EDITORIAL

To call myself a runner would be a supreme insult to the serious runners of the world and to the sport itself. However, as I age, I continually find myself fighting the battle of the bulge. This past winter I endured an utterly humiliating experience. I took my 18-year-old son snow skiing in Utah, and on the third day of the ski trip I realized that I no longer had the physical stamina to keep up with my son. For the first time in our lives, he had passed me by and left me in the dust. That ego damaging experience motivated me to start running and to improve my physical condition.

Many real runners love the sport…I am not one of them. In fact, I abhor running. On my first few runs I thought I was going to die. I could not catch my breath, my heart was beating out of my chest, and I thought that I would vomit all over myself. Yet I was determined to improve my stamina, and little by little my pathetic performance showed marginal improvement.

After several weeks of shear agony, I decided to push myself harder than ever before in an effort to achieve a personal best. Although I was running at what was a fast pace for me, I was lapped several times by both the tortoise and the hare. About two thirds of the way through the run, I literally thought that I might have a heart attack and keel over and die. Just as I thought that I could not take another stride, something miraculous happened. For the first time in my life, I experienced a runner’s second wind.

From seemingly out of nowhere, I suddenly transitioned from being too tired to continue to having an astonishing burst of energy. Real runners will see this experience as expected and no big deal. But to me, it was an entirely unfamiliar and phenomenal experience. In no time, I went from feeling like I was going to die to feeling like I could conquer the universe. It was nothing short of an unbelievable experience.

Weatherford College is also experiencing the benefits of a second wind. There have been many changes at our noble institution in a relatively short period of time. These changes have not always been easy on some long time employees who were accustomed to doing things as they had always been done. The addition of bachelor’s degrees, the prolific expansion of academic and workforce programs, the construction of new facilities and relocation of offices, the mass expansion of athletic programs, and the heighted focus on student safety, student success, and across the board excellence pushed some WC employees near the breaking point.

However, we are now collectively experiencing an institutional second wind of sorts. Our students enjoy expanded educational opportunities and are succeeding at record levels. Our employees are now enjoying improved salaries and working conditions. Our donors are changing lives like never before. It is exciting to ponder exactly what our Weatherford College second wind will do for our great community and beyond!