The Reflective Runner

Six years ago, we enjoyed a white Christmas in east Tennessee. There wasn’t a chance of that this year as the high reached 70 degrees. However, it was a fantastic day for running…and reflecting! We returned from church and my wife slid a lasagna into the oven. I slipped out for an easy paced run and it was like a scene from a Christmas movie. Children were playing with their new presents and shouted “Merry Christmas” as I ran by them. I passed houses with driveways filled with cars and families greeting each other with arms full of gifts. Then I ran down our wonderful greenway path only to pass more people running, walking, and cycling. Some were solo like me, while others were clearly grouped with family and friends. There were smiles and plenty of “Merry Christmas” salutes to go around. As I absorbed these scenes and reflected on Christmas, some interesting connections were made in my mind. Our pastor gave a fantastic sermon on “Jesus of Christmas past, present, future” tha...

While enjoying my cool December evening runs this week, my reflections were more aligned with being able to run than my usual thoughts on facilitating learning environments. When I am in my optimal training condition, I am guilty of taking for granted the blessings of being healthy and injury free. This week I certainly was not taking for granted being able to run and enjoyed the cool wind in my face and the ability to take wonderful deep breaths. It was fantastic! While running at twilight, I was reflecting on starting this new blog and suddenly the irony of being a reflective runner (thoughts) and a reflective runner (visually) entered my thoughts. My thinking then went to running safety and how it may benefit some to mention some basic safety recommendations for evening runs. Wear reflective clothing...most running hats, jackets, shoes, etc, have reflective material A blinking light is even better...bottom line is that you want to be sure motorist can see you If road run...

Ah yes, the song "On the road again...just can't wait to get on the road again..." has been echoing in my head for months. This has been an unusual year of upper respiratory illnesses that have been a nasty barrier to my enjoyment of running. I have craved the road and briefly returned to only be taken out be yet another bout of "creeping crud." My physician explained that the body needs a good 3 months of recovery to fully recover from these illnesses and that during this time the immune system is weakened and thus any exposure to new bacteria or viruses are more welcomed. Well, that explains the last 6 months of wellness to illness to wellness...blah! The last illness period was in October and I allowed more recovery time before running again. The return was complicated further by poor air quality in November due to forest fires in my area . Therefore, my first run in months was this week. I am cautiously returning with short distances and slow paces, b...

Running provides me the solace and solitude I require for my deepest reflective thoughts. This blog will include post run thoughts as well as other musings. I invite you to join me on my reflective journey as I think about how to facilitate opportunities of knowledge discovery so that adult learners are able to meet their learning needs.