You know how we all promise ourselves that we’re gonna work out a lot more at the start of the quarter? And how a lot of the time those plans fall through, and you end up never actually meeting the goal? And then it’s the end of the quarter and you promise yourself you’ll start at the beginning of next quarter? I’m going to call this the standard cycle of college fitness.
I fell into this loop at the beginning of Winter quarter, and finally decided to break it. We all know that “exercise gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy,” but for a lot of people (or at least me) put physical health responsibilities on the back burner of my priority list during the school year. It just makes more sense for spend your time studying, writing papers, and drinking obscene amounts of coffee, right? That being said, I know that that mindset isn’t necessarily the best one to have to keep my stress level down and my mental, emotional, and physical health levels high, so that’s why I did this experiment.
I don’t like working out that much, it’s a passion that died for me after my first year of college (when, by the way, I would usually run six miles a day). And maybe it’s not even the working out aspect of it that I don’t like? I don’t think I mind that too much, honestly. It’s the time it takes to get ready for the gym, and then the time it takes to walk to the gym, and then be at the gym, and then walk home from the gym, and then shower and the re-get ready. Even typing that out made me feel exhausted and like that was a waste of time. So much time!
As college students, we know that our time is precious, because we’re living day-to-day under this cloud of deadlines that never seems to clear up. Whenever I would be at the gym and see the time before and after, I would always feel like I could have been more productive studying or doing work, and that was a real turn off to me.
However, I put the haunting thoughts of wasted time behind me and tried to enjoy the running that I had loved so much when I was younger. And you know what? It kind of worked. I ran two miles everyday for the past five days, and the running part was nice, even the time spent doing it was nice. I live on Veteran (don’t scowl too much, it’s not that far away from campus) so I just downloaded a running app to measure my time and distance, and ran to Wilshire and through the surrounding neighborhoods. It’s really pretty over here — I was pleasantly surprised. I was also really happy that I didn’t have to feel like I was wasting time walking to/from the gym, because I started/ended my run at my apartment building. Is this why there is so many joggers on the streets of LA? I’m beginning to understand.
It felt good to work out. I genuinely loved those first few minutes when you start your run and your blood just develops this strange energy as it pulses through your veins. Not to be cliche, but you feel really alive. Of course, that feeling changed for me when I ended my run and walked back up the stairs to my apartment with my blood thumping in my ears and my legs not wanting to move another step—but complete euphoria was there, so I’m considering it a triumph.
When I got back and sprawled out on the floor of my room to stretch, I definitely felt every step I had taken in those two miles, but I also felt proud that I met my goal. That’s was like a second wave of euphoria for me. I felt good about being persistent, about actually doing it and, most importantly, about myself. That feeling of wasted time that usually adds to my sense of stress wasn’t there.
The feeling that I felt the next day, however, was complete soreness. I’m not gonna lie, that feeling made me look back at my previous choices with a little regret, or maybe malice? My thighs burned walking up hills and stairs on campus, and walking down the stairs was a torturous experience that I didn’t know existed. This made it even harder and harder to motivate myself into running each day since the soreness persisted, if not increased, with each mile I put my legs through.
I was glad to rediscover that the soreness disappears after you run again, and for a few hours after. I kept telling myself that this was for science (or at least, an article) and that it was going to make me feel about life, or the world around me, or at least myself. I will confirm that I did see all of these positive feelings come to fruition, but I’m still going to be bitter about the soreness.
All in all, I am now proclaiming that I will continue to keep this running stint up, maybe try and make it a lifestyle. I like the way it made me feel, how my mind cleared during runs, how I felt accomplished and proud of my body for carrying me so far that day. I definitely think these aspects of working out (or simply running, in my case) reduced whatever sense of worry was beginning to build over week 10). It gave me an unexpected sense of gratitude towards my body, because it made me realize just how much work our bodies do for us everyday. I hadn’t really sat down and thought about that in a really, really long time, and I think it’s important to remember.
This experience reminded me to always be kind to myself, mentally/physically/emotionally and whatever other aspect you can think of. It’s kind of crazy to think about how something as simple as running can bring about so much appreciation. I guess a plus side to the soreness is that every time I move I’m reminded about all of the work my body has done, and I like that. I’ll be mentally whispering “thank you” to it with each step I take.
The point of this experiment was to see if I felt less stress due to working out, and I’d say that the results conclusively show that I did. I came to the realization and many other unexpected ones, and all of these elements have reignited my love of running.