A tentative return to normality

THE LOCKDOWN has forced everybody to abandon their old routines and start to create new ones.   To begin with I felt out of my depth as I was off work with a high temperature and cough which left me fatigued.   Then I had some leave booked so had that before returning to the work place as a key worker.

Within all of this I started to create new routines but longed to return to what I knew.   It wasn't until I went back to work and slipped into a familiar routine that I started to feel better about things.   In between we managed to get a lot done.

• Decorated the bedroom
• Cleared the loft creating a pile for charity
• Cleared the front and back gardens
• Created a pile of rubbish for the dump
  

We even managed to deal with an emergency when the water tank in the loft started to leak.   This was the bank holiday weekend in the middle of lockdown!   And led to 10 days of showering at work and having to fill the cisterns of the toilets up with a bucket.

The last couple of weeks has seen a slight return to normality with Haywards Heath Harriers starting their training schedule.   But with so many restrictions still in place it can't be the same as it was before, so what is the new normal?

With a large athletics club you can't have everybody just turn up which means it has to be done by invitation only.   Ensuring that the numbers are kept to a manageable level maintaining the current restrictions.   This week I got my invitation and it felt like I had found Willie Wonkas golden ticket.   It had perfect alignment with my working week and gave me something to look forward to, that oasis of normality starting to return.

The runners are split into groups and each group has it's own activities.   This means that they are getting as many runners as possible to attend the sessions, but limiting them in each group ensuring distancing is maintained and safety is the priority.

The group that I was in went for a steady long run around Cuckfield, down towards Haywards Heath and looping back through some of the amazing footpaths that Cuckfield has to offer.   It was amazing after so long just to go for a run with other people, enjoy the countryside and have a chat about running in lockdown.

There are a lot of people that you miss but don't realise until you see them again.   The interaction you have had with them is either on Strava or a virtual run.   That one and a half hours of training has made a difference in terms of having social interatction with the people you have missed.

There are three main elements to good mental health ...

• Sleep
• Eating
• Moving

As long as you can maintain those then you are maintaining a good mental health.   But social integration also has go play a major part of it as well.   Lockdown has not helped in this area but there have been ways around it with telephone, Skype/Zoom and emails.   But the physical act of seeing someone and having that face to face interation has been so missed.

I have to thank Haywards Heath Harriers committee, coaches and run leaders for the work they have done through lockdown.   Keeping eveybody together as much as possible and sorting out the return to training schedule.   It wasn't an easy or quick task but they have all done an amazing job.