Running by: Christian Sporre

Running has been a common thing in most of my writings in the last two years. It hardly ever leaves my mind now and seems to be present in everything I do. Even as I sit in class I can’t help but visualize an upcoming race, playing it over and over again in my head. It is safe to say I have had enough experience to know how to manage my time between running and my school work. A typical day for me starts out a 7:00 am. Depending on what I have to do that morning, I will go for a small run to start out the day. Then I will take a shower, eat breakfast, and get to school by 8:30. After that I will get through the school day and then immediately go to track. Practice lasts until 6:30 and then I will go home and do my best to get my homework done. At this point it is about 8:00 and I still need to eat dinner and take a shower. Now it is 9:30ish, most students I know go to bed at at 12:00am and later, and I used to do that too. It is a lot different now, since then I have made my bedtime 10:00. This is because the more rest I have, the better I perform at track, mostly dealing with my mind. It is my mind that sets me apart from everyone else, because no matter how painful running gets, I will not stop, quit, or give up until I have meet my goals. Having a mentality like that requires a lot of rest. So going back to my daily schedule, if my calculations are correct, I have about 30 minutes of free time on a school day (an hour if you count lunch). This is one thing I definitely need to fix in my daily routine and I know I am not alone. There are so many hard working kids at my school that barely have any time to themselves. The weekends are like a breath of fresh air, but unfortunately I now only have Sunday to chill out because there is almost always a meet on Saturday. Although that free time on Sunday is awesome, it never carries over into the school week. I have come to terms that the life of a student athlete is full of stress and time management skills, but in the end this lifestyle has unprecedented rewards. During a sports season, I really think that kids should be getting even more free time. It can be really unhealthy for a students mental state if he or she does not get enough time to themselves. Free time can take a bunch of stress off students, letting them relax for a while and not worry about upcoming grades and events. There are a few classes that implement some free time and it helps me and many other students so much. Some of my favorite teachers are the ones that understand the struggle of a student athlete. Their classrooms are always a huge relief for me. One great example of this is my English class. My English teacher actually used to run track, so that's even better. His classroom is very laid back and work at your own pace. Sometimes when there is a big assignment due, he asks me if I can get it done in time or if I will need a little more time because of track and cross country meets. I will always try to get my work done on time no matter what, but it is always nice to have a little breathing room. I wish all of my teachers would ask me this, because just knowing that a teacher understands the kind of work your doing inside and outside of school, takes so much stress off your shoulders, it's insane. Stress is the ultimate enemy to all students and I think teachers should focus on combating it with giving kids more down time in class. Once a class can achieve that, I can guarantee students will be more engaged and productive, making for an even better classroom experience.