As President, there are always many things that need to be done to address the needs of the campus and its many stakeholders. Over the past few years, I found myself in a routine of working at the office and then coming home to work until bedtime.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in the Spring of 2020, we sent most of our students home, and I spent even more time at home working. Even though I was in regular communication with colleagues and friends, the isolation began to impact me. I was overweight, stressed, and tired much of the time. I didn’t know how to get out of that cycle.
Then later in the summer, a couple of our closest friends came over for a dinner. They invited me to get on a structured meal plan with them. I decided to take them up on that and began to manage the portions and types of healthy foods for meals and snacks. After a while, I began to notice that I had more energy and had the desire to get out of the house more.
I often saw different people walking around the parking lots of Joe Aillet Stadium, so I decided to try some walking myself over the Christmas holidays. Initially, I would walk up to Hideaway Park and make a loop around the park before coming home. I kept doing that walk regularly and began to notice my endurance improving and walking a bit easier. Some of my aches and pains brought on by inactivity over the years began to fade away.
Every day, I continued to walk, setting small milestones and stretch goals. I kept feeling better the more that I walked. Walking around our athletics venues gave me frequent opportunities to run into a few students, staff, and community members. Those interactions, although brief, were refreshing.
My experiences over the past year really helped me get a better perspective on how much my physical conditioning impacts my mind and body. I know that there are many others on our campus like me – those who are “too busy” to focus on their own health. I see the same signs of fatigue that I had.
Returning to campus last spring lifted everyone’s spirits as we could have more face-to-face interactions and a greater sense of normalcy. Through all of these past months, my wife Kathy has been helpful as she helps me keep my routine and get my walks in every day. Carrie Flournoy and Miki Lyons also provided encouragement and understanding. They helped prove the saying that our friends and family are most important in helping us achieve our health goals.
I invited our Kinesiology faculty, David and Jessica Szymanski and Lacey Deal, to come to my office before the beginning of the Fall Quarter to get their thoughts about organizing some activities to encourage faculty and staff health. We decided that organizing some Saturday morning walks for our Tech Family members would benefit everyone who decided to participate. Tonya Oaks Smith and Carrie joined in to help organize and publicize the walks. Everyone offered many great ideas and encouragement.
The first three Tech Family Walking Group walks were set for early Saturday mornings before September football games. I had no idea how many would show up, but was pleasantly surprised on that first Saturday morning when 50 to 60 of our friends and colleagues from every part of campus showed up at the beginning of the driveway to the President’s residence.
Jessica and Lacey had everything organized so people could choose their preferred walking distance and pace. Several of our Kinesiology students set the pace and led us on our walks to campus. It was most enjoyable to walk and chat with different people that I had not been able to get to know well beforehand. I saw many great conversations between colleagues, who quickly became friends, on the walks.
We have continued to have the Saturday Tech Family Walks every Saturday beginning at Aspire Plaza at 8 a.m. We have different students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members that show up for the walks, and we always have a great time. During our annual Legacy Day, we even invited future Bulldogs and their alumni parents to join us for a special tour of campus.
I found that walking with others is a great motivational driver. However, you first have to make a commitment to focus on yourself – on your health.
Just get out and walk. No excuses! Block out an hour for YOU! Every day!
And come join us this Saturday morning for a walk! You’ll love it!!
The Exponential Factor 