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Find The Silver Linings, Keeping Working, Stay Patient

Published by
DyeStat.com   Mar 16th 2020, 11:21pm
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Ray Flynn: 'It's Going To Be Major, But It Will Pass'

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

I don't know how many times I have refreshed the web site that lists the new numbers. New cases. New deaths. By the time I finish writing this, the number will be a little bit bigger. 

These aren't the stats that anyone wants to keeep track of, even if they reveal a little something about the scope of our unfolding problem with the Coronavirus outbreak. 

I'd much rather have eyeballs on the numbers of track and field. The meet records. The feet and inches. The splits. 

It's all going to have to wait. 

I talked Monday to professional agent Ray Flynn and I think it's worthwhile to share with you what he told me. 

"An event like this, it forces us all to stop and relfect," he said. "We have all these incredible freedoms, to go places and do things and buy things and compete. It forces us to stop for a while and recognize how good we've had it. If we take the tiime to stop and reflect, then when we get it back we can appreciate it even more."

There is a lot more to be concerned with today than the loss of a track meet schedule. The Penn Relays was canceled earlier today. Arcadia Invitational, too.

The Diamond League hasn't announced yet. Seems like only a matter of time. May and June? Those events are probably lost, too. 

So what are track people, and athletes, to do?

Flynn represents 50 pro athletes across the spectrum of the sport, from sprinting to marathon-running. 

"It seems incredible that just two weeks ago we were in Atlanta and riding so high," he said. 

Athletes should keep training. Do they know any other way?

"I think they should stay after it. That's my opinion," Flynn said. "That's what they're programmed to do. It's  the healthiest thing to do. You can train normally without being around a lot of people. It's one thing you can do without interfering (with public health recommendations). It's good for ones's mind. It should help them not be as frustrated or discouraged."

Day by day, we still don't know exactly where this is going or how long it will last. The experts tell us this is just getting started. 

The Olympic Games, they may have to be shoved ahead to 2021. The World Championships in Eugene, possibly to 2022. 

There are more important things to worry about, like the health and safety of your families and loved ones. 

We'll keep finding stories about athletes, many of whom will now face a new set of unforeseen challenges and fight through barriers unimagined just a week ago. The stories won't be the ones we thought they would be, but they'll be more important than ever.

Athletes are still out there striving. Still dreaming. 

"I think when it's over, we'll look back in time and it will be another experience," Flynn said. "It's going to be major, but it will pass."

The good numbers, the ones the speak to excellence and achievement, will eventually come back.



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