Summary of 2014 Sabbatical Experience

Well, I am now wrapping up my Summer 2014 Sabbatical Experience, and I will return to regular work at Franklin this coming Monday. This has been a wonderful opportunity for me, something I have dreamed of doing for a long time. I am confident that this experience will be a pivotal point in my career - it has opened up many great opportunities for personal learning and professional growth. I've blogged throughout the sabbatical - below are blog posts on my sabbatical.

Travel

• Plans for travel to Utah
• Traveling to Utah from Ohio
• Yellowstone National Park
• Traveling from Utah back to Ohio

Hiking and Running

• Running and Physical Therapy
• Running In Logan
• 2014 Bear Lake Half Marathon
• Hiking in Dry Canyon
• Finishing a Marathon

Self-Reflection and Writing

• Writing at the Library
• Visualizing My Personal Values
• Principles of Positive Team Interaction
• My Leadership Values

Visiting Scholarship at USU - Teaching Support in Higher Education

• First Day at USU
• Top Services in Centers for Teaching Excellence
• Ideal Methods for Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness
• Keynote Address at Utah Instructional Design Summit

I Reached All Sabbatical Goals
At the beginning of this experience, I committed to my leadership at Franklin University that I would (a) write 2-3 scholarly articles, (b) visit Utah State University as a visiting scholar, and (c) apply to become a certified performance technologist. I am happy to say that I have completed each of these objectives, and I have learned a great deal in the process.

I Reached All Personal Goals
In my first blog post about the sabbatical, I also wrote that I wanted to (a) revisit my personal goals, (b) spend time with family, (c) run a marathon, and (d) broaden my knowledge. I can say with some satisfaction that I have been able to do each of these, as well. I have strengthened my goals, have run a half-marathon and a marathon, have spent a great deal of time with the members of my family who live in Utah, and have have read many books that have broadened my perspective.

I am very grateful to the leadership at Franklin University for giving me this opportunity. I have learned so much through my work at Franklin, and I will always be grateful for the opportunities I have received. This was an outstanding opportunity to extend my professional knowledge and experiences, travel, read, write, and spend time with my family. Thanks again to the leadership at Franklin for making this experience a possibility and for supporting me as I have moved forward in my goals. And thanks to my coworkers at Franklin who took over my responsibilities while I was gone. I could not have done this work without them!

I Finished a Marathon

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my goals for this summer was to complete a marathon. I had originally planned on completing a marathon on July 24th, the Deseret News Marathon in Salt Lake City, Utah. As I approached the date, I realized that I would likely need a few more weeks of training before I could complete it. I determined to do my own marathon distance, without entering a marathon race. I chose to run this race in the beautiful Batelle Darby Creek area southwest of Columbus, Ohio.

I completed my marathon at Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park. There are some great trails there, though they are fairly short. The longest is  about 4.5 miles, so I had to repeat a few trips.

I wasn't sure what the weather would be like, so I woke up pretty early (2:30 AM) and began my marathon in my neighborhood. I walked 10 miles there until the sun started to shine, at which time I drove to the park to complete the next 16.2 miles.

One of the trails at Darby Creek Park. It is a pretty park with some nice trails.

A few notes from the marathon experience:

• Rain - It actually rained off and on for most of my marathon. I ended up using an umbrella to try to avoid getting my feet wet, which could have caused more blistering.
• Frogs - I probably saw 27 frogs while completing the marathon. I walked by a couple of snakes, too, which was a little disconcerting.
• Pain - One of my friends described his first marathon as "excruciating," and I now know what he meant. The last 3 miles were incredibly painful, which really surprised me. This kind of pain something I would not like to experience anytime soon.
• Books - I listened to 2.5 books during the marathon. This is a great way to learn and exercise at the same time.

This is around mile 15. I was still feeling pretty good at this point. I am looking old.

When I came home from the marathon, I was feeling pretty messed up. I stopped by Chipotle for a Veggie Burrito, showered, and fell asleep for 4 hours. Later that night when I woke up, I found that my feet were so sore that it KILLED to walk on the cracks between the tiles in our kitchen. That was weird.

I am happy that I accomplished my goal to complete the marathon this summer. It took many weeks of training, and I still didn't feel quite prepared for the difficulty. I had set a goal to complete 36 miles on my 36th birthday, but at this point (the day after the marathon) I am not too sure. As far as completing another marathon, I may likely try it again, but I'm pretty sure I won't do it for quite a while.

The 2014 Bear Lake Half Marathon (Utah)

Well, I have successfully completed my first half marathon race. I trained pretty hard over the last 2.5 months, and it has been a really great experience. Here's the route I ran for the Bear Lake Half Marathon: http://mammothmarathons.org/maps/bear-lake-half-marathon-map.php . I'll share some pictures below.

Here is all the stuff I laid out the night before. I only slept about 4 hours, which was irritating.

Me before the race. I feel my legs look really short in this picture, kind of like the characters on Punch-Out.

It was SO COLD. I wish I had brought a jacket for the run. I think I could have worn it for most of the race. 

Here I am approaching the finish line (I am the black dot in the middle). That is my daughter cheering for me in the foreground. 

My beautiful, supportive wife Katie also cheered me on.

This guy Henry  has run over 900 marathons, which I thought was pretty cool. 

Tips For the Next Race

I learned a few things on this my first official endurance-style run:

1. Bring a jacket. It was so cold this morning that my hands went numb. This was a problem when I couldn't get burrs out of my socks because my fingers weren't working.
2. Use running socks. Apparently there are socks that prevent blisters, but I just ran in cotton socks. I didn't get any blisters, but the bottom of my feet were hurting and still feel pretty sensitive.
3. Do it again. It was a great experience, overall, and I am looking forward to my next race.

This was a great experience, really, and I plan on continuing my running. As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan to run 36 miles on my 36th birthday. (Actually, it will probably be the week after my birthday due to some scheduling issues). I am not entirely sure how I am going to do this - today's run was pretty tough, and I only have 3 months to prepare. But I am excited to keep working toward it and believe that I will get there.

Running in Logan

Yesterday I went running. It was a beautiful, cool morning, and my training schedule called for a 10 mile run, so I left early, around 7:00. This was my last long run before I run the Bear Lake Half Marathon next Saturday morning. I've been training for about 3 months and feel prepared for the race - my first half marathon.

I usually run in Ohio, and running in Utah is an entirely different experience. The mountains, altitude, and lack of humidity make for a beautiful running environment. I ran out and back on a 5 mile loop orbiting Utah State's main campus - down onto the "island" area of Logan, up to the mouth of Logan Canyon, and across the Lake Bonneville Trail. I was shocked by the beauty of the valley and its mounts and took a few photos while I ran.

A look up 400 North toward the mouth of Logan Canyon, where I was headed.

A little closer to Logan Canyon. This is "first dam" at the base of the mountain.

Looking down on "first dam" from the mountain as I ascended on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Looking up the mountain along Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Looking back toward USU campus. You can see it in front of the distant mountains on the right.

Running and Physical Therapy

I have set a crazy goal to walk/run 36 miles on my 36th birthday this September. I've never done anything like this before (accept the week-long 50 mile hike/bike ride I did as a Boy Scout of America which was a lot of downhill riding and mosquitos). But, barring any injury, I am going for it.

In this quest to run 36 miles, I've been seeking the help of several professionals. I've been working with a physical therapist for the last 3 months, and she has helped me to build my strength so I can avoid injury as much as possible during my training.

Video Analysis
My physical therapist recommended that I have another expert physical therapist do a video analysis of my running. The first thing the therapist did was have me take off my shoes and walk around in increasingly ridiculous ways. She was apparently observing my gait to see the mechanics of my joints. She then placed several blue stickers on my legs and had me hop on the treadmill where she took video of me running.

When I run, I sometimes imagine that I glide gazelle-like across the asphalt, the ground flowing beneath me. This is what I think I look like when I run:

After running on the treadmill for about10 minutes, we reviewed the video of me running on her ipad. She showed me several areas in my running that could be improved to improve my running. However, I must admit that I was a little distracted by the two most obvious observations of my running:

(1) I am a handsome fellow, - this I expected - and

(2) my running did not in fact look like a gazelle bounding freely in the meadow. It looked, in fact, a little more zombie-like, similar to this:

The therapist emailed me several exercises to work on over the coming several weeks to make my running and walking more efficient, so I guess I'll start working on that. Just 4 months to go until my 36 miler!