My Constant

Got home tonight around 9:30, saw an old red pontiac sunbird sitting in front of my apartment, and knew exactly what that meant. As I walked up the stairs, I braced myself for the key phrases that would confirm my suspicions- "CHYEA!", "Help me you fuck!", "Get him you fuck!", "Mundo does what he pleases!", and the familiar sound of a mouse being slammed on a table(like a computer mouse, not the rodent-type, lulz). I was right. Plop down on my chair, time to take a mind-dump.

So we all learned what a constant in way back when we took simple algebra back in middle school. It's something that always has the same value, and never changes, even if everything else does. I've been thinking about this lately and I believe that everyone should have some sort of constant in their lives. It seems to me that people who have a constant, whether it be a sport, a musical instrument, dancing, or academics, etc, always seem to have a more firm grasp on life. Now that is to say I also think that people should not only focus on their constant, but also on whatever else strikes their interest. On the other hand, people who don't have a constant seem lost in life, or just go with the flow with no real direction in mind. Now anybody who knows me knows that I thoroughly enjoy running. Most people gasp in horror when I say I just got back from a 14 miler, commenting that they can barely run a single mile without "dying". A bit of an exaggeration, I think. I guess the reason as to why I got into running is because I was never very good at other sports. Sophomore year of high school I decided to join my school's xc team, on a whim really. It was tough, I'll admit, but I stuck with it, slowly improving my times through the next couple years. I made some great friends, in fact, I met my best friend there, and we are still the best of friends. I always looked up to him, because he was one of those people who was literally good at everything. Top of his class, all state runner(held several school records), all state musician in the trumpet(I also played trumpet but was never as good), AND he was a ladies man... boy he had it all. Anyways, I guess he had a bunch of constants, and he has sort of moved on from some of them to pursue his dream of becoming of neurosurgeon(crossing my fingers I never break my neck, but if I do, I'm going straight to him). Well anyways, back to me. I've gone through lots of stages in my short life, some for the better, some for the worse. But not matter what, running was always there to catch me when I fell. When I needed time to think, I could always just lace up and hit the road. I've some of my best conversations while running with my teammates, and had some solid revelations while out on my own in the trails of merrywood in my hometown. Once I got into college, I got really serious about my running. I wanted to be a top runner on my team, and I trained really hard. Unfortunately, I've been plagued with injuries(stress fractures, tendonitis, you name it)... During my first couple injuries I sort of gave up on running, thinking I'd never be able to get back into shape... and during those times, I felt really lost, I just didn't want to get out of my room. My constant had turned into a variable, and without knowing what that was, I was lost. Well, luckily, everything turned around once I was able to run again, like being born again I suppose. It was awesome! Last fall when I was a captain of the xc team and I got another season-ending stress fracture, after my best summer of training in my life. Needless to say, I was devastated, but I did whatever I could to maintain fitness. By this point I had begun to figure out that I needed a constant in my life to keep me going when shit hit the fan. I was determined to keep it working for me, so I was in the pool aquajogging nearly everyday with Mitch and Mark, I hit the gym 3 days a week to lift weights, did circuits and core like a madman. This past year has also been my toughest academically. If I didn't maintain my constant, which was shifted from running to training for running through an injury, I really don't know what I would have done. I'd just be one of those losers who does nothing except and play video games all day. How lame that would have been. Well I'm back at it now, had a couple solid races during indoors and now I'm ready for outdoors.

Well this ended being way longer than I intended, but I hope you get the point. Find something you will enjoy til the day you die, and do it. Do it well, do if often. It will be there to catch you when no one else is around. It'll get you through some tough times, for certain, and who knows, it might just save your life.