High Lonesome COVID19 Update #2 (Runner email)
This email was sent to runners and waitlisters on April 17th
Hello runners and waitlisters,
I'm not sure about you all, but I feel like I'm living in a B-side spin-off of Groundhog Day...and I'm not entirely sure if I'm Billy Murray or the Groundhog. Deep philosophical thoughts aside, I hope you are all staying healthy and sane.
This is our second update with respect to the COVID19 outbreak and is pretty succinct. We haven't made any decisions yet, but we've set up the process and deadlines and this email is just to inform you of those. So here are our next steps:
Advisory Board Meeting (April 18) - Discuss options and decide on next courses. Set timelines and create/adjust/suspend/enforce policies as needed to support the decisions.
Whole Team Meeting (April 23) - Go over board meeting conclusions, get feedback and adjust plans as needed. This meeting is optional, but encouraged, for Advisory Board members.
Query Runners (April 25-27) - survey runners about possible options to get a feel for their positions.
Publish results and inform runners (May 1-7) - We may adjust this date a little to try and coincide with updates coming from Governor Polis. Currently the stay at home orders are supposed to be lifted at the end of April, but it's likely to be extended (my personal feeling).
Absolute drop dead date (June 1) - if for any reason we are still up in the air, the final deadline for deciding on a choice is June 1st. This is the latest we can wait to spend the rest of our budget...so it's a hard deadline.
Now, on a slight aside, many of you have sent me emails, messages, texts, etc asking me what my personal opinion is on whether the race will happen or not. While I totally understand the desire to know (I hate the uncertainty too), I won't tell you anything more than what's in this email. One of my favorite parts of this job is that I'm friends with over half this email list...but I don't want to play favorites so we're sticking with on-the-record/official channels only.
And lastly, if you need any running gear, I'd highly encourage you to order from 7000 Feet Running Company. They are struggling right now due to the closures and there isn't a big enough local base for them to keep income coming in. Andrew has free 3-day shipping to the lower 48 and can help you out over the phone. We'd be absolutely gutted to lose the only running store in the Arkansas River Valley, so keep them in mind! We're working on doing fundraisers for them and Berkeley Park Running Company (a local Denver shop we also work with) next week...stay tuned for that if you're interested. Every little bit helps.
Aight, that's all for now. The next email will come on April 25-27.
Best,
Caleb
RD, High Lonesome 100