Don’t sit down, keep going

Going into the half marathon I participated in last January, I steadily increased my running mileage to be prepared for the race.

In January, I ran the second most amount of miles I've ever run in one month. I ran 58.1 miles, just .1 less than October 2010.

Since then, it's as if my motivation has been deflated and is on the floor waiting to be picked up and put in the trash.

But I have stopped short of throwing my running shoes in the trash.

I do love running. I love it when it's hard, which is almost every single run. I love it when I'm exhausted.

I love it when I am sure I am going to give up and they will find me dead, stinky and smelly slightly of old GU Energy Gel.

I love it even when I hate it. However, I don't know if my body always knows this. I think my body feels differently.

It tells me that after four months of training for a race of about 150 miles, it has had enough.

If my body only wants to run twice a week and swim at the most, that's all it's doing.

But that's where I went wrong. Instead of holding strong, I succumbed to my body's laziness.

Frankly, post race, I was tired. School started to get really busy, work started to pick up, and next thing you know, it had been about four days since I had run.

I am sure after harder, stronger, longer periods of anything, a person can get tired. A person may need a break. I know this not only applies to athletics but mental capabilities as well.

I just don't know that slacking off or taking a rest is really going to help you out in the long run.

If I am frustrated and tired of the amount of effort I have to put into school, should I just give up?

I think about what I want more: for things to be easy or to get my degree and transfer?

Do I want to improve my running, or do I want to sit down because I'm tired? What if I sit down and never stand back up?

As someone who works in Student Life and is constantly around students, I often hear them talk about how hard school is. They discuss how they might just take a break and go back later. But, while I can understand that, when exactly is later? The road to later is paved with procrastination.

I implore you to re-evaluate whether or not you will actually benefit from taking it easy.

Don't let your running shoes gather dust.