1/ Yesterday I ran the #NB5thAveMile, a virtual one-mile race hosted by @NYRR and #sponsored by @NewBalance -- the first time I've run a mile since almost dying from #COVID19.

(For more, see @ZacharyKussin's great @NYPost story.) https://bit.ly/2RiAebq 

2/ I ran rather slowly -- 10:30 a mile, really more of a jog -- but at least I never stopped.

It was the culmination of an arduous, six-month process, which I'm sure my fellow #LongCovid patients can relate to.

#COVID #COVID19 #COVID_19 #running #jogging

3/ When I got discharged on April 1 from @NYULangone, after 17 days being treated for #COVID19 -- including 6 days in critical condition in the ICU, on a ventilator -- I had to use a wheelchair. I wondered if I'd ever be able to walk again.

4/ Luckily, I did get better. I graduated from using a wheelchair to walking, and from walking a block to walking a mile.

By late April, I could walk a mile without stopping. By late May, I could walk almost two miles at a stretch. https://twitter.com/DavidLat/status/1263261108321816581

5/ Over the spring and into the summer, I gradually increased my walking distance. In July, I completed a 4.5-mile hike in the beautiful #Berkshires (albeit with many stops along the way).

6/ Then I started running (or, to be more accurate, jogging). I went from being able to jog a quarter-mile to a half-mile to three-quarters of a mile (as of early September).

#running #jogging #COVID19 #COVID_19 #COVID

7/ Yesterday, a gorgeous Saturday afternoon here in NYC, I completed the #NB5thAveMile. Thanks to @NYRR for encouraging me to take on this challenge, and thanks to @NewBalance, which #sponsored the race, for the great (free) running gear.

8/ For more on how #running helped me recover from #COVID19, please see this great @Instagram story by @NYRR/ @NYRRnews, which followed me through my different running milestones.

https://bit.ly/3itFyo7 

#COVID #jogging #NB5thAveMile

9/ Now that I can run a mile again, I'll start training for another virtual @NYRR race, perhaps the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K in late October.

Although it has been six months, I feel that my #COVID19 recovery is just beginning.

#running #jogging

10/ To my fellow #COVID19 patients, especially #LongCovid sufferers, I'd say:

Hang in there. Try to push yourself (safely) with exercise, as my pulmonologist urged me. Don't lose hope.

11/ Everyone's #COVID19 recovery story is different, as I wrote about in this @LATimes piece, and I don't claim that my story is the same as anyone else's.

https://lat.ms/2ZSHWgf  #COVID #COVID_19

12/ I do think my #COVID19 recovery shows that, at least for some (very lucky) subset of us, things DO get better over time.

To everyone else living with #COVID/ #LongCovid, I'm thinking of and praying for you -- and I hope you'll do the same for me. Onward!