Knee Knacker Update – March 13, 2020

Hi Knee Knacker Community,

In these challenging and unsettling times, I wanted to reach out to connect. Not just to give another COVID-19 / race update, but to share a few thoughts. With Knee Knacker in July, as you would expect, we are holding steady, will keep making the best decisions we can with the information we have, and will keep you informed. In the next few weeks we’ll announce our approach for Runners’ Night – we may push this to June to allow for a gathering at Salomon, or we may do a live FB event. We want you to continue to feel connected to our community and enjoy the lead-up to race day.

In the meantime, I encourage you to lead with empathy and kindness as your springtime race plans get derailed. I understand it’s frustrating and I understand you’ve put energy, time, money and training into these. But please know that any RD who makes the decision to cancel or postpone a race has had sleepless nights before that announcement, has had extensive conversations debating ‘right’, ‘wrong’, ‘safe’, ‘unsafe’, and has agonized over the impact to their runners.

I came across this LinkedIN post yesterday that resonated with me. It has nothing to do with running but the final paragraph has stayed with me, “Imagine if we could make our response to this crisis our finest hour. Imagine if a year or two from now we looked back on this and told the stories of how we came together as a team in our community, in our state, in our nation and across the world. Your contribution to the finest hour may seem small, invisible, inconsequential—but every small act of ‘not doing’ what you were going to do, and ‘doing’ an act of kindness or support will add up exponentially. These acts can and will save lives. The Apollo 13 crew made it their finest hour by letting go of the word “I” and embracing the word “we.” And that’s the task required of us. It can only be our finest hour if we work together. You are all on the team. And we need all of you to shine in whatever way you can.” – Gretchen Schmelzer.

Thank you for being an amazing community. The trails are calling – let’s get outside, spend time in the trees and take care of each other.

All the best,

Kelsy