I Am Not a Fence Jumper--But There Are Some Barriers to Brek Through

Today, I ran a progression workout.  In the spring when I trained for the 5K and I did progression workouts I did them on the treadmill.  I got the times "exactly right".  But we all know that running on a treadmill is different from running on the street.  And running on the street it is much harder to run a progression and get the times right.  In the end, for this early in the training season it was fine to run approximations.  And it was nice to have company.  Those six miles keep me moving in US 54.  Total is 1097 miles.

I titled this I am not a fence jumper as this was another morning with no officer to open the gates for us at the Dunbar track.  My fellow runners experienced this last week.  And I have experienced it before.  And I have written about not jumping the fence before.  Last time I described it as a dilemma.  Today there was no dilemma.  I simply will not.

I have written before about what this says about me.  What I find interesting is that it is not as thought I follow and respect all barriers.  Sometimes I like to break through barriers.  I moved between schools within the University and try to enhance collaboration.  I have continued to try to build bridges elsewhere around the university.  I have tried to build bridges within the Business School between faculty and staff.  I have tried to help build bridges across organizations.  And even running itself is pushing through barriers every time I go out.  My own limits.  Running with others.

The key is to know which barriers to respect and which can be pushed through.  Which are worth pushing through.  Which should be pushed through.

Knowing how to balance that--as with knowing how to balance so many other things in like is critical to success and sanity.   

Thoughts on Choices--Part 2 of 3

So, yesterday I talked about The Road Not Taken. Of all of Frost's poems that and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening are probably the two that everyone knows.  There are many others.  One that I memorized in either eighth or ninth grade and that has stuck with me ever since is Mending Wall (http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html).  It is about a wall that does not need to exist and how the narrator asks his neighbor why they need the wall and the neighbor just repeats the mantra "good fences make good neighbors."  But the poem begins "Something there is that doesn't love a wall."  And in the end it is about the tension between that something and the mantra of someone wanting to construct walls whether they are needed or not.  Walls create barriers.  Barriers are sometimes useful.  But I like to cross barriers.  I like to tear down barriers.  One of my colleagues is clearly a "wall person".  Let's draw boundaries. This is for you to worry about over here and this is for me to worry about over there.  Do we need clear ideas of who is responsible for what?  Of course we do.  But I like to look beyond and seek to knock down the walls, take away the barriers, and work together for good on both sides of the wall.  Perhaps we need a little of each.  And there have been times in my life when I definitely was more of a "wall person".  But at this point I clearly identify with the something that doesn't love a wall.  And it drives many of the choices I make about what drives me, what drives my career, what drives my communication, and how I want to interact with others in my career.