Seasons

This blog has not been kept up for the past several years because my professional and private life created enough activities that posting updates were more work than pleasure.

So I took a season off from updating this.  Now as my life continues to evolve, I feel it might be the right time to begin this journey again.

So in the Winter/Spring of 2016, I made a major change in my life.  I began to transition from being the Associate Director for the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel to life as the General Presbyter of Kiskiminetas Presbytery in Pennsylvania.  Basically, I became pastor to 79 churches with about 7,000 plus members spread across a 5 county area Northeast of Pittsburgh.  And it has been a wonderful adventure.

But making this transition has had ups and downs.  One of the downsides was having to cut my running time.  After all my years of running and moving, I realize that there is a time you have to just admit, running time is a luxury that you currently can't afford.  I know there are some who would highly disagree with me on that statement, but honestly, when running dictates your daily activities to the point of hurting you and your relationship with others, it is too much.  And as a Christian, I believe that my relationship with God is more important than running.  So I greatly reduced my runs.  I didn't stop, but my average monthly millage total dropped to about 60 miles, or about 2 miles a day.

But as I began to settle into a comfort level with my life, I began to increase my mileage and time.  Balance is critical.  So when I balanced my life out, with work, family, and God; I was able to bring back my running time.  Lesson to be learned:  I control my running, my running doesn't control me.  O there were times I didn't take that lesson to heart, and the result always tended to be an increase in my stress level. I run to reduce stress, not to increase it.  So I took the season off.

Now I'm back.  On 30 September, I'll be up in Bristol, New Hampshire to run their marathon.  I'm excited and anxious to get back. As my old coach used to say:  Go out, have fun, and keep the desire to run.  Yeah...that's what it is all about.

Running - The Sacred Art:Preparing to Practice

Warren Kay's book on running is one of the best. I just finished reading it. An awesome book, so here is one of my favorite quotes from the book.

"This is my sacred space when I run alone, this is my ritual, this is my sanctuary! I find God here, waiting for me, matching my pace. As my breath gets less jagged and my stride settles in to my unique pattern of effort, I find inner stillness cradled in outer motion. Through the stillness I have found a great deal of peace. After of lifetime of panting, I finally caught my breath."

Throughout my life when things were troubling me or I was upset, running has been my prayer time. Getting up early in the morning as the sun is rising, I found God there in the silence as the sun broke the horizon and God's peace enveloped me. When life's problems presented no solutions for me, my run became that sacred place to share my thoughts and anxiety with God. Getting up after hours of setting at my desk for a late afternoon run on a warm summer day, often allowed my mind to drift to solutions that I couldn’t see early while trying so hard to solve the problem at hand. When the demands of others made me exhausted and I felt the emotional tank on empty, those quiet sunset runs provided a source of energy that allowed me to strengthen my hope in others.

So when Dr Kay talks about the run being “sanctuary” I understand. I understand that running is my movement towards God…more then any movement away from the problems of life.

Quick Update

My running this past week has been great. But now I'm off on a trip to the Far East...and I know my running will be way down. The thing is I will still try to get out on my running days even if it is just to run for about 10 minutes. We all have weeks where we can't train like we know we should...so the solution is try to do something.

So I'll share more when I return next week.

Where is spring?

When is spring going to get here? It’s March already. It’s still cloudy and wet…we still have snow on the ground from our massive snow storm in the early part of February. To be truthful, I can’t even remember the last time I saw the sun out… maybe peeking through the clouds… but…. out as in bright and… here is the key… warm. I’m just ready for spring.

Getting into a blue mood isn’t unusual.  But how to get out of this funk? That’s the question.

As I thought about this the other day…I thought about other times when I felt trapped by the weather, or work, or just the stresses of life. Then it hit me…get out and get running. Yea…getting out and getting the body moving has always helped get me out of my depression. Something that I’ve done before…and don’t recommend to anyone…is runing streak.

Running streak is getting out and running every day for a period of time…my longest streak is 101 days of running, done way back in 1987. I’m not an advocate because I believe rest is an important part of keeping running fresh and injury free.

Still there is something about getting your body moving for a few days in a row to get your head back in the game. Focus…is key. So on Sunday, I started a streak…my longest of the year… I’ve actually run four straight days. And today was a battle to get outside and run. But I did it.

I’m not sure how long I’ll keep this streak going…I was thinking about 20 to 50 days…but then my old self…the one that thinks it’s 20 years old…came in to the discussion and said, "You can do 100 days…you did it before." Yea…but that was 1987…this is 2010…do the math…that's one too many years to think I can do it and not pay the price. But still…smart running…what I can do?  So for now I'll keep this streak going for a few more days…and who knows. The price paid maybe just enough to get me out of this funk.

New Location

I arrived at Fort George G. Meade yesterday evening, and today started the task of trying to settle my family into a new home and community. With this move coming at the end of my 6 month deployment to Kuwait my stress level has been through the roof. During the hours of driving cross country, I heard several individuals on talk radio describe the ideal life as one that is stress free. I also saw a sign outside a church proclaiming that wonderful idea that "I'm too blessed to be stressed." In our culture, we see stress as something to be avoided at all cost. And I have a hard time getting my head around that concept.

Stress is without doubt a killer if we have too much in our life. Only a couple of years ago, only a week before moving to Florida, I ended up in the hospital with ulcers. In retrospect stress had a lot to do with my condition. I was busy working on my Doctorate degree and in the middle of a massive project, and moving to another side of the country. But also in retrospect I have to admit that I was not taking care of myself. I was up to two and three in the morning and getting about 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night. My running...was...what...totally missing...and I ate poorly and on an irregularly pattern. But the key was that I was not managing and controlling my stress. Stress will do that to us, and we need to learn to manage that stress.

I once heard someone say that stress is that which helps us grow. Without stress we can’t grow. If you want to do something…or accomplish something, you will have to deal with your stress. Stress is the byproduct of living life.

Running is a stressor. You put on your running shoes and head outside, and you stress your body. Your heart rate rises, you spend calories. You cause wear and tear on your body…that is stress. But and I can’t figure this out…it also is a stress reducer. Running allows you to focus stress of things you can’t control into something to you can control. After a good mile or two run, you feel more in control and your stress level is reduced.

These individuals proclaiming a perfect life with no stress are kidding themselves and everyone listening to them. What we need to do is work on managing the stress. I’m not going to miss lead you…but if you are being blessed by God…you are going to be stressed…or you’re going to be dead and in heaven, and in that case stress isn't a player. So I’ve been managing my moving stress, with running and it has worked perfectly. So if you feel stressed out…then get out and run…it will actually help you cope better with the stress you can’t control.

Sunset

I remember as a child my mom always saying, "Red sky at night sailors delight, red sky at morning sailors take warning." As I ran along the clifts over looking the Pacific at sunset...and of course it was a red sky. I can only guess it was the relief of having the packers out of the house and getting to the last part of the move...tomorrow we load the truck...but I had a real sense of relief. Or was it because the sunset was just beautiful. Anyway my mental stress was gone. As I ran along the cliff, I remembered my mom's old saying...and yea..."Red sky at night..." Good things are coming. We just need to keep putting one step in front of the next.

Keep a health perspective on life

With everything going on in my life, it seems the last thing I want to do this weekend is run another marathon. My training has been awful for the past two months. So why bother? Because it is there and I love the challenge.

To be truthful, this run is not about time. My goals are simply to enjoy the day, the fellowship of other runners and complete the distance. A final reason is that this will be the last marathon I run for a while. My work requires me to put on hold my goal to run a sub 4 hour marathon until next year. In fact my updating this blog site over the next several months will be difficult.

What I would like you to take away from this rambling today is that life needs to be lived. Do the things that you can...but don't get upset if your plans have to be placed on hold. As it says in Ecclesiastes, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace."

Yea...it’s an old passage that you might have heard before like in the 1960's when it was a hit song. But...the truth remains. There are seasons in our lives, just like there are seasons in the year. So this Sunday, I'll be there in Huntington Beach to run the Surf City Marathon...and the weeks following...I'll be off to the other side of the world to take care of our wonderful sailors, soldiers and airmen serving in the Middle East.

Relaxing Saturday

Well, it’s been a very relaxing Saturday after a very busy two weeks. It’s been a day of reflecting and recharge. Yes, I did get up this morning and ran through a morning mist along the trails in Trumps National Golf Course. But it was just an easy relaxing pace and enjoying the calm. Everything was calm. Even the Pacific Ocean was relatively peaceful.

Running is a balance. There are days that you really push hard and work yourself to the limits and then there are these kind of days were the workout seems like cheating. That balance is what we need in our lives both running but also professionally, socially and spiritually.

Good News??? Bad News!!!!

It was one of those days. I'm running from meeting to meeting all morning. The day was so full of meetings that I had to schedule a lunchtime meeting with the representatives of the Gideons International. Love the group, but hate eating a huge lunch...which it was...but a really productive meeting. Then I rushed to get back to work and I had my senior enlisted troop come up to me before our staff meeting asking if I wanted the Good News or Bad News or should he wait until the staff meeting. My response; "...never tell the boss bad news in a meeting so let me have it."

Good news...the Command Chaplain was coming for a visit "next week." The Bad news...the number 8 runner for the base team was out of the marathon and I was now selected to run the race on Saturday in Dayton. Or was that the other way around...sometimes the good news sounds like the bad news and the bad news sounds like the good news.

Honestly both pieces of information were both good and bad. Good that the Command Chaplain wants to visit us...bad because we have to rush and get things ready for the visit...not really a lot to do but just having to get it done in 8 days. The run was bad news for the runner not being able to compete. I know she trained hard and was ready to run a super fast time...me on the other hand...I'm about 45 minutes slower even on my best day. Good news because I really wanted to run the Air Force Marathon again. I've run the race in 2002 and 2003 when I lived there. I love the course and the people.

This is what life is about. Things happen and if you are prepared for them, you can step up and take full advantage of them. Most people, I know would really panic if they knew the big boss was coming to visit. But I've got a great staff and nothing seems to phase them...and with me being gone for 4 days out of the 8 to prepare for the visit they will do a better job then with me standing over their shoulders trying to get them to do things my way. Again most people would not be able to say...okay...I'll do a 26.2 mile race this weekend and give it my all...okay...a few of us insane runners could do it. But I'm really not worried about the run. I've done 19 marathons, and since last October, I've done 5 and 3 of those were done in a 32 day window of time.

So these two pieces of information that would petrify others are only challenges for me...not because I'm anything special...but because I'm prepared. So my encouragement to you is stop worrying about the things you have no control over...but prepare yourself now for the challenges that are coming in the future.

Long Week

This is me in July 1976 at the Alabama AAU Championship Meet at Troy State University. I had just finished competing in the 6 mile open division.

I've not adding anything new here this week because I've been busy with life. That to me is the hardest part of living life. I make plans...then life happens and throws my plans out the window. But I'm still standing and I'm still running.


My stress this past week was my staff being out of the office. On any day, I had two or maybe three members working. In fact on Thursday there were only two of us in the office the whole day. And the work load was the same as any other day. My sanity was maintained because my daughter (#3) forced me out to run at sundown. The quiet and solitude was there, but my daughter, not normally a talkative runner, had all kinds of hard life questions she wanted to ask. In our conversation, one point that M. Scott Peck repeatedly makes in his books kept rising to the surface. "Life is difficult." And I would add that it is this overcoming of life's problems where we truly live.


I've also started to read Paulo Coelho's new book Brida. In the introduction he talks about each person taking one of two attitudes to life. The first is the builder who in his words: "...builders take years over their tasks, but one day, they finish what they're doing. Then they find they're hemmed in by their own walls. Life loses it meaning when the building stops." The second attitude is that of the gardener: "They endure storms and all the many vicissitudes of the seasons, and they rarely rest. But unlike a building, a garden never stops growing. And while it requires the gardener's constant attention, it also allows life for the gardener to be a great adventure."


When I read these words last night it put this week...and my life in a new perspective. I'm 50 years old and I'm thinking about going back to school to earn a second doctoral degree...I'm still trying to improve my running, though I'm long past my prime...I've helped two of my daughters grow up and get out of the house, but I've still got two more children at home to help them plot courses through life... I always thought I was building my life and at some point I would be able to look on my life and setback and enjoy the fruit of my work. After reading Coelho's words...I really think I'm a gardener and I'm enjoying my fruit as I work. So some weeks will be tougher than others, some seasons will be more productive then others...but the great adventure is still out there and comes everyday. I guess I want to see myself as the gardener for lots of reason but the most important one is that I know God gives the rain and the growth.