It’s amazing the things I used to do, the life I used to lead before the dark times. Before the pandemic. Maybe even during the naive early days of the pandemic when I still thought there was a chance things would calm down sooner rather than later.
I opened my email this morning to a notice that the lottery results for the 2021 London Marathon were out and I could click to see if I was in or not. London plans on a 50,000 in-person event, going for a world record in participants and therefore bragging rights to the “biggest marathon in the world.” Was I so foolish as to think I could perhaps go and be a part of that super spreader event? Was I so hellbent on running that I was determined to sign up even with the gloom and doom of an ongoing global health crisis?
Apparently so…
It took several attempts as apparently there were A LOT of us foolish mortals tempting fate. The server kept crashing and timing out… but eventually, on the fifth or sixth try, I was told this:
All for the best… and yet just one more “aw, phooey” moment in the ongoing pandemic. Sour grapes? Jealousy? Arrogant privilege? All of the above?
Sigh. I’m really done with this whole thing… but I will remain vigilant in keeping distance, wearing a mask, and washing my hands. But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss the life lost to the pandemic. And I know I’m not alone. But I also am really done with schadenfreude.