Assigned Blog Post #5: Athlete

I don't like labels, really I don't. And while this could factually refer to me, make no assumptions that the persona is mine.

Stop doing your homework and go to practice, don't forget your water bottle the way you always do, don't be self conscious in the locker room-it's not like they're looking at you anyways, get to practice early, socialize with the underclassmen so that someone will remember you when you're gone, do your laps, no don't think about the workout later today, don't stress yourself out, just stretch, look at the flagpole to keep from falling over, Nadia's more flexible- don't mind her, count accurately during abs, pray it will be a full set becaus short abs mean long workout, elbows to your knees, drills, straight back, on your toes, ignore Grace when she asks if you have a six pack (you don't), two mile warm up, run the whole thing- you may not be the fastest but you have integrity, right? Don't you? Don't think about the workout that's in twenty minutes, remember to breathe, should have taken ibuprofen, do build ups back on the track, don't start out too fast, this isn't a competition, though if it were, you might do pretty well, run the tempo workout, remember to eat lunch earlier next time, don't worry about it too much because the good runners aren't watching you anyway, keep it up, this is still not a competition, remember to breathe, you're a singer- you should know how to breathe, push with your arms, head up, only a minute rest, did you forget to start your watch again, don't be the pretentious senior who pushes ahead of underclassmen, don't the the slow senior who's behind all the underclassmen, keep your pace up, two years ago you would have been lapping this time, don't worry about that, don't worry about anything, get out of lane one, get back in lane one, run on your toes, do not think about your calves, do not think about your sides, push ahead of this girl, you haven't really lost count have you? Remember to get to sleep earlier, straight back, eyes up, don't tell them you had cramps before practice even began- gender is never an excuse for weakness, run the cooldown, don't talk about workouts once they're over, don't do hills on a cooldown- nobody likes hills, be on time for the pasta feed, sit with the younger runners so that maybe someone will remember you, try to get to bed early tonight so you'll be well rested when you show up at the track at six in the morning tomorrow...