College is stressful. I’m sure most people can relate to this and some would even offer advice to make it seem less stressful. Well, here’s my advice: RUN! (or find some other type of physical activity to relieve stress). This is easier said than done, but my goal for this blog post is to share some insight into how I found myself as a runner in college.
Freshman year of college is crazy. You’re living on your own, there is no set curfew, you’re meeting tons of people, and its seems like you always either have way too much time on your hands, or no time at all. With all this new stuff going on in my life, I fell away from running. I honestly probably only ran a handful of times my freshman year of college and looking back, I regret it. I gained weight, my acne got pretty bad, and I felt stressed out all the time. There was so much “new” happening that I forgot about the “old” healthy habits I had left behind from high school.
Going into my Sophomore year, I had a plan: don’t let classes bog you down, and make sure to take time out of your day to hit the gym. This is the motto I stuck to for most of my second year of college. I found this awesome ab workout app that I used every night for ten minutes. The results were incredible! I was starting to feel confident about my body again and working out was something I looked forward too, much like I did back in high school. I was running 2-3 times a week, this becoming my main stress reliever. Whenever I was having a bad day I would try and run, becoming a habit: bad day = time for a run. This was an okay running mindset, but going into my Junior year I wanted to get away from running only when I wasn’t having a good day to running because I know how much better it would make an already great day.
So, as I sit here and write this post I reflect on the first quarter of my third year in college. I just took my last final (literally an hour ago) of fall quarter and I can’t believe how happy and healthy I feel. I consistently ran 3-6 times a week, EVERY WEEK!! That’s twelve weeks of straight running. Not only do I look and feel good, but I also was way less stressed out this quarter than I have been in the previous two years of college. I also found a lot of cool running spots around Bellingham which is a huge plus for next Spring and Fall when it starts getting warm out again.
It is crazy to sit here and think about how my dedication to running has changed in the past three years, and how it will continue to change in the future. As the new year rolls around I have started to think of a running new years resolution: run longer distances. Right now I stick to 3.1 miles for my runs, but I really want to push myself to do a half marathon (or at least start running that distance at least once a week), so 13.1 miles. I will obviously have to train for this and push myself, but in the end I think it is an attainable goal. I plan to make a running calendar over Christmas break, outlining the next couple of months which I’m sure will make its way onto this blog. In the meantime, I will stick to the 3.1 mile runs while I construct my new goals for the 2019 year.
My Not-So-Secret Diary 