 20? Or are we still on Mile 14?"
- Maura Judkis
For athletes, getting through the toughest moment in a workout, race, event, etc. is why we train, not just our bodies, but our minds as well. Training yourself to push through when it becomes hard to breathe, your muscles are cramping and you don’t think you can do any more, is the whole point. We live for it – to see how far we can go.
The Washington Post touched on this moment marathoners face called “hitting the wall” which usually happens around mile 20 of a 26.2 mile marathon, and compared it to the Covid-19 pandemic that is affecting the entire world.
Never run a marathon? Think of this moment in the pandemic as the point of “hitting the wall” and you might be able to relate to those painful grimaces you see coming into the last few miles of a race.
A lot of us are feeling like we’re tapped out and that we’ve hit the wall of the pandemic and it’s just getting…too hard and going on for too long. For athletes, this is when the words “dig deep” start swirling around in our heads and we find the mental strength within ourselves to keep going, no matter how much it hurts.
"In their bleaker moments, some of the people who are approaching their pandemic wall might turn to the same advice given to runners. Distract yourself.
Try “positive self-talk.” Ask for help. Eat some more carbs. When all else fails, just put one foot in front of the other."
Remember, you are stronger than you think and the finish line is in sight.
