Monday, February 8, 2016

I Don't Know You

I don't know you.

I don't know why you run or how long you've been running. I don't know what races you've done or if you have even done any at all. I don't know what your normal pace is and I don't know what kind of injuries you have suffered through running.

But we belong to the same running group and today we will spend the next hour together. We run side by side, lock in at a comfortable pace, and we match our strides and our breaths. Twenty minutes into this run, you tell me about your running experiences, your best runs, your injuries, your race mishaps.

I don't know you.

I don't know where you're from and what your childhood was like. I don't know what you do for a living, if you are married, and if you have children. I don't know what makes you happy and what difficult times you have been through. We're not even from the same generation. We don't even have the same skin colour and the same religion. We have different and maybe conflicting values, morals, and life plans.

But today we are running together and we are now forty minutes into this run. Our breathing is still synchronized and we've picked up the pace a little. You begin to tell me about your spouse and your children. You can't wait for your upcoming trip. You are going through a tough time in your personal life and you share that with me. You recently got a promotion at work and are excited about the new challenges you are facing.

I still don't know you. But for one hour, during our run, it felt like I did.

Good run, see you next Sunday.

This is why I run.
After 3 years, I know these guys!

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Reflections

Probably reflecting on how hard this race was!
(Photo: Cheryl Young)
One of the most important things I learned during my master's degree was the important role self-reflection plays in the learning process. Since my degree was in education and human development, I was regularly required to reflect on my learnings in structured ways, such as writing self-reflection essays or through group discussions. Over the course of two years, I began to appreciate the usefulness of reflecting on what I was learning. Reflection is where I made sense of the theories I heard about in class. Reflection is how I related abstract or unfamiliar concepts and ideas to my work or personal life. I have come to the conclusion that without reflection, there is no learning.

I have since graduated, which means there is no requirement for self-reflection in anything I do. No essays, no due dates! But what happens to learning and self-reflection after school? My previous attempts at keeping a journal have resulted in a long first entry where I reflect on everything going through my head at that time followed by blank pages and another wasted notebook. Here is where running comes into play.

These days, life is busy and anything but routine. Time for self-reflection can easily get lost in this chaos. However, regardless of where I am and what I am doing, I can always count on my hour or so of running four to six times a week for self-reflection. Running is where I make sense of good and bad news. Actually, news (good or bad) are usually followed by an urge to run. Running is where I prepare for interviews. Running is where I analyze a decision I made at work earlier in the day. Running is where I do my staff's performance appraisals. Running is where I think about how to be a better husband, brother, son, and friend. Running is where I think about how my actions affect others. Running is how I keep learning beyond school.

This is why I run.