Running
- Today was supposed to be the start of my son’s last couple of basketball games at their State tournament.
- Today was supposed to be a continuation of my middle child’s hockey Jamboree where it would be the last time they play with these girls for the season.
- Today was also supposed to be when my youngest was going to perform on Stage dancing the numbers she has been practicing for the past 9 months.
- Hal Higdon
The weather was too nice today for me to sit inside all day. So after my last work call late this afternoon I ventured out and what was going to be 3.1 became 6.2. Thanks family!
Thirty-Nine
It seems strange trying to look back at the last year when there is so much noise clouding the past couple of days/weeks/months.
I am sure this will be shorter than some of the previous years as I feel like I have a little bit of a mental block. In fact, I was thinking about what I was going to write on the morning of what I deemed 6.2 Birthday miles but I didn’t come up with much. That is not to say that nothing has happened over the past year. Last year I wanted to focus on Embracing things more and trying to cut out things that didn’t bring myself or my family joy. Overall, I feel like we kept moving in the right direction. We all continued to focus on things that brought us joy and in some cases started to let go of others.
One last hike in before the storm rolled in and we had to leave Sedona (Airport Loop Trail, May 2019, Sedona, Arizona)
One of the things as a family we did was a last-minute trip to Arizona last May. We were not planning it at the beginning of the year but as my wife and I started to talk about it it just seemed like a great time to go visit family and also be together as a family. The week turned out great as we spent half the time with our Arizona family and then the other half in Sedona exploring all the trails. In fact, what was only going to be a one night stay we extended it to two as everyone was having so much fun.
Running along the Skywalker trail in the early morning hours (May 2019, Skywalker Trail, Sedona, AZ)
I had a couple overseas work trips this past year and on these travels, I tried my hardest to embrace the surroundings and explore more. While traveling to China I made a point to see the Great Wall and I am happy that I braved the adventure as I found myself alone on the wall as I got there so early in the morning (thanks jet lag). Not all of my work trips had such a spectacular sight to see, however, I made the most of almost wherever I went mostly because my early morning or late afternoon runs would lead me to some interesting overlook or park.
Looking towards Tower 23 in the far distance at the Mutianyu Great Wall before the steep climb to come with no one in sight. (May 2019, Mutianyu Great Wall, Beijing China)
Speaking of running, over the past year I continued on with my running and eventually hit a goal that formulated in my mind as the year went on. In October I had hit a mark of running a 5K a day for 365 days. The timing of that seemed to be about perfect as I am looking back at the last 5 months since I don’t think I could have kept it up. However, my running goals have been focused more on distance now and not the consistency of every day running. Some other benefits of my odd running achievement were that I embraced the unknown and talked about my running adventure on a podcast called Off the Couch. It was something new to me and when they reached out I figured why not.
With everything that is going on in the world right now and the focus on physically distancing us and the bans on travel in place as well. I think continuing with the theme of Embracing seems fitting. We are in a very interesting time where my wife and I are both working from home and we have all of the kids with us every day for what might be the end of this school year. In addition, with no after school activities or playdates with friends, this is a great time to be together as a family and do things you always feel you never have time for. My wife and I were just commenting the other day how many weekends or nights do we really have nothing going on. So we are going to embrace this time together as a family and hope we all don’t want to kill each other in the end 😄.
Late night run was what was needed to clear my mind after all that’s been happening…
Today was supposed to be…
After getting back from a short run earlier this morning I am currently sitting in our kitchen drinking coffee and pondering what today was suppose to be. More specifically, I am sad thinking about what today was supposed to be.
However, all of those things have been canceled due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Don’t get me wrong for public safety and health of all it was probably the right decision as in the grand picture of life it is not worth it. I am sad that all of my kids are missing the closure of their seasons where they have worked all year for not realizing that this past week of practice was the end.
Now don’t get me wrong, my wife and I are going to try to make the weekend as fun as we can in light of everything else that has been canceled as well. However, in the back of all of our minds will be that we should have been doing something else.
I am sure this is something that will be shared in the future with our kid’s kids and our kids will eventually share with their kid’s kids as the weekend where everything was canceled.
Till next time and we will try to enjoy the free weekend…
Found some new trails this past weekend when we were down in Rochester. They have some nice trails along the river and I didn’t run across much ice on the trail either 😁🏃♂️…
The warmer weather has been great except for early morning running where I come across sidewalks like this… 🏃♂️🧊 I might have to start running with skates 😂
From the Lens - Numbers
Water drops blurring the view of my numbers at the end of a rainy run (Nevada, IA)
Off The Couch podcast - Running 5k a Day for 365 Days
As with my 365 days of running, I really didn’t mention to anyone that I was going to be on a podcast episode of Off The Couch until right now as it went live today. You can find the Episode by clicking the link below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Eric Walker on Running 5k a Day for 365 Days (Ep.39)
The episode is talking about my 365 days of running a 5k every day. I will give credit to Johnathan Ellsworth and Brendan Leonard the hosts for asking all the right questions to make an episode that was more than 15 min long as we joked about the start of the episode. I had a lot of fun chatting with them and feel privileged to have been on the show as I know they have had some amazing guests.
I hope you give the episode a listen and enjoy the conversation I had with them as I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them. Finally, if you did enjoy it be sure to give their podcast a review on iTunes to help show support for their show. I have only been a more recent listener and am enjoying it as it keeps me company while running and I really enjoy hearing all of the stories of their guests.
A little more about Johnathan and Brendan:
Johnathan Ellsworth is the Founder of BLISTER, not only do they create some amazing Podcasts like Off the Couch which is geared towards runners. They also have other podcasts talking about other outdoor activities like snow sports, biking, and climbing. Not to mention, they review gear and give honest reviews to make sure you are not wasting your time or money so if you are looking to buy some gear check BLISTER out.
Brendan Leonard is the creator of Semi-Rad where he has published tons of articles and charts/drawings that are always great enjoyment. In addition, he has a bunch of books published too. You can find all of this stuff on his website Semi-Rad.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
It might have been -14°F this morning but I felt like it was a good challenge to conquer. If you dress right it isn’t as bad as you think or looks on my frozen face. 🥶😁🏃♂️ Note I didn’t take this photo this morning but actually almost a year go. I tried this morning but it was so cold when I took my phone out of my pocket it instantly shut off 🤷♂️..
Running a little bit of the Appalachian Trail did not disappoint last week as the views were great. I could definitely tell I am not in mountain running shape with 1000ft of elevation change in less than 1 mile.
Realized we didn’t have any coffee this morning so I solved that problem by running to go get it… ☕🏃♂️
Keep Going…
Some days you just have to keep going. That is what I told myself as I hit mile 2 of my 3.1 mile loop I have run many times before.
So what did I end up doing? Well, I just added on another 3.1 mile loop in a completely different direction in order to just keep moving along.
I had originally planned to do a longer run today so I set my alarm really early to ensure I would have enough time to get it done. When the alarm went off I was just too comfortable laying in bed that I stayed there for a really long time. Finally, after a lot of time ticked by I told myself I had wasted enough time laying around and I should get outside to run. However, I figured I only had time for 3.1 mile route instead of the one I was planning on doing.
Looking at the sunrise after a great long run (December 2019, Eden Prairie)
Being a little bummed about not doing what I had planned, I was glad that I got outside to do something instead of skipping it altogether, which was also on my mind. I didn’t feel great running at first either so I knew just sticking to an easier route was a good plan so then I could get home and have some time before I rushed off to work. However, as I looked at my watch and realized I was at about 2 miles into my run and approaching my house I thought why not just continue and run another 3.1 mile loop that goes a different direction.
So that is just what I did and I continued on a different route.
“It’s not so much that I began to run, but that I continued”
You might be wondering why I shared the story above with you but stick with me and read on 😄
I was glad to have extended my total run to the full 6.2 miles I had planned to run the night before. Even though I took a completely different route than planning, I ultimately achieved the same goal I set out to accomplish.
Reflection on Paths and Moving Forward
As I reflected on that driving to work today I realized a lot of people (me included) focus too much about what path we planned to be on in order to reach our end goal. However, by being so focused on the current path we could be losing sight of what we really want as an end goal. In fact, we could miss a turn that might take us off the current route but still headed in the right direction overall.
This has happened to me quite a few times most specifically in careers or jobs. I know what I would like to be doing down the road from now or how that might look. However, sometimes I get so stuck in a role (path) thinking it will eventually get me there as I had originally planned. Then another year goes by and I realize I am no closer to where I would like to end up and in reality, I might be further behind or off track. If only I would have stopped ignoring other interesting routes that would probably lead me to the same destination as my goal.
Ultimately, I am beginning to learn that taking small steps and keeping the course is a good thing in life as long as you continue to move forward. However, you should make sure you are aware of your surroundings and make sure you aren’t just following a path because that was your original plan. You also need to make sure you are keeping your head up and making sure you aren’t so focused on the trail in front of you that you might be passing up other opportunities.
Mini Sabbatical
A couple weeks ago I was on what I called a mini sabbatical but in reality, it was just a week off of work before I started a new job. During that week I fully appreciate and understand why rest is important. I think the overall concept of time away from work is something more companies should figure out how to offer. I know some companies have programs like actual sabbaticals after putting in a number of years at companies. I think the idea is great and I think it could be something done on a smaller scale too. I think the most important aspect is to figure out how to allow people to have some time away from where they can really disconnect.
Disconnecting is what you hear about all the time now and after a week of being fully disconnected, I know there are benefits there. I have always taken time away to spend time with family and I would say I was “disconnecting” from work. However, I was never truly disconnected. I was still getting work emails on my phone and more often than not I carried my work laptop with me to where I was going. So in theory as much as I was saying I was “disconnected” I was still connected by checking and making sure nothing went wrong back at work while I was away. Even if I wasn’t responding to anything, I was still glancing through things to make sure nothing big was going on and filling stuff away in order to make it easier for when I got back to work.
*Eerie looking sky leaving work by myself late on a Friday for the last time (November 2019, MTS Systems, Eden Prairie, MN)*
However, on this “break” I didn’t have email or work issues that came up or even could be brought my attention. When I left work on my final day, my email and connection to that job disappeared as well. I was unemployed as I was in between jobs and it was great. I was hoping that my wife and I could have escaped somewhere fun for a couple of days but seeing how this wasn’t planned very far in advance. So my wife still had to work and the kids still had school and their normal after-school activities.
However, that was honestly perfect for me as it allowed me to do more with the kids before and after school as I was still there. However, it also gave me a chance to just do random things during the day from 9am - 4pm when my kids were at school. I took the dog to the dog park where she was just in heaven as there wasn’t anyone there and she could just run around as fast as possible.
*I might be spoiling the dog this week as we have been to the dog park twice already (November 2019, Flying Cloud Dog Park, Eden Prairie, MN)*
I spent the week doing things I enjoyed but honestly, I could have had another week to get even more stuff done as I had planned on taking the time to read a book (yep never happened). I did make sure to sneak in a couple of long runs, multiple runs per day, as well as a fun park that was a lot of hill running but worth the views.
*Running the sloped trails to enjoy the scenery in and around the park was a great way to spend a day off (November 2019, Richard T Anderson Conservatory, Eden Prairie, MN)*
In fact, I even met up with my cousin for a run one of the days I was off. It was good to get outside as well as catch up with her.
*Had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather running around Lake Harriet and catching up with my cousin yesterday (November 2019, Lake Harriet, Minneapolis, MN)*
Finally, I took my wife out on a couple of lunch dates where we could take our time eating and just enjoy each other’s company with nothing big to rush to the next event or worry we are paying some babysitter to allow our kids to watch TV at home :).
I am sad that my time away from work is over as I am now three weeks into my new job. However, I am going to think of ways going forward that I can take a week off and just be at home as disconnected as I can. Another thought is to just take some random days off here and there where I can just do my own thing without other priorities or reasons for taking the day off. I believe that would allow me to be refocused and refreshed going back to work the next day.
Have any of you ever just completely disconnected from work? If so what did you think of it and was it helpful?
First Frozen Face this winter but probably not the last. The temp was a balmy -6° F with no wind this morning… 🏃♂️
What better way to start Turkey Day than a 5k run. Not to mention one that ends with a donut 🍩😋. Minus the icy conditions in a couple places, it was a great day and event. Also, I was pleased to get first in what I have deemed my old man division 😂🏃♂️
From the Lens - November Trail
Running the sloped trails to enjoy the scenery in and around the park was a great way to spend a day off (November 2019, Richard T Anderson Conservatory, Eden Prairie, MN)
