I haven’t done a running related blog in a long while, a long while. Running has always been one of my top three passions, and I am quite ashamed of myself for losing some of that passion in the past two months. Not because I found love in a “real” sport, actually because I have been directing all my energies into religious studies and questions. On top of this, I have had my left foot in a tall boot for what is soon to be six weeks. I drifted away from anything running for a very short period by all means, but a period too long nonetheless.

So here it goes.

I like how people always say running is not a “real” sport, or how it’s just not fun to watch for spectators. Well the former shows ignorance, and the latter is only half true. What people don’t realize is how popular running really is, and how more popular track is. It doesn’t have to do with the physical prowess of athletes, the difficulty of each individual sport, or even necessarily the nature of the sport. What makes a sport popular is bread and circuses. The most “unpopular” sports in the world from a spectators point of view are long distance races. If you ever attend a high school cross country meet, and want to support a person running you will find yourself darting across field and trees to different point on the course all in the attempt to see one person for no more than 5 seconds at a time. You have to move. Thus, while many younger runners will say cross country is their favorite over long distance track, more spectators prefer to go see track meets. The same can be said for why things like football, baseball, tennis, basketball, etc. are all fairly popular. Yes, they are fun to watch, but they are also compact and take little space to play. People can sit, eat, watch, and sometimes drink beer while enjoying the game. I mean think about it, when someone says “baseball” you think of the game naturally, but images of hotdogs, souvenirs, the 7th Inning Stretch, etc. all pop into the mind as well for things people enjoy about going to baseball games. Bread and circuses.

To many runners this is fine, more publicity is always wanted for any professional athlete, but life is more about winning the race in the moment. Also, people who tend to be fans of running are runners themselves, or the parents of a runner(s). Being able to see what is going through an athletes mind by their form, expression, effort is something people learn to see when watching an Olympic 5000 meter track race. It’s not just racing in a circle, it is fighting a battle. Not only do you have to compete against everyone else around you, but you also have to compete against yourself. The sport is so much about mental toughness as it is the thousands of miles of running, the thousands of hours of core and lifting, the thousands of hours of mental preparation. It really isn’t strange to realize that the people who like to watch men and women race around an oval are themselves runners. It is no surprise that people who don’t run, or don’t understand running, don’t find it enjoyable to watch. However, it truly is a magnificent sport that tests the human spirit and art of the race.

The Sun has come out, the “heat” has returned, and he whole desert of snow is now becoming liquid! Start taking off your winter jackets and getting out your tank tops! Because it is 42 degrees outside and the temperature is maintaining!

It has been a cold couple months here, a very wet winter, and it is stating to get old. The thaw that has come with the Sun recently is quite nice and brings some life back to the campus. It is all about that Vitamin D! Soon enough I will be out of this boot, running again, and back outside in the light! Of course until then I have to continue to slip on black ice and soak my exposed foot in my boot every time I walk outside of Fiji.

WAF

Whenever I think of the 1940s, or early 20th century, what comes to mind are a men’s vest, a pocket watch, and a wood handle pocket knife. The pocket watch may not have been as common due to cost, but the three kind of symbolize the statutes of a gentleman to me. Things like “dressing to impress,” everyday usage for a knife, and the watch just to show a difference in technology. They remind me of a time when Boy Scouts was popular and revered, women always wore dresses, men tipped their hats, and kids actually played in groups… outside.

I wonder what happened to things like this at times. People don’t read books anymore, it is frowned upon to learn dead languages instead of Spanish, people dress like Justin Bieber, and TV seems to have a Real Housewives of every major city. We need to face the facts, we are a much more materialistic society today, and quite frankly we have forgotten or abandoned many of the simplistic ways of living.

It is a shame in my opinion. Change isn’t always good, sometimes the clock needs to be reversed.

If there is one simple, golden key tool to help a student learn a language it is probably flashcards. I took three years of French in high school, we had a weekly vocab quiz of twenty to thirty words every Friday, and moved on to new words. I probably had quizzes on over a thousand words by the time I finished with Français my junior year. I will tell you what, I remember almost no words off the top of my head almost two years later. So instead of repeating the French language I decided my first week here I would take the language of the Church; Latin. By far the most fulfilling and engaging class I have ever taken. It has improved my understanding of grammar in the English language, which was terrible in high school, and I actually know what is going on everyday in class. Other than the excellent teaching of Professor Hartnett, I would say the large stack of probably 400-500 words on my desk at the moment to be key in any success I have had in the class. In French my issue was always not understanding the words as well as the grammar. Well, big surprise, when you know the words the grammar of a language tends to become a lot easier!

So study, review, and make flashcards prospective students. It makes life 100x easier when you are here.

WAF

It’s winter, if you didn’t notice all the white stuff outside and the multiple times it has dropped below 0 degrees, well you know now. Back in high school you could wear shorts to school this time of year still because the only time you were cold was the 200 meter walk from the car to the front door of the school. In college you are outside more than half a dozen times when walking to classes, and feel every bit of the biting wind and cold temperatures.

Remember when you got sick in high school and could miss two days of classes just to make things up afterwards. That’s doesn’t really happen in college for the most part. There is no mom (Love you Mom) to sit and give you sprite and chicken broth, there isn’t some assignment you didn’t do because you didn’t know about it, there is a syllabus and your own resources. If you get sick, try and get plenty of rest, take some medicine, and GO SEE THE HEALTH CENTER if it is truly that bad. Do whatever you can to stay healthy and not get behind.

If you’re in a sport and feel injured, then GO SEE THE TRAINERS. Do not wait several days to hope it fixes itself. Any serious pain she get looked at and observed, because you decided to play college sports to be a better athlete. So take advantage of any tools and support the school offers you in being a better Wabash Mathlete (Man-Athlete). That joke wasn’t very funny, but I thought it was when writing it so it gets to stay.

Stay warm readers!

WAF