Having recently talked about my work location changes, it got me thinking about progression in facets of my life. Progression of getting things at work set up and approved for the assignment in Colorado Springs is just one of the items that I have been tracking and thinking about lately.
Another that has been on my mind for a long time is my running progression and getting back to a semblance of shape that I used to be in prior to my hamstring injuries. While I know that I likely will never be able to spin my wheels on the streets as fast as I used to, I do know that I have some racing left in me and am training to get to the point where I can do that. My training has been going quite well. I am pleased to say the least. My coach has me up to around 50 miles a week and we just bumped up the number of days per week I am training from 5 to 6. This progression has been metered out slowly over the past 4-5 months so that I do not have a reoccurrence of my hamstring issues and to force me to make sure I am working not only on my running, but also on keeping my muscles and core strengthened. While we are slowly bumping up the mileage, we are also bumping up the types of workouts I am completing, track intervals, progression runs, tempos, fartlek runs, wave tempos. Getting back into these types of runs is infusing my spirit. I didn't realize how much I had been missing getting some laps in on the track. The big thing I figured out I was missing was the feeling you get after completing one of those hard workouts that at first seems daunting when read. Success breeds success when it comes to running and training.
If I take a look at my life from a somewhat wider focus, there is something that I see that has been present in my work progression as well as running progression, supporting me in these focused areas and contributing to these areas, but also has been present in everything else in my life and I dare say defines my life. That something is my wife. Elizabeth truly is my life. She is the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning. She is the last thing I think of when I go to sleep. I do not know that I could keep track of the number of times I think about her during the day when I am at work.
But, you say, how does this fit into the theme of progression? Getting to the point where I have this immense love for E- has been a steady progression from when I first met her years ago at Clemson. Have I loved her all of this time? Of course I have. But this love is multi-faceted and builds upon itself. Just as success breeds success in running, love breeds love in life. We have been married for over 25 years now and I am still finding things about E- that make me grin like a kid and build my love for her. If someone is your life, you can't help but build your love for them and you can't help but get excited about how your life with them will progress, no matter how long you have had them in your life. I have been thinking about this a lot lately because as I potentially transition in the work place, I will be away from her for long periods of time and I am not going to like that. I always want to be around her, mainly just to be around her. She calms me. She is my focal point when I need to orient myself. I am hoping that I will be able to find that focal point over the phone when I need it while in Colorado without her.
Progression. Everything we successfully do in life has a progression. Everything we unsuccessfully do in life has a progression. Everything we attempt has a progression. You get my point. How you live your life depends on how you meter out that progression. Be wise in how you progress and items in your life will work themselves out.
What items are you working on right now in your lives? Do you have a progression plan for them or are you sitting back and just observing how they progress? No matter which, I hope you have someone in your life that is there with you as you go. I definitely know I have such a someone and I love her to death.
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Decision!
So in my last post, which by the way has been too long ago, I wrote of how I tend to handle making larger decisions, and how I tend to obsess over them (see: Decisions, Decisions). I have not followed up since then on if I had made a decision yet.
Well, I have. More accurately, we have, as this decision involved my whole family, not just me. At work, I have been pursuing an innovation which involves a new type of position. This position involves embedding a development/integration position at a location that is not Huntsville. As part of bringing this to my program for consideration, I have volunteered to be the person to assume these new roles and responsibilities. What this means is that I will be splitting time between here in Alabama and in:
(imaginary drum roll)
Colorado Springs, CO
As I move into this role, the bulk of my time will gravitate towards CO. What about my family, you ask? For the next several years, E- and I did not feel comfortable doing a full-blown move to CO while thekids adult children are in college. We wanted to have someone close enough to drive to Auburn or Starkville in case something came up. Even with a larger part of my time being in CO, I will be in Huntsville periodically and E- will come out to CO to spend time there too. Part of this will be E- and I feeling out how this works, how we feel about it and things like that. Same goes for figuring out the work/position part.
When I first mentioned this to E-, I expected a flat-out NO! However, her response was "Heck yeah!" followed by "I would move there if we didn't have M and R in college close to here." It seems she is as ready for some life changes as I am.
Will I be slightly nervous doing this? Of course I will. That is who I am; I cannot change that. However, as I have told E-, one reason I feel like this is the path I am supposed to take is that I have not been stressed about it. I have not even been nervous about it yet, other than just momentary "what about this" and "what about that" questions that pop into my head at random times. This lack of stress and nervousness is not the norm for me, so I am taking this as my sign.
We are ready for a new adventure and if this works out in the long run, it will be just that. I see others that I know that move to various places and do not seem to be too phased by it. E- and I have not done that since moving here from graduate school back in 1991, mainly because we loved the Huntsville/Madison area and the excellent schools located here for our children took precedence over anything else.
I am excited. E- is excited (or at least I believe she is!). And, another shocker to me, M and R are excited about it as well.
Will we end up in Colorado Springs permanently in the future? I don't know. But it is fun and exciting to know that over the next several years, that answer will take shape.
I am sure future posts will bring new info on how this is all working, how my running is going now that I will definitely be getting plenty of training in altitude, and how E- and my adventures are taking shape. For those of you in or close to Colorado Springs, give me a ping as I will be looking for establishing new connections while I am there.
Here's to those of you that let me know how you handle making major decisions after I posed that question in my last post. It was nice to see how everyone handles it slightly different, but kind of the same. Big props to my father-in-law, Zeb, for sending me a nice email on past decisions he has had to make. What all of you sent as comments, texts, or emails helped me organize my lists and gave me other things to think about at the same time.
In my heart, at this point in time, I am confident that I have made the right decision. That doesn't mean that I will not have to make another decision in the future related to this same item, but I will worry that in the future when/if it comes.
I will ask another question in closing. After making past major decisions, how did things turn out? Do any of you regret the decisions you made or if things didn't turn out as expected, are you still glad you chose the path you did?
Wish us luck on our new Clemens' adventure!
Well, I have. More accurately, we have, as this decision involved my whole family, not just me. At work, I have been pursuing an innovation which involves a new type of position. This position involves embedding a development/integration position at a location that is not Huntsville. As part of bringing this to my program for consideration, I have volunteered to be the person to assume these new roles and responsibilities. What this means is that I will be splitting time between here in Alabama and in:
(imaginary drum roll)
Colorado Springs, CO
As I move into this role, the bulk of my time will gravitate towards CO. What about my family, you ask? For the next several years, E- and I did not feel comfortable doing a full-blown move to CO while the
When I first mentioned this to E-, I expected a flat-out NO! However, her response was "Heck yeah!" followed by "I would move there if we didn't have M and R in college close to here." It seems she is as ready for some life changes as I am.
Will I be slightly nervous doing this? Of course I will. That is who I am; I cannot change that. However, as I have told E-, one reason I feel like this is the path I am supposed to take is that I have not been stressed about it. I have not even been nervous about it yet, other than just momentary "what about this" and "what about that" questions that pop into my head at random times. This lack of stress and nervousness is not the norm for me, so I am taking this as my sign.
We are ready for a new adventure and if this works out in the long run, it will be just that. I see others that I know that move to various places and do not seem to be too phased by it. E- and I have not done that since moving here from graduate school back in 1991, mainly because we loved the Huntsville/Madison area and the excellent schools located here for our children took precedence over anything else.
I am excited. E- is excited (or at least I believe she is!). And, another shocker to me, M and R are excited about it as well.
Will we end up in Colorado Springs permanently in the future? I don't know. But it is fun and exciting to know that over the next several years, that answer will take shape.
I am sure future posts will bring new info on how this is all working, how my running is going now that I will definitely be getting plenty of training in altitude, and how E- and my adventures are taking shape. For those of you in or close to Colorado Springs, give me a ping as I will be looking for establishing new connections while I am there.
Here's to those of you that let me know how you handle making major decisions after I posed that question in my last post. It was nice to see how everyone handles it slightly different, but kind of the same. Big props to my father-in-law, Zeb, for sending me a nice email on past decisions he has had to make. What all of you sent as comments, texts, or emails helped me organize my lists and gave me other things to think about at the same time.
In my heart, at this point in time, I am confident that I have made the right decision. That doesn't mean that I will not have to make another decision in the future related to this same item, but I will worry that in the future when/if it comes.
I will ask another question in closing. After making past major decisions, how did things turn out? Do any of you regret the decisions you made or if things didn't turn out as expected, are you still glad you chose the path you did?
Wish us luck on our new Clemens' adventure!
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