"We Will Not Go Back to Business as Usual": Alison Désir Sends a Letter of Support to New York City
Alison Désir, the founder of Harlem Run and a vital leader in the New York running community, wrote a letter of support to her hometown. New York is currently an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic and its hustle and bustle has been temporarily silenced while its residents shelter in place and its frontline workers keep long hours to ensure our health and safety. Désir wrote this letter in April.
Dear New York City,
As a leader in the NYC running community, these past six weeks are probably the longest stretch I’ve ever gone without being around hundreds of people at a group run, something I didn’t used to think twice about. I miss meeting new people every week, running/walking through the various NYC parks and city streets and stopping regularly for hugs from folks I know, and cheering and supporting the running community at big races. As I reflect on how much has changed, I realize how much I took it for granted. Thankfully, we’ve all developed new ways to stay in touch; we’ve embraced the virtual spaces — the IG Lives and Zooms and Strava challenges, the chance encounter on the street from six feet away — to celebrate each other from afar.
Worse than these small sacrifices, however, is learning daily of the countless members of our community, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized, who have lost their lives. A bright spot has been the resilience of those on the front lines — the grocery workers, the doctors, the nurses, the maintenance workers, the delivery people, the researchers, to name a few — who sacrifice their own lives to give us some semblance of our own. And it’s our job — our duty to each other — to maintain physical distance and suffer small inconveniences knowing that we are doing our part.
Once the threat of the coronavirus passes — it’s hard to believe it will, but the threat will, someday be mitigated — I believe that we in the running community will come together with an understanding of how much we all need and rely on each other and will be better for it. I’m certain that when this is behind us, we will not go back to business as usual — we will come back stronger and guided by a deeper sense of purpose and community. Until then.
Warmly and in solidarity,
Alison Mariella Désir