Day by Day--From Saturday

I last wrote on Tuesday—after my sons and I made a very nice dinner that I took pictures of and wrote about and posted in my blog about A Dad and Three Boys in the Kitchen as well as cross posting here.  Since then I have run seven miles on Wednesday morning (at a pace of about 8:08), a great track workout where I ran 10 x 400 with each under 1:30 and the last in 1:20, took a much needed day off, and then ran an easy 6 this morning at an 8:10 pace.  I slowed down the last mile as I constantly reminded myself that while I could run the last mile faster and it felt easy to run the last mile faster the challenge and what counted was not how easy the last mile was today.  What is important is how easy the last six miles feel tomorrow after my training partner departs and I climb from the Penn Station area to our neighborhood at a sub-8:10 pace.

The added miles put me up to 1308 miles for the year.  Hard to believe I have already passed 1300.  The total puts me on NE 10 St as I continue my westward movement from Wichita.

This week has been one in which I have continued to expand the range of people I know who run.  I was added to a most local group called Fitness Fanatics on social media.  It provides a great chance to share with people who are as crazy about running and racing as I am.  The woman who added me to the list has the distinction of having run in 50 races during her 49^th year on this Earth.  What a wonderful accomplishment.

I met the new students in our 2 year MBA program.  I had two chances to get to know then. One during their team building day at a local ropes course.  The other at a happy hour gathering yesterday.  I enjoyed both experiences.  When I shared my track workout report with the person who has developed y training plan for me, she commented on how well I had done for having run it alone. I was not completely alone.  There were two others on the track doing 400’s.  They were not going as quickly as I was but I knew one of them and we shared the track nicely.  So, I did have a little company.  But the running by myself was fine.  I commented that it was the introvert in me feeling at home and providing energy while I was preparing for a very “externally” facing day.  That was the day of the second graduation ceremony of the year for the school at which I am the Vice Dean for Education.  Between that, addressing and having lunch with new faculty, and two experiences with the new students, I had a very external facing week.  While I do not feel like as much of an introvert as I used to imagine myself to be, I think it was mostly imagination as to how much of an introvert I was.  However, I still get energy from sometimes just being alone and doing my own thing.  Thursday morning was a great example of that.

The interesting thing about the experience on Thursday at graduation was the clear value of making an effort.  I will write more about this in my professional blog, but suffice it to say that I spent time learning some of the nuances of pronouncing Chinese names and it made a great impression on the students and families.

That effort is a sign of going the extra mile.  My entire team at work went the extra mile for graduation and orientation this week.  So, it was a good week that way as well.

Spiritually, it has been a week in which I have listened to Godspell.  I realize that the plot of Godspell is only loosely based on the Gospel but I do enjoy the music.  I especially enjoy Day by Day.  Three things to pray—see God more clearly, love God more dearly, follow God more nearly.   For me, that is based on my Catholic faith tradition.  For others, there are other traditions.  The key is that it is important to have a focal point for spiritual development and growth, to perform a personal continuous quality improvement cycle focused on spirituality, and to make it more and more central to one’s life.  I certainly try to do that.  Running helps.  I will continue to run and seek and share.