They Never Saw the Sun

Item

Title (Dublin Core)

Description (Dublin Core)

For every birthday and Christmas, I get new running shoes. I tell my mom and husband to buy them when they’re on sale, save them, and wrap them up for me. I run A LOT. When quarantine started in March, I took one run outside. Two days later, the CDC confirmed everyone’s worst fears - the virus was airborne. Although running is a low risk activity, where I run, the trails are very narrow. Unfortunately, the people who walk/bike/run there are apparently pretty narrow minded and refuse to wear masks. Could I run outside and not catch COVID? Probably. But with both my husband and I working from home, my +65 mom living with, and a perfectly fine treadmill, that risk just didn’t seem worth it. Man, I miss those trails. But I am lucky to have my treadmill. In July, I pulled out a new pair of running shoes. I honestly didn’t think about how long they’d been tied to the treadmill, I just laced them and put them on like I had done so many times before. One virtual marathon, three virtual 10Ks, and 600+ for fun miles (all on a treadmill) later, it was time to retire my trusty running shoes. On December 31, I announced their retirement with a snarky picture on my Instagram. But what a bizarre pair of shoes to retire. Perfectly clean on the outside, completely destroyed on the inside. The poor things never left the house, they never saw the sun. As a trail runner, my running shoes are always filthy by the time I’m ready to retire them. How strange to retire a pair of shoes that look brand new. How tired they are inside. A symbol of the bizarre year that was 2020.

Date (Dublin Core)

December 31, 2020

Creator (Dublin Core)

Kathryn Jue

Contributor (Dublin Core)

Kathryn Jue

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST580

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

photograph

screenshot

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Health & Wellness

English Sports

English Home & Family Life

English Emotion

English Events

English Recreation & Leisure

English Clothing & Accessories

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

Christmas

quarantine

trail

marathon

Instagram

fitness

outdoor

runner

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

running

shoes

treadmill

virtual race

Collection (Dublin Core)

Lost Seasons

Over 60

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

A tray that says "When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles".

Disneyland Main Street After Closure Announcement

HST 580 Professional Experience/Archives course

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

1/25/2021

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

01/26/2021

08/02/2022

09/15/2024

Date Created (Dublin Core)

12/31/2020

Item sets

Covid 19

Arizona State University

This item was submitted on January 25, 2021 by Kathryn Jue using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive

Click here to view the collected data.

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