It was a strange time. Remembering the COVID year.

We were returning from a cross-country practice on Saturday morning when the head coach of the team I’m helping asked me how I remember the Covid year.

“Such a strange time,” he started. “How was it for you?”

“Well, I started running then!” I replied, and we both laughed. Running plays such a big role in our lives that bringing it up in response to a seemingly unrelated question felt like a joyful coincidence.

“But yes, it was a strange time,” I confirmed.

So how was it for me and my family?

Well, like I said, I started running that year and never stopped. I risk being annoying by bringing up the topic of running several times already in this blog, but such is the truth — I started running consistently in 2020, dropped a lot of weight, and embarked on one of the most fascinating journeys of my life, which continues to this very day. Not a day without running.

That aside, how do I remember 2020?

Considering we’re a family of six (four kids), it’s quite astounding that no one in the family ever had COVID — or at least not in a way that made us test for it. We did have minor colds in 2021, but they weren’t severe enough to be considered COVID. So, from this perspective, my memories of COVID aren’t tainted by the actual virus.

Both of my parents — they weren’t with me at the time — did catch the virus, and they went through many weeks of serious…