How to Think About COVID’s Finish Line

The Quarantine Backyard Ultra is a diabolically cruel running race that requires its contestants to run four miles per hour—for as long as they can. The winner is the last person standing. The fact that it’s an endurance contest with no clear finish line makes it a proxy for the coronavirus pandemic, argues running columnist Alex Hutchinson, who reviewed the science of races without finish lines to extract lessons that may help us all navigate the next few months.