By Brennan LaBrie
News Editor
Just a few days after returning to Parkland in September, I decided to get back into running. I figured it would be wise, considering all the couch time I would be logging as a full-time online student. That day, I laced up my shoes and jogged to PLU’s campus so I could see my favorite brick buildings and hit up my favorite track.
As I ran onto campus, I noticed the people scattered here and there were all wearing masks, which made sense since PLU and local government recommend doing so in public spaces. However, I realized that I didn’t have a mask myself, and I was worried I’d get in trouble, or worse, receive judgmental stares from people I didn’t know.
The next time I ran onto campus, I wore my mask out of respect for my fellow Lutes, and it was…terrible. The lack of air I took in with each breath was uncomfortable for a while, but it was running up Hinderlie Hill that really killed me. I had to take my mask off and gasp for air at the top.
I can’t do this, I thought to myself. I love running and I want to be a good citizen at the same time, but I don’t know how far I can make it with a mask on.
I decided that it was probably safe to run around the golf course and Parkland without a mask, as I’m not likely to encounter many people out and about in this area – it’s not a huge running or biking community, I’ve found. But was this okay to do? And would it possibly be alright to run around campus without a mask on? After all, it’s a lovely place to run and the safest place to run at night around here.
I decided to call the PLU Health Center to get an answer, hoping it would be permission to run without a mask on campus.
I was able to reach Elizabeth Hopper, director of the Health Center, and she informed me that I had the right idea: I should wear a mask while on campus, but it’s not necessary when running around town. She told me that even she, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, never wears a mask when walking her dog.
“I think if you’re running on campus, even with a number of people, then I would say wear a mask,” she said. “If you’re out on the streets or running around the golf course fields and by yourself, then I’d say it’s unnecessary. But if there’s any chance that you’re gonna be coming into contact or passing close by people and breathing hard while you’re running, you should be wearing a mask.”
I now knew how to be an ethical runner during COVID. The question still burning on my mind, however, was how do runners on the cross country team deal with this? Do they have to run with masks too, or are they exempt?
I reached out to my friend Jonah Maier, a sophomore on PLU’s cross country team. Maier’s been running around with a mask for a while, and apparently for him, it’s not too bad.
“It’s not terrible to run with a mask on,” he said. “You have to wear the right one though.” His coach had bought the team all-synthetic masks from Costco, he added, but those didn’t work out.
“If it got wet enough, it got inside your mouth and you’d choke on it,” he said. Since then, he’s stuck with his favorite Mariners mask.
During team runs, Maier and his teammates all wear masks, and it seems like it’s not a big deal for any of them. I suppose this is due to their incredible levels of fitness – the fact that I can hardly make it up a hill in a mask probably says more about me than my mask.
I pressed him on this issue. “Do you ever have to take it off for a second?” I asked.
“Sometimes it’s definitely a burden, and I’ll usually fall back or run forward and take it off,” he admitted.
During team workouts such as mile repeats, in which people are split into groups, enough space is created between athletes to allow for masks to be thrown off, Maier said.
Maier understands the importance of keeping a mask on while being around other people, partially because he fell ill earlier in the fall and had to endure a 10-day quarantine in his dorm room.
The whole mask situation aside, Maier said he has enjoyed practices even more than usual lately, as they allow him to emerge from the room from which he spends most of his time, and take in some fresh air with his friends. And he sure has a lot of practice ahead of him before NCAA sporting competitions resume in the spring.
While Maier continues to run 50-60 miles a week and works towards personal records, I’ll be out on the streets as well, hoping to reach the point where I can run up a hill with a mask on and not feel like fainting.
I highly recommend that people get out and run this fall, as the leaves are starting to turn incredible colors and there’s hardly a better time to explore the trails of Bresemann Forest and Spanaway Lake Park, or seek out the most vibrant trees located around Parkland.
Put your running shoes on, breathe the crisp air and get some miles in – and bring a mask in case you run into a group of people out there; it’s a lot better than having to pull your shirt over your mouth. I tell you this from experience – you feel stupid, people have to randomly get flashed by your belly…nobody wins. It’s best that we all get comfortable working out in masks, because they’re not coming off anytime soon.
