While I'm in Woodstock NY (actually Bearsville, NY which is adjacent to Woodstock) for Training Camp, I have some extra "down" time in the evenings. Hence: back to back Blog posts...
My next Sabbatical adventure was a trip to St. Louis to do some exploring. I wanted to talk to some more people in our church about Health and Wellness. I decided to contact some professors at the seminary to see if they had time to talk. I also contacted our regional representative for "Vitality" which is the Concordia Plan for church workers to encourage healthy living. I was able to meet with 2 professors for a while, (Dr Gibbs and Dr Arand) one of them in the faculty lounge. That was a pretty cool hour in the lounge at the seminary. I then had dinner with a 3rd person from seminary, Travis Scholl who is the author of one of the books I'm reading. We talked about the Sabbatical, and about Camp Arcadia this summer where we will be working together for a week. His topic is related to "Epiphanies" in everyday life. I told him that this was exactly what I was getting out of his book.
The next day I met with Steve Gruenwald from Concordia Plan Services and "Vitality". We took a trip to Christ Church Memorial in St. Louis to look at their Health Center. The church converted an old Target building into their church building about 10 years ago. As part of the renovation, they dedicated a large space to be a workout facility. They offer free gym usage throughout the week, with classes as well as free rehabilitation services. It is a large endeavor in which they receive some outside funding to make happen.
Steve and I talked for a while about ways that the Lutheran Church could bring together some of the many groups that are doing Health and Wellness ministry. We also discussed the changes to the Concordia Plans rewards program for workers. He recognized that it is more difficult to get rewards (workers can get gift cards for various wellness activities), but he believes that the website is much more informational and that the focus of the program is trying to get people in better health. For some, me included, the goal was about rewards.
After 1 night in St Louis and some great discussions, I headed back home. The Sabbatical has been a great time of evaluating many areas of my life, including home life. The rewards have been great thus far as Beth and I have learned some things about ourselves that have helped us grow together even closer. Getting out of the routine of life has brought some things into focus that can easily be missed.
My next race (4th overall) was on Saturday last week, an Olympic distance triathlon in Muncie. It was COLD that morning. I spent most of the pre-race meeting and prep in the Men's bath house, trying to stay warm. Even with a full wetsuit on, it was chilly. The first race of the day was the Sprint Triathlon before they let those of us doing the Olympic triathlon start. During the swim portion they had to pull 7 people from the water due to cold and choppy water. They decided to cut the Olympic swim in half, we swam about 800 meters instead. Once I got in the water, I was very glad it was no longer. I felt pretty good after the swim, although I did not feel my feet until half-way through the run, and this was after over an hour on the bike. I got my best Olympic-distance time, but placed further down in age group for this race. It was a large field and my age group is very competitive.
I headed home for the evening. We went out together as a family to church at Northview, a large church in our town for their Saturday service. We then went to dinner at Chic-fil-a before I headed out of town that evening to head to my Triathlon Camp in Woodstock NY. More about that in my next BLOG. Until then...
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