Last-Minute Entrant Excited for 58th Annual JFK 50 Mile
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When the 58th annual JFK 50 Mile kicks off this weekend, one competitor will be especially happy to be there.
“I just made it in, under the wire,” Cyrus Grissom, a small mustachioed runner, said from under the brim of a large hat, “and I couldn’t be happier.”
“I was afraid they might cancel it, because of everything going on,” he added, alluding to the coronavirus pandemic. New and presumed cases have spiked across the country, including in the JFK 50 Mile’s own backyard. Washington County, Maryland, where the race is held, has seen a fivefold increase in the number of daily new coronavirus cases since the start of the month, according to a report in The Washington Post.
That report quotes a number of public health experts who suggest that holding the event now is reckless. As one infectious disease professor told The Post, “It’s exactly what we’re recommending against: people traveling, coming together in groups, dispersing back to their communities.”
For their part, race organizers have a safety plan and say they “will not tolerate activities that are dangerous.”
Grissom, for one, is relieved.
“I love big crowds, meeting new people, and travel,” Grissom said. “So this race opens up all sorts of possibilities.”
“I got this!”
Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was not available for comment, a spokesperson said, as he was weeping in a corner of his office.
