Lori Walsh: So we're talking this hour about spending time outdoors during the pandemic. How do you tend to your own physical needs while keeping yourself and others safe? Earlier, we heard about some of the CDC's outdoor recreation guidelines. Now, let's talk about how outdoor fitness and recreation has become a challenge and a necessity during this time. Jacqueline Palfy is a competitive athlete who writes frequently about running and cycling and living a life outdoors. She's even written about her own experience during the Boston Marathon of 2013, when a bomb exploded at the finish line about 30 minutes after she had finished. The sixth year anniversary of that moment was yesterday. Now today, she faces a new challenge as an athlete. Jacqueline, welcome back to In The Moment. Thanks for being here.
Jacqueline Palfy: Thanks for having me.
Lori Walsh: Tell me how you are going through this week of the anniversary, first of all, remembering those moments and remembering that day when running was a life and death endeavor.
Jacqueline Palfy: I hadn't really even thought about the anniversary until a memory popped up on Facebook the other day, which is how most of our memories seem to show up now. One of the things I... You know you take a moment and take stock of yourself, and one of the things I realized really was how much farther I've come since that day. Right after that event, I really struggled to be in any kind of large group or enclosed space. I don't want to go to the mall. I don't want to go to the fair. I was socially distancing already for a while because it made me so anxious. I realized that I didn't quite have that same feeling when I thought about that day, so that made me feel really good.
Lori Walsh: Yeah. And, that's hopeful for the future as we all have some of those feelings right now that there is a future and that may be some of the things that we think, I will never do that again, maybe we will when we've had a little time to heal from it.
Jacqueline Palfy: Absolutely. That, trauma, you can get past it.
Lori Walsh: So, today running can feel like life and death again. Help people who don't understand and maybe the people who are listening right now totally get it, but there might be others who are saying, I don't get why you have to exercise right now. Stay at home. It's safer to not go outside and do anything. It's more complicated than that, isn't it?
Jacqueline Palfy: I think so. I think that all of us exercise for different reasons. Some people maybe for social times, some people may be for to manage their own anxiety. Some people just like to be outside. Some people just love exercise. We probably all have different feelings on each one of those. For me, I've had to try to find some different ways. I'm not going to the gym, obviously, but I'm still going outside. I'm still running outside most days. I'm still riding my bike outside. If I can't spend a little bit of time outdoors, it just makes me feel anxious and depressed, frankly. Right now, I'm grateful that it's one of the things I can do.
Lori Walsh: Yeah. Tell me a little bit about some of the lengths that you have gone to exercise and be outside without putting anybody at risk, because it gets a little creative. Yeah.
Jacqueline Palfy: I still meet a girlfriend here and there to run. We have this discussion... Most days when we get together, we run very early in the morning, and we run outside, and we run pretty far apart from each other in the street. The question is, it's you're asking your conscience, is this the right thing to do? Should I meet up with this person? And then, you tick off all the things. Well, we're outside. Well, we're far apart. Well, it's always the same person, and maybe I'm limiting my social circle that way. For me, I don't want to run outside by myself in the morning. I don't want to run on my treadmill in my house. So, I'm always trying to balance what's the best thing to do for my mental health, for my physical health, for my community. There's no perfect answer.
When you say, some people might not understand why you have to go exercise, I have a lot of friends who are avid athletes and they are not exercising. They are hunkering down and watching Netflix. That's okay too. There's no right way to get through this. I think that forgiving yourself and each other is the best thing that we can do. I had to forgive myself this morning when I slept through my run.
Lori Walsh: You have kids too. For parents who are struggling with this, kids are at home, and there's school to be done, and I'm working from home, or I lost my job, or there's so many stressors, what can it mean for kids right now during this time to be able to get outside and do some activity safely? They can't go to the playground like they used to be able to do unless you've got something in your backyard. It's a challenge. How can it help a family stay healthy at this time?
Jacqueline Palfy: We pretty quickly cut off all contact with their little friends. We just want to try to be as safe as we can. Some of the things that we've tried to do, we take a lot of walks, even just around the block a couple of times in the middle of the day when we're home or in the evenings. We're lucky, and I have to remind them and myself of this all time that we're doing okay as a family with our jobs and our lives right now. I bought Jack a new skateboard, and I'm like, okay, well you can learn how to skateboard better during this. My daughter had outgrown her scooter, so we got her a new scooter. We were lucky to be able to do those things for them. It also gave them some incentive to go for longer walks with us and something new for them as well. Because, it can be kind of boring. And also, we just forgive ourselves with all the screen time that's happening.
My daughter asked me if I wanted... It's all of us, right. But my daughter asked me if I wanted to do an online yoga class with her the other day and it was awesome. We did it, and we probably did about half of it. It was really fun to do together. My son came down and I said, "Hey, why don't you walk on the treadmill for a while?" He's obsessed with Usain Bolt, so he did that for a little bit, and that was fun. You just have to say, we're just going to keep rolling with it. Whatever it is. We played family soccer in the backyard. It's not all wine and roses. We all want to kill each other at least once a day.
Lori Walsh: There might be a little wine, maybe no roses.
Jacqueline Palfy: Well, you have to start your new traditions and we have a... Don't tell any of the law enforcement professionals out there, but on occasion we have had the open carry cocktail hour walk in our neighborhood. Do I carry a glass of wine sometimes walking around the block? Yes. Yes I do.
Lori Walsh: No, officer, I do not, thank you very much. I think they have better things to do than to worry about. Jacqueline Palfy, keep running, thank you so much. Keep writing about it. It always inspires me and I swear one of these days I'm going to start running again. Thanks.
Jacqueline Palfy: Well, I'm happy if you do anything. So have a great day.