Happy Earth Day.
This year is the 50th anniversary of this environmental holiday. I don’t do much to celebrate except run*. Today is also my friends, Jay and Shelly’s wedding anniversary, and I try to do a virtual run to honor both events. One time, Shelly and I ran a virtual 5k on her anniversary, and we each earned a cute turtle medal.
Today, I ran a 10k as part of the Un-canceled Project. I don’t get a medal (it’s a free program), but I get a cool bib and a congratulations video. Plus, I get to say I ran a 10k for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
I imagine the Earth Day organizers planned to have large gatherings to recreate the first years of this movement. That’s a bad idea this year. However, there are still plenty of ways to honor the Earth. If you have Disney+, they are celebrating Earth Month with lots of animal programs. You may not want to go for a run like I did, but going outside can be nice, too.
I’m running 26.2 miles this week to honor the Boston Marathon that was scheduled for last Monday and has been postponed to the fall. Today’s 6.2 miles are part of that goal and adds to the 1,000 miles I plan to run in 2020. Plus, the run was Day 113 of my 366-day streak. I guess this really was a celebratory run. As every run should be.
*If you run for any amount of time, you are a runner. I am actually a run/walker, running for 25 seconds and then walking for 25 seconds and repeating. I am also not fast, averaging about a 14-minute mile. None of this matters. I am a runner, and you can be too. (There’s also nothing wrong with walking. Moving is what is important.)