Walk Into the Future

Category: Self Awareness

  • Book Club 2025

    “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.  The man that never reads lives only one.”

    (George R. R. Martin)

    My Walk into the Future in 2025 is defined by a new level of intensity in multiple phases of the walk.

    I have chronicled my race calendar and the desire to challenge myself more in that area.  My desire is to test myself and see how much improvement I can make with my running program.  I almost called it a hobby, but running is a legitimate part of my life, and I don’t know what the world would look like without my 5 am runs.  I guess I would know how to sleep in like normal people if I wasn’t a runner. 😊

    My writing has remained consistent and I’m always looking for new content to add to the blog.  I’ve tried writing prompts and suggestions from my tree branches but 99% of my content comes from just living life. There are weeks when I found unlimited inspiration to write and others where I don’t write at all.  This used to bother me, but I find it’s easier not to force content and let it come to me when it’s time.  I must remember to keep my eyes, ears and thoughts open to receive inspiration and be ready to lay down the tracks that will become a new blog post.

    My friend John Crowe and I have formed a two-person book club that focuses on leadership topics.  John lives in Oklahoma City, and we share new books via text message.  We normally critique each book via text or a Teams call.  John has a curious mind about leadership, and he keeps me inspired to find new ways to enhance my leadership program.  Authentic Leadership is my foundational leadership style, but a true leader never stops learning so my book club work helps me grow and expand my knowledge base. 

    I view 2026 as a big year for my leadership consulting work and the exploration we are doing now will enhance how I work and partner with clients in 2026.

    Here are some of the titles we have explored in book club so far:

    • Team of Teams / General Stanley McChrystal
    • It Worked for Me, In Life and Leadership / General Colin Powell
    • Conquering Crisis, Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them / Admiral William H. McRaven
    • The Positive Dog / Jon Gordon
    • The Power of Positive Leadership / Jon Gordon
    • Leaders Eat Last / Simon Sinek
    • Be The Unicorn / William Vanderbloemen
    • The 5 AM Club, Own Your Morning.  Elevate Your Life / Robin Sharma
    • The Light House Effect / Steve Pemberton
    • Proverbs (daily)

    I am still looking for new books to add to the list to finish the year out strong.  Send me a book suggestion and I will explore for book club. 😊

    What book are you reading right now?

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

    “A book is a gift you can open again and again.”

    (Garrison Keillor)

  • A Triple H Day!

    “Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.”

    (Gever Tulley)

    What’s a Triple H Day?  Great question and I’m more than happy to share my definition with you. 😊

    I discovered or encountered a Triple H Day (heat, humidity and hills) during the 2025 Midwest Financial Group Mini-Marathon when I ventured up to Madison, Wisconsin.  I selected this race to further my running tourist adventures and run in Wisconsin.  Madison is close enough to the Iowa border, so it was an ideal location to drive over to Iowa to explore while I was in the Midwest again.

    August can be a tricky month for racing but the normal average temperatures for Madison range from a high of 81 to a low of 57.  Well, I didn’t get average temperatures for my weekend visit.  I watched the temperatures before heading up with hopes that they would get back down to the average range, but I left Florida knowing the high on race was expected to be 85 degrees.  The race time temperature was projected to be around 67.

    Well, let’s fast forward and the race time temperature was 71 with humidity and it felt warmer than that when I made my way downtown.

    I came to Madison with intentions of running fast but understood early that the heat and humidity would provide a different outcome for my race day.  The racecourse eventually factored into my race outcome as well.  The hills came early and often for this race.  The best part of the day was being around other runners who were experiencing the same agony, and we laughed together on the course when we encountered a new hill.  FYI—the course designers are diabolical because the last 2 miles are on a steep incline and there were a lot of runners cursing as we made our way towards the finish line. 😊

    The racecourse and scenery were beautiful!  I don’t want to come across as complaining about the race or setup.  It was a challenging course and gave me a barometer on my training progress and things I need to work on to keep improving.  The race does show I have a level of resilience that I didn’t know existed.  I was able to battle from start to finish and get up and over every hill I faced.  I’m proud of my ability to focus on the goal of completing this race and enjoying the process (as much as possible) so I could get to the finish line party.  I knew at Mile #5 it was going to be a tough run day but kept moving forward towards my goal.

    I started to chunk the race into manageable pieces after Mile #5 to keep myself motivated and moving forward.  I noticed at this point that my run outfit was completely soaked in sweat—so much so that sweat was falling off my run shorts onto my shoes.  My shoes started feeling like I had been running in the rain and got heavy as the race progressed.

    My focus switched from a specific finish time to running even mile splits for the rest of the race.  I wanted to test myself against the elements and see how I would respond.  I started to enjoy the race more once I released myself from a specific time and just enjoyed the Wisconsin scenery and the folks who were out cheering for random runners.  I started to smile again around Mile #10 and soaked in downtown Madison as we passed through the University of Wisconsin.  Camp Randall Stadium was not open so I never got a chance to Jump Around—not sure I had enough energy, but it would have been a cool experience.

    I lost my smile at Mile #12 as we faced the largest incline on the racecourse.  This was not a fun part of the race, but I never stopped moving forward even though I was cursing as loud as the people next to me. 😊 A reprieve came as we got a nice downhill run to the finish line.  My sprint was subdued but my smile was big as I finished this race and collected my race medal.  I got a few pictures at the end and headed to the lake to get my beer and soak in the atmosphere.

    How hot was it?  The race day high was 91 degrees and a lot of humidity.  I’m pretty sure I sweated away 10 pounds during this adventure based on how wet my run outfit was at the end.  Luckily, I carb loaded the week prior. 😊

    I survived a Triple H Day in Madison, Wisconsin and look forward to new running adventures soon.  I’m not sure if I will run this race again but would love to get back up to Wisconsin to explore multiple areas because it is beautiful.  I may look at the University of Wisconsin’s football schedule to see if I can get tickets to a football game so I can experience the Jump Around portion of the game and explore more areas.  We will see! 😊

    Irie!

    “Life does not get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”

    (Steve Maraboli)

  • The Black Hammock (Oviedo, Florida)

    “What happens on the airboat, stays on the airboat.”

    (Unknown)

    My Walk into the Future allows me the freedom to find adventures wherever I happen to be.

    I added the Advent Health Watermelon 5k to my running calendar this year.  The race brought me back to Winter Park, Florida for a long 4th of July weekend getaway.  I enjoyed the race and seeing some of my Track Shack folks in the race village.  I needed to get some additional miles in to ensure I stayed on schedule for my Atlantic City Marathon preparation.

    I’m always looking for new adventures, so I decided to head over to The Black Hammock for an airboat ride.  I visited The Black Hammock on a regular basis when I lived in Oviedo back in the day.  It was always a laid-back place to hang out, people watch and listen to some good live music.  The Black Hammock is an off-the-beaten path type of place, but it is worth a visit if you are in the Oviedo area.

    My sole purpose for this visit was to get out on the water via an airboat.  The airboats run every 30 minutes and are a popular destination for locals and visitors.  Lake Jesup has one of the highest concentrations of alligators in the state of Florida.  There are an estimated 14,000+ alligators in the lake. 

    There were three families waiting to get on the airboat when I arrived.  The adventures on the water started once I paid my fee and got outfitted with ear protection.  Fun fact, airboats are loud, and ear protection is needed to ensure an enjoyable experience.

    Our captain has over 20 years of experience on Lake Jesup and had a route already created to highlight the wildlife on the lake. 

    We were able to see turtles, waterfowl, nesting ospreys and alligators.  The gators were not moving a lot since it was the middle of the day, and a storm was approaching.  The speed and maneuverability of the airboats was impressive, and we were able to get the complete tour in before the rain arrived.  The skies opened as we were getting off the airboat.  I normally stick around and take pictures from the shore but decided to head out since it didn’t look like the rain was going to stop anytime soon.

    I’m sure I will visit The Black Hammock again when I’m back in the Oviedo area.  I recommend it to anyone visiting and looking for an adventure: 

    Home

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams


  • 2025 Atlantic City Marathon training 

    “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

    (Lao Tzu)

    The 2025 Atlantic City Marathon will be my fourth full marathon.  I got this distance in my system with the 2022 Palm Beaches Marathon and continue to look to improve my training and finish time.

    The 2025 Chicago Marathon was my first run at a World Major Marathon, and I loved the race atmosphere so much that I instantly wanted to give it another run.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get accepted this year but will try to get in again in 2026.  I quickly pivoted to find another October full marathon and decided to give the 2025 Atlantic City Marathon a run.

    The race is described as the third oldest continuing marathon in the United States.  The race is much smaller than the 54,000+ runners in Chicago with about 1,000 finishers in 2024.  The distance is still the same and I expect a lot of crowd support on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

    An added feature for this year is my friend Lauren will come over from Philly and run the marathon.  We ran the 2022 Atlantic City Rock N Roll Half marathon together and this will be the first race we are back on the same course.  It should be fun! 😊

    I leveraged the Hal Higdon marathon training plan for my previous full marathons and see no reason to find a new training plan.  I set my marathon personal record (PR) in Chicago and took 25 minutes off my previous best.  I attribute this to better mental and physical preparation and not missing training sessions.  I also changed my mental approach to running by focusing on positive outcomes when running (example: less than 3 miles left instead of 3 more miles).  This seems like a very small thing, but it helped me change my focus and improved my mental approach when running. 

    I’m happy to report that I hit every training session goal so far during this cycle.  I’ve included three sessions in the gym to complement my running program.  Yoga, chiropractic adjustments and massage help me keep up my running routine too.  My bedtime during this cycle has been consistent at 8:30 pm or earlier.  This was one area I needed to improve, and I have been very consistent to include Friday nights so I can get up early for my Saturday morning long runs.

    Here’s my weekly mileage so far:

    Week 130.58
    Week 235.83
    Week 330.86
    Week 440.42
    Week 540.5
    Week 632.57
    Week 758.2
    Week 835.21
    Week 9*12.28
    Week 1036.16

    Total                      352.61 

    *Indian River State College New Student Orientation week*

    I include my gym cardio miles in these numbers but have hit every running mileage point outlined in the training program so far.  I also added some extra running miles just in case I experience bad weather and can’t get out as much as I need to.  I’ve been lucky so far and have not missed a session due to the rain.  Not sure how long this luck will last but I’m putting in the necessary road work to run fast in October. 

    I want to get in the 4:45 (four hours, 45 minutes) range and know my training program and mental approach will be key to running faster. 

    I will provide a few more training updates as we get closer to showtime in Atlantic City.  This program has been fun so far and I’m going to put in the work to ensure I see results.

    Lauren, how’s your training program going? 😊

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

    “Running is not about being better than someone else…it’s about being better than you used to be.”

    (Unknown)

  • Racing season is here!

    “Running is a gift.”

    (Amy Burfoot)

    My Walk into the Future got an early start to the 2025 running season this year.  I ventured up for the 2025 Fargo Half Marathon in May and back over to Winter Park for the 2025 Watermelon 5k for July 4th.  I rarely race in May, June or July but decided this was my year to expand my race portfolio and get in more running tourist activities.

    I don’t know when I made the decision, but the rest of 2025 will showcase the most aggressive running schedule I have created for myself.  The quote above is poetic and I’ve embraced the total gift of running.  The running tourist moniker will continue to pop up considering I’m looking to travel to 7 new states this year while visiting several of my old favorites.

    The official running season starts for me in Madison, Wisconsin.  They host the 2025 Midwest Financial Group Madison Mini-Marathon (13.1) this weekend, and this seems like a great way to see the city.  The Wisconsin Badgers play in Camp Randall stadium and I’ve seen how passionate the fans are when they all get together and sing The House of Pain song Jump Around.  The Badgers will not be in town when I get there but I’m hoping the race organizers allow runners to get in the stadium and jump around a bit—pun intended! 😊

    http://bit.ly/458QjqQ

    My marathon training plan calls for a 15-mile long run while in Madison and the Madison Mini-Marathon will allow me to get in the first 13 miles—I will get the other two miles in via my warmup for the race.

    I return to Winter Park, Florida the following week for the 2025 Celebration of Running 5k.  This race normally kicks off my racing season, but I wanted the challenge of a half marathon to gauge my progress towards my Atlantic City Marathon goals. 

    The Virginia Beach 10-miler is back on the race schedule, and I love the weekend music lineup they always have.  It’s a four-day running and music festival on the Virginia Beach board walk and the people are friendly.  I plan to keep this race on my running calendar because it is a great location and course.  They normally bring in at least one national music headliner, so I’m excited to see who they have scheduled this year. 

    I scale down a bit in September for the 2025 Outrun Hunger 5k back home in Fort Pierce.  This race is hosted by the Treasure Coast Food Bank, and they reached out to see if I would be interested in joining their team this year.  I accepted because of all the great work this organization has done in the local community.  Not sure how the team concept works for the 5k but didn’t see any harm in joining the team. 😊

    October will be the largest test for me during this running season. I am travelling to New Hampshire for the first time to tackle the 2025 Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon.  This is a new state for me, and I plan to visit Vermont and Maine while I’m in that part of the country.  These are my last New England states to visit so I’m happy to cross them off. 

    The 2025 Atlantic City Marathon is two weeks later, and I’m excited to test myself against the 26.2-mile course.  My friend Lauren Apgar is running this race, and it will be great to see my friend in New Jersey.  My goal time is in the 4:45 range and I’m feeling good so far in this training cycle. 😊

    Here’s my full running schedule so far:

    5/31/20252025 Fargo Half Marathon *Fargo, ND
    7/4/20252025 Watermelon 5kWinter Park
    8/9/20252025 Madison Mini Marathon (Half) *Madison, WI
    8/16/20252025 Celebration of Running 5kWinter Park
    8/31/20252025 Virginia Beach 10-MilerVirginia Beach, VA
    9/20/20252025 Outrun HungerFort Pierce
    10/5/20252025 Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon *Hampton, NH
    10/19/20252025 Atlantic City Marathon *Atlantic City
    11/9/20252025 Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon *Fort Lauderdale
    12/6/20252025 OUC Half MarathonOrlando, FL
    12/13/20252025 Palm Beaches Half MarathonWest Palm Beach
    1/25/20262025 Town of Celebration Half MarathonCelebration, FL
    2/14/20262026 Fleet Feet Run for your Heart 10kJensen Beach, FL
    3/1/20262026 Marathon of the Treasure Coast (Half)Stuart, FL
    4/4/20262026 Louisville 10 miler *Louisville, KY
    4/25/20262026 Rock N Roll Nashville Half Marathon (Half Marathon #50) 😊 😊 😊Nashville, TN

    (*) denotes a new race for me

    I’m still looking for additional half marathons to add to the list.  The 2026 Rock N Roll Nashville Half Marathon will serve as the end for my official racing season.  The goal is to see progress with each race AND enjoy the process.  The gift in running is I’m staying active, traveling and having fun with the process.  I wake up in the morning looking forward to my training runs and count the miles as I go.  Fun fact—I’m on pace to going over 1,500+ miles again in 2025.  Let’s see how far these old legs can take me. 😊

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

    “Take a deep breath and just enjoy your run.”

    (MonitortheBeat)

  • Make Every Second Count (Repost)

    (Photo by Jordan Benton)

    “You may delay, but time will not”.

    (Benjamin Franklin)

    The Walk into the Future blog continues to look for new topics to develop.  Most of the content comes directly from my travels, life adventures and items of interest.  I have reached out to tree branches for thoughts on new blog content and then try to develop their concepts into something I can share with my readers. 

    I had an outstanding conversation with Melissa Forges on my drive over for the 2025 Town of Celebration Half Marathon.  We got a chance to catch up on life and have a few laughs in the process.  Melissa shared three topics of interest and gifted them to me to see if I could develop them into a blog article. Well, here’s my run at her first topic: Make Every Second Count.

    We all understand the concept of time and how our days on earth are numbered.  There’s a finite amount of time we get to live this life, and this is our way to inspire YOU to live more.

    I decided to do a little research to put time in perspective.  What does time look like?

    • 12 months in a year
    • 365 days in that same year
    • 7 days a week
    • 1,440 minutes in a day
    • 86,400 seconds in a day

    The first three time markers are the most common and talked about in our daily interactions.  Days turn into weeks, months and then years at a faster pace as we get older.  This may be a perception thing, but it feels real to me.  I left home to join the Air Force in 1986 and just celebrated 39 years on this life journey post Jasper, Florida.  We hear time flies, and it seems to become a reality as I get older in this life.

    Let’s dive into the minutes and seconds we each have in a day.  How many of the 1,440 minutes in a day are you doing something to make the world a better place?  What about the 86,400 seconds in a day? 

    I take my role as a tree (mentor) seriously and look to enhance my interactions with my tree branches daily.  I’m not sure I maximize every second of every day, but I put a sincere effort into this process daily.  It’s easy to say I will get something done tomorrow but I don’t want to waste time or effort and ignore today.  Yes, it’s easy for me to write this from the comfort of my keyboard but I will begin to leverage the time concept into my writing as well.  I have new responsibilities at work and there are days when I don’t sit down to work on my writing craft.  I assume I have time to develop topics into blog articles but need to leverage every second available to ensure I have a large library of blog articles to select from.  I normally have seven to eight articles drafted before I publish weekly.  Maximizing every minute and second in the day will get me back to a place where I have a large library to select from again. 

    Making every second count can be leveraged in all aspects of life.  I plan to use this mindset when I start my full marathon training program in June.  The 2025 Atlantic City Marathon is scheduled for October of this year, but I must use my training time smartly. 

    How can blog readers who are parents maximize your time with your kids?  Yes, they have busy lives but are you making every second count with them? 

    Have you booked the vacation you have been talking about for the past few years?  Again, time stops for no one—are you making every second count?

    I can add more scenarios but believe you get my point on time. 😊

    One final point.  My grandmother passed away in 2012 and the pastor that delivered her eulogy used the concept of time to inspire the family to live life.  He gave us the 1,440 minutes and 86,400 seconds per day to highlight how my grandmother lived life to the fullest.  His exact words were: She Lived!  He challenged the family to follow in her footsteps and live life.

    I’m still a work in progress but I maximize my time daily.

    So, I challenge my Walk into the Future blog readers to make every second count!

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

    “Time moves slowly but passes quickly”.

    (Alice Walker)

  • 2025 Fargo Half Marathon

    I’m always open to new running tourism opportunities.

    I added the Rhode Island Half Marathon to my running schedule in 2024.  It was a new state for a half marathon and allowed me to experience new adventures to include walking the grounds at Harvard.

    I decided 2025 would be a year to explore new states and leverage races as the main reason to visit.  I’m closing in on visiting all 50 states but still have work to do to hit that milestone.

    The Fargo Marathon race weekend came through on my Instagram feed and it looked promising.  It was described as flat and fast with a party atmosphere.  I love all those variables, so I decided to sign up.  I’ve never been to North Dakota, so this was my opportunity to run in a new location and cross off two more states.

    I flew out of Orlando on a connecting flight in Chicago.  There are no direct flights from Orlando, Florida to Fargo, North Dakota.  I landed at the Hector International airport in Fargo and was surprised how small the airport was.  There was no fanfare, just 4 gates, a gift store and one bar in the terminal.  I made my way to the Enterprise rental counter to pick up my car and the adventures started.

    I didn’t have a lot of preconceived ideas about Fargo, but it was larger than I expected.  The airport is across the street from North Dakota State University (NDSU) and the famed Fargo Dome.  I’ve watched multiple NDSU Bison football playoff games on TV and wanted to get a picture of the venue.

    My first stop was the Buffalo Wild Wings that was close to the campus.  I needed to continue my carb loading process and Bdubs was my spot.  I got some chicken wings, potato wedges and beer for lunch.  Headed across the street to see if I could walk into the Fargo Dome but the doors were locked.  I decided to get a quick shot outside to highlight I was there.

    My next stop was the EXPO which was held on the Concordia College campus in Moorehead, Minnesota. This was only 4 miles away so don’t think I had an extensive drive to get there—Fargo and Moorehead are sister cities. 😊  The EXPO was not huge and the check-in process was smooth.  I got my race bib, swag and pictures completed in record time.  I also picked up three new head bands to add to my collection.

    Headed to my hotel after the EXPO to check-in and strategize my plans for the trip.  I wanted to ensure I got in some sightseeing before race day.  I found a nail salon close by and got my mani/pedi before starting the adventure.  This was a nice way to treat myself and ensure my legs felt good before the race.

    I left the nail salon and headed to downtown Fargo to check out the downtown scene.  Several friends asked me before the trip if I ever saw the movie Fargo.  I heard about the movie and TV series but never saw either one.  I may have to go back and see them to get context.  Either way, downtown Fargo had a cool little vibe.  There are tons of restaurants, bars and shops there.  The people were super friendly, and it was a pleasant environment.

    I started my second day in Fargo with a quick workout in the fitness room.  I wanted to stretch my legs on the exercise bike and the treadmill.  I limited myself to 10 minutes on each and then got in some floor stretches.  Got coffee and headed up to my room to plan the day.

    My carb loading process led me across the street to the Pizza Ranch.  It’s a local spot with a pizza buffet and a game room for kids.  It had great online reviews, so I gave it a run.  I highly recommend this spot if you are in Fargo.  The pizza was fresh with great flavor and crust. I added pasta with marinara sauce to my plate to maximize my carb intake.  Great little spot with outstanding food.

    My next big adventure was to make my way to South Dakota so I could check it off my list.  Plugged South Dakota into my GPS and headed south.  This was a 70-mile trip to New Effington. Google it! 😊 I was hoping it was going to be a bigger town, but the city limits sign identified population 250.  I rode around a bit and saw the highlights of the main street.  I spent about 10 minutes there before heading north on I29 back to Fargo.

    I went downtown again and sat in a little park to soak in the atmosphere.  It was warmer than normal but with no humidity, so it was a pleasant day to watch people.  I made my way back to the hotel so I could get in another stretching session and get my race outfit ready.  I picked out one of my new head bands to add more color to my race day ensemble.  I went to bed early to ensure I had a good night’s sleep before race day.

    I got out of bed at 4:44 am to stretch and mentally prepare for race day. I’m used to being up early, so this felt like a normal day for me.  Packed my bagels, Gatorade, water and gels and the race adventure was on.

    The hotel was only 7 miles from the race sight, but GPS took me in a new direction to avoid the closed streets due to race day.  I parked in the Fargo Dome parking lot and made my way towards the start line.  I arrived in plenty of time to stretch again and get in some light jogging to prepare for the 13.1 mile journey.

    The Fargo race weekend includes a marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k.  The marathon, half marathon and 10k were all being run on the same day.  The marathon began at 7 am with the half and 10k starting 15 minutes later.  This was not a huge deal, but it gave me a few extra minutes to mentally prepare for the race.  There was not a corral system for this race, so runners just lined up regardless of how fast they were going to run.  I’m always careful with this setup since there would be walkers at the beginning of the race and I didn’t want to crash into anyone trying to find a safe place to run.

    The Fargo races were advertised as flat and fast.  The course lived up to this marketing and I was happy with the flow of athletes through Fargo.

    My goal is always to improve my half marathon time, but I didn’t want to go out too fast.  I decided to go out at a controlled pace and adjust when needed on the course.  There were multiple locations where crowds of spectators could cheer for the runners, and these are the spots where my speed picked up because I didn’t want to disappoint a kid who was cheering for me. 

    I found myself with a smile on my face for most of the race.  The course was flat, and the people were out cheering for us, and it was a nice day—why not smile? 😊

    My first mile was completed at 9:48.  I stayed consistently in the 9s for the first part of the race with my fastest mile split being 9:38 for mile 4.  My pace didn’t slow until mile 9 when I clocked a 10:01.  I’m happy my slowest mile didn’t happen until mile 12 at 10:19. I crossed the finish line at 2:11, which is my fastest half marathon in 2025.  I’m proud of my efforts to get ready for this race and the execution of the race plan. This race serves as a blueprint for the rest of my training program as I get ready for the 2025 Atlantic City marathon in October.  My 16-week training program started on 6/15/2025 and I’m excited to put in another solid training program.

    I left the Fargo Dome parking lot and headed back to Buffalo Wild Wings to get my free beer and food.  There were a lot of runners at Bdubs, but it was not crowded.  I enjoyed my food and beer and made my way back to the hotel to shower, unwind and get in a nap—mission accomplished.

    I’m not sure if I will run in Fargo again but this was nice adventure, and I got to see two new states.

    I’ve got Wisconsin and New Hampshire on the race calendar coming soon.  More running tourist adventures are coming your way. 😊

    Where are you traveling this year?

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

  • Seaway Drive Bridge

    My Walk into the Future allows for numerous adventures I can share with my readers.

    Most of these adventures have something to do with travel for races and simply enjoying life.

    One of my newer adventures is leveraging the Seaway Drive Bridge as part of my race preparation.  I’ve written about this bridge briefly in a few blog articles.  There were days when I dreaded seeing or crossing the bridge in my training program.  My mindset saw this part of my training as a chore.  I decided to flip my mindset in 2025 and embrace the bridge as part of my regular training program.  I stopped dreading the bridge and started finding new ways to incorporate it into my race preparation.

    Most training plans call for runners to complete hill repeats to prepare for races.  There are no hills in Fort Pierce but there are several bridges. I began leveraging the Seaway Drive Bridge to complete my hill repeats last year.  The simple view is I would run from the west side of the bridge to the east side.  I take a short rest on the east side and then head back west.  Up and over, then back again—simple concept.  My goal most days is to repeat this process 10 times before I’m done.  One time over the bridge is approximately .75 miles.  I’m never concerned about time but need to get over and back to complete this workout.  I leverage the hill repeats on Sundays because Saturdays are for my long runs.

    I also incorporate the Seaway Drive Bridge as part of normal runs between 4 to 6 miles.  This is a good way to test my endurance as I start and finish these sessions with bridge incline work.  Some of my best run view photos have been taken at the top of this bridge.

    The results have been positive.  I completed the Nashville Half Marathon this year with minimal leg soreness.  I have also been faster with my race times this year.  I attribute both outcomes to added hill repeats to my training program.  No more days of avoiding the bridge—I’m excited to get my bridge repeats in now and will add more for future training sessions.

    What have you been avoiding that may help you move forward?  Time to get your hill repeats in!

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

  • Ellucian Live—No bad days

    “Positive anything is better than negative nothing”.

    (Elbert Hubbard)

    My Walk into the Future provides multiple opportunities for me to network and expand my knowledge base.

    I attended Ellucian Live 2025 in Orlando, Florida back in April.  My current school is in the process of implementing Banner as our new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) student support system.  We’re currently a Workday school and need to modernize the ERP for ease of use for everyone to include students, faculty, staff and administration.

    The Ellucian Live event allowed space for us to network and explore available modules for the new system.  This was an outstanding way to see how the modules interact and provide a better experience than our current ERP.

    My overarching role in the switchover is to identify the modules that will provide us with the best capability for successful implementation.  I sat in multiple sessions to hear from experts and other schools on their implementation of best practices.  There are a lot of moving parts to successful implementation, and I wanted to ensure we didn’t miss any steps.  Fun fact—it’s not my job to run the implementation but my area will be a huge consumer of the completed project.

    There were several keynote speakers during the event from diverse backgrounds.  There were university and college presidents, actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, the Ellucian CEO and Coach Prime (Deion Sanders).  They all had specific messages, but Coach Prime was my favorite speaker.

    Coach Prime has a message of positivity and making the world a better place.  There are times this message gets lost because folks are not truly listening to what he is saying.  He is a true family man and has deep religious beliefs.  This is how he lives his life daily.

    The Ellucian CEO sat down with Coach Prime to ask him questions during his session.  I wish they would have given him a true keynote session and let him deliver his message.  He was adept with his responses to her questions but the biggest takeaway I got from him was he never let other people’s issues cause him to have a bad day.  He admitted he can and will have a bad moment but does not let that linger and cause a bad day.  His message is to focus on the positive in life and shrug off bad moments.

    Coach Prime shared, “Don’t drag the bad moments forward and let them mess up a good day” (Ellucian Live 2025).

    I remember Coach Prime from his Florida State University and Atlanta Falcons playing days.  He had a different nickname back then, Neon Deion.  He was flashy, loud and brash—or so we thought.  Turns out that was the image of his younger self that does not fit him now.  He leverages past experiences to set an example for his children and players.

    I love his no bad day message and work to integrate it into my daily endeavors.  Bad moments by others will not impact my day or positive outlook.

    How can you leverage this principle in your daily life?

    Thanks Coach Prime!

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

  • Denver Leadership Conference

    “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”.

    (Steve Jobs)

    My Walk into the Future is designed to allow me to gain new experiences and share knowledge when needed.

    I connected with the Academic Impressions Senior Product Experience Manager during a Retention conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota last October.  I knew of her through work communications but got a better understanding of her role while attending the conference.

    She knew of my work at Indian River State College in the Advising and Career Services space but did not know I did leadership consulting on the side.  I’m happy to share this fact with anyone willing to sit with me so I can expand my portfolio of clients.  Also, I’m proud of my Authentic Leadership work and developing new partnerships is something I strive to achieve.

    The Academic Impressions mission is to develop the leaders higher education needs to thrive. My Authentic Leadership research and consulting focuses on higher education, but I expand this focus to include any organization looking to enhance leadership development.  I shared my leadership training philosophy with the Academic Impressions staff during the conference, and we spent several days discussing a potential partnership between CW Consulting, LLC. and their organization.  The organization has a branded, 5 Paths to Leadership program that is leveraged by higher education institutions to build and grow proactive leadership programs.

    I was invited out to Denver for the leadership conference to learn more about the Academic Impressions leadership programs and to see how we may be able to introduce Authentic Leadership into their leadership training portfolio. Yes, I’m always looking for ways to partner and find new ways to expand the reach of Authentic Leadership. 😊

    I was able to leverage professional development funding for this trip to enlarge my institution’s partnership with Academic Impressions.  A bonus to this partnership was the opportunity to visit Denver again and experience the city after work hours.  I’ve been to Denver multiple times and enjoy the culture, sightseeing and crisp mountain air.

    The Academic Impression leadership conference consisted of higher education professionals from around the country.  Several schools sent their entire leadership teams to this conference to build teamwork and synergy towards developing leadership protocols to enhance their daily operations.  It was interesting to hear from others in this space to understand the challenges they face in leadership development.  FYI—most schools conduct professional development training out of the Organizational Development (OD) department which is part of Human Resources.  Most conference attendees worked out of OD at their respective schools and were in the process of building or revamping their leadership training programs.  The Academic Impressions 5 Paths to Leadership program was a major draw for everyone in attendance. I was a bit of an outlier as I was trying to determine if Authentic Leadership could be embedded in this leadership principle and possibly become a leadership facilitator with Academic Impressions.

    The 5 Paths for Leadership is based on research within the higher education leadership space and has helped multiple schools get positive results in leadership training.  My time in Denver allowed me to learn how this leadership program has helped organizations implement leadership training on their respective campuses.  The attendees were able to share leadership challenges and get input from facilitators on ways to move forward with new concepts and ideas based on research.

    I enjoyed the one-on-one time with the facilitators and the group exercises to identify future challenges to leadership success (example: the political climate in America, reduction in DEI initiatives, etc.).  We spent a good amount of time identifying challenges with a Post It Note session and there were consistencies across the board—it did not matter what part of the country we came from; we all had the same thoughts on future challenges. ☹

    I made a lot of new leadership connections during this conference and stay in contact with my colleagues to learn new techniques.  I plan to follow-up with the Academic Impressions folks to see how I can incorporate Authentic Leadership into their leadership program.  This would be a great compliment to their work and would allow me to expand the Authentic Leadership style into the higher education space.  I’m always looking for ways to expand and this partnership will provide me with another platform to share with others.

    I will provide an update once the Academic Impressions folks pick me up as a facilitator. 😊

    Irie!

    Calvin Williams

    “The art of communication is the language of leadership”.

    (James Humes)