During my days of boredom, I decided to browse my inbox for something to get my eyes off of screens. While I saw many emails, the one that caught my eye was an email from Mr. Cribb titled “Hello from Vacation.”  It was no exquisite essay; however, one of his several ideas stood out to me greatly, and that was to run. 

I have done many 5k races; however, I have never considered myself a “runner.” This is because I have never had the infamous “runner’s high.” “Runner’s high” is when a runner feels purely elated after a run. I have always been the one to finish a run and go right back to doing something unproductive and inefficient. There are some obvious reasons as to why I would like to pursue running: to condition myself; to get some fresh air; to get away from screens. But the main reason why I wanted to run was because I  had always wanted to feel what runners feel; however, even through hard and persistent work, I learned that it does not come so easy.

I started by running 1.5 miles a day and I am not going to lie: it was absolute hell. My headphones were constantly falling out because of the river of sweat streaming down the side of my head. Cramps like sharp daggers dug into every part of my stomach. The scorching heat or stinging cold always got the best of me. Every day got progressively more painful, and I wanted to stop running. I started to consider my daily run a chore, like I was forcing myself to do; nonetheless, I put up with the pain and continued to run. 

It has been about a week and a half since the first day and a few days back, I felt it. I finally understood what they were talking about. I thought that what they were saying about “feeling it” was a bunch of bologna, until I felt it for myself. As cheesy as it might sound, I felt the anger and worry let go of me. I felt happiness giving me a warm and tight and cozy hug. And afterwards, I felt the sudden need to do something, and not play video games or watch television. I felt the need to make myself useful. That is why I conveniently placed my daily run right before writing this journal entry. I wouldn’t have been able to cull the previous four hundred words from my mind without having released some endorphins first. 

Maybe this was for the better. Maybe, just maybe, the COVID-19 pandemic was exactly what I needed to motivate me to do something useful with my life. Maybe this kickstarted a whole new, empowered and driven me. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. But, only maybe. 

Just maybe