BUILDING Endurance.

Today began really well except for my lack of sleep. I decided to drink a diet coke around 4, and I think my mind thought it was time to pull an all-nighter. I quit sodas after my senior year, this past summer. I had been consuming nearly two 2-Liters of Diet Mt. Dew every day. It was how I got everything done. That's a habit that you know you can't keep up for long.

Anyways, I'm getting off on a tangent. Speaking of tangent, first class was math. hah. I awoke with heavy eyes, but after my morning cup of butter toffee coffee from my lovely Keurig brewer, along with a maple walnut scone that I had saved from the previous day's brunch, I felt much better.

I walked to Math 31 and sat with my math lab buddies, new friends, Johnny and Dayvid. Class went really well. Leaving Math, I went to eat breakfast at the Marketplace.
It was Endurance Swim day. I ate up. I had a two veggie burger patties and a peanut butter sandwich with some strawberries, melon, and a grapefruit. A lot, I know, but when you're as active as I am food just disappears. Speaking of, I get hungry way too often. I'm not used to two meals a day, so I decided to make an English Muffin to go in case I got hungry after Chem and before E-swim.

Walking out, the lady at the scan-in table, told me I couldn't take food out of the cafeteria. A muffin! I knew kids always took pizza in zip-locs, and fruits in tupperware, and Shaoxin told me today that she knows people who take whole loaves of bread. It was just a muffin! We are hungry college kids.I think she just didn't like me too much. 

I apologized and left to go do laundry before Chem. Catching the 11 o clock C-1 bus, I got to West with plenty of time to spare, so I went to the health center and turned in some forms and sprinted to Chem 31.

By this time, my eyes were getting really heavy, but that's not uncommon for kids in chemistry haha. No one has a clue what's going on in there. It didn't help that I was tired. I was dreading E-swim. Need I remind you that most of the swimmers in there are triathletes or swim team members. I'm just a skinny girl that swims breast stroke for my degenerative disc disease.

Slowly, in attempt to hold on to every bit of energy I could (not to mention I skipped two days of swim physical therapy in order to have energy for today), I strolled to Wilson Gym. Grudgingly changed and went to the instructor.

"Are you sure you want me in here?"

"Esha, you have amazing coordination. And you have way more endurance than most people in here."

"But I'm awful at anything but breast stroke."

"Last time, I wouldn't have known that you had not ever tried any of those strokes! I want to work with someone that learns so fast. Really, you shocked me. I was very impressed."

Maybe that's all it took. A little encouragement. Because by the end of class I was loving it. I didn't want to leave. We warmed up and half the people were tired by the end of that. We timed a twelve minute swim to see how many laps we could swim in order to compare it to the end of the semester in December, any stroke.

I stuck with breaststroke, and to my own surprise I lapped twenty of the twenty-five yard laps, and the others around me lapped twenty one, twenty seven, and numbers that made me feel a little more comfortable. Granted, we had the record breakers, but I didn't feel so "un-belonging" anymore. I guess in my case it was more about endurance rather than speed. Freestyle, for sure, takes a whole lot more energy, so you have to take a break every so often. I didn't have to rest as much with breaststroke.

We then swam sixty second laps, worked on breathing, and some other stuff. When class was over, I stayed for about fifteen extra minutes. I did a few laps of freestyle, just to try. Then I watched the diving team for a few minutes. I am really proud to be going to Duke. We have amazing athletes. We have record breaking divers that I get to watch during endurance swimming, we have decathletes, triathletes, just amazing, talented people. We also have outstanding resources...for everything...

My instructor called me as I was leaving to tell me I did really well, and my freestyle was actually really good, way better than it was the first class. I felt a lot more comfortable in the water. I think I'm building endurance. Maybe by the end of the semester I'll be able to swim a tenth as good as Branson. hahaha :)

I really enjoyed it. I stayed at the gym for an extra thirty minutes to get my elliptical time in, and I was still full of energy, that is, until I got hungry. I stopped by Quenchers in the gym after my shower and got a protein smoothie with mango, strawberry, strawberry protein powder, and milk. It was amazing. They are known for their smoothies. You can get any fruit in any smoothie, with or without protein, some have chocolate and peanuts or oreos. I'm hoping to try another if I ever do as well in E-swim as I did today. It's like a personal celebration. hahaha.

I took the bus back to East to eat an early dinner because we have a mandatory dorm meeting in about thirty minutes to vote on our dorm leaders and whether the bathroom doors stay locked or unlocked. Things have happened in the past and for our safety, the bathrooms require a key to get in, but I must say it's really annoying having to find the key in the middle of the night with no contacts and my almost legally blind vision, put on shoes, and go down the hall to unlock the bathroom.

At dinner, sitting with other Epworthians, I figured out a way to get some food for later. I made two peanut butter sandwiches and grabbed an apple, wrapped the sandwiches in newspaper, and carried it alongside my laptop. I mean it when I say I get hungry all the time...like every three hours...even throughout the night. I gotta eat! I went to get a drink where I found a friend pouring soy milk into her container, and she told me about her roommates and others taking entire loaves of bread and fruit. All of us take food from the dining hall...it's just a skill I haven't mastered. I would be the one to get caught with a muffin. hahaha.

I walked out with my laptop, sandwiches, stopped by to sign up for Habitat for Humanity and returned home.