Locked down....again!!

Back when the 5:20 chicks could all hang out together!!

As it turned out, we only just managed to get the Bay to Bay race in, as there was a sudden Covid outbreak in Sydney the week afterwards and as we were randomly described as being part of Greater Sydney (despite being 1.5-2 hours away from the City) the Central Coast was also forced into lockdown. Races were all cancelled as we were only allowed out to exercise with 1 person who was not from our household, and only essential workers (such as myself....sigh!) could go to work. Our exercise restriction wasn't as bad as for those living in small LGAs (local government areas) in Sydney, as although we had to abide by the same rule (do not exercise outwith your LGA), the Central Coast spans a huge number of kilometres. 

Evening "exercise" catch-up

Initially we thought we were limited to 10km from our homes, but it turns out that the rule was 10kms or within your LGA so we had the whole area to play with.....but only in pairs :-) 

At a viewpoint mid-run with Julie

Gone were the group runs/sessions and a lot of the socialising, but the girls and I still had a lot of fun plotting new routes, exploring different places and swopping running partners a lot. It was actually really good as when you are in a group, it is easy to get to the end of a run and realise you have hardly spoken to anyone much, so the one-on-one time to chat was great.....and we also managed a variation of "speed-dating" where people dropped in and out of runs at various places so we were never running with more than one person, but it wasn't always the same person. 

With Mon at Maccas

With Katie at Maccas......notice a trend?

If you carried a mask with you, there was motivation to run to somewhere for a takeaway treat or a coffee so that helped us in route planning.....and as I still had to go to work every day, I occasionally cycled one way, or ran home in the evening (until I realised how long it took/how tired I was at the end of the day!). 

En route to work one morning

With all these different variations on simple paired runs, we still all managed to catch up with each other even if we were just longing to be able to all just hang out together as a group......but all good things come to those who wait, and I'm sure we'll be back to it before we know it!

Krystie and I as the masked cyclists grabbing a coffee