1) Thread about a return to international competition.

I’m in the camp of wanting a return ASAP. I strive for normalcy and don’t buy in to knee jerk reactions of any kind. However, this current world situation is our reality today. We may not like it, but we accept it.

2) We can strive for normalcy within the constructs and constrictions to which we must adhere. To this end, events of all sorts at the local/national/int’l levels are being canceled or postponed. The Olympics are pushed back a year. Oktoberfest was just canceled.

3) Other events have simply been postponed, like the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France and Boston Marathon. Other events are standing firm with their late-summer and fall dates, like the NYC Marathon. As if steadfastness will trump the order of the world. So, answer me this ...

4) If the Olympic Games is pushed back, what makes you think that an int’l event with thousands of athletes and millions of spectators/volunteers will auto-magically still occur in 2020?

5) When you think about local, state, national and international decisions around current restrictions, the risk factor of further spread, the bias against certain ethnicities, no vaccine, and so so much more, what sort of hubris does it take to think “NY strong” will prevail?

6) Any opening up will be gradual. We will probably see Turkey Trots before huge running events. Grass roots before any event with a risk profile deemed too high. Because as awful an impact as this is now, imagine how much worse if there’s a backslide due to hubris too soon.

7) And spare me the “race officials are working hard every day” BS. What does this even mean? Are they in some sort of dystopian star chamber to which the rest of the world has no access and, thus, has better knowledge of today’s machinations? C’mon.

8) The responsible thing is not to string all athletes along in the cross-all-fingers-and-toes hope that a particular event will occur. The responsible thing is to cancel it for 2020. Because the risk v reward continuum won’t allow for cavalier decisions being considered today.