The Last Marathon Before Lockdown
Marathon # 214
Date: March 15, 2020
My Time: 5:02:08
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I did in the Paris area my 72nd barefoot marathon one day before the announcement of the hardest lockdown in French millennial history.
This was my last marathon before the unprecedented ban on endurance running and the freedom of movement. The next day the French president announced the hardest lockdown in French millennial history.
We used to be free runners and free citizens. I was for instance among the hundreds of international runners who participated in the 2016 Pyongyang Marathon. We were free to travel on planes, trains, cruise ships, etc. We were free to cuddle our loved ones. We were free to stay by our dying elders and humanely bury them. We were free to share our smiles and other emotions with no mandatory mask.
But when the pandemic broke out, instead of focusing on preventing and fighting obesity and other COVID-19 comorbidities, many national and local governments preferred to punish the running community, and reward behaviors that aggravated the comorbidities.
In France, for instance, while everyone was free to buy tobacco and alcohol or escort a dog at any time and on any distance, the government imposed a strict curfew on human outdoor physical activity to prevent us from running between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., and we were allowed to run only for a maximum of one hour a day within one kilometer of our homes. Police were patrolling on the streets, in the parks and forests. Offenders were lectured and heavily fined.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Date: March 15, 2020
My Time: 5:02:08
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I did in the Paris area my 72nd barefoot marathon one day before the announcement of the hardest lockdown in French millennial history.
This was my last marathon before the unprecedented ban on endurance running and the freedom of movement. The next day the French president announced the hardest lockdown in French millennial history.
We used to be free runners and free citizens. I was for instance among the hundreds of international runners who participated in the 2016 Pyongyang Marathon. We were free to travel on planes, trains, cruise ships, etc. We were free to cuddle our loved ones. We were free to stay by our dying elders and humanely bury them. We were free to share our smiles and other emotions with no mandatory mask.
But when the pandemic broke out, instead of focusing on preventing and fighting obesity and other COVID-19 comorbidities, many national and local governments preferred to punish the running community, and reward behaviors that aggravated the comorbidities.
In France, for instance, while everyone was free to buy tobacco and alcohol or escort a dog at any time and on any distance, the government imposed a strict curfew on human outdoor physical activity to prevent us from running between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., and we were allowed to run only for a maximum of one hour a day within one kilometer of our homes. Police were patrolling on the streets, in the parks and forests. Offenders were lectured and heavily fined.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Dr. Sidy Diallo ran his 72nd barefoot marathon on the last day of freedom.
The course and results of Dr. Sidy Diallo's last marathon before the hardest French Lockdown