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Kyle Williams

ENC 1101

Katie Bridgeman

What Running, Libraries, And Paper Writing Have In Common

On one my family’s bi-weekly phone calls to my brother, who attends the United

States Military Academy at West Point, I received some helpful advice on how to prepare

to write a paper: go on a run before. “That’s it?” I asked with a disappointed tone; I was

expecting some hidden military secret known only to the less than 1% alive who are or

have attended West Point. But yes, that’s the secret. Running is not only good for your

physical health, but also has benefits for your mind: while performing any kind of

endurance exercise, you increase the available oxygen in the blood stream. More oxygen

in the bloodstream means more oxygen in the brain, which in turn allows you to think

more clearly and focus better. Though the story seemed a bit funny, it never occurred to

me that that would be a good idea; when I sit down to write a paper, and have too much

energy, I never feel like writing the paper. But normally after runs, I’m too tired to do

anything but sleep. Once I actually tried it, I was amazed to find out that it actually

works. Now, I do it before every writing assignment!

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Running

Running is repetitious, and so are its elements. Before each run, my apparel is the

same: compression boxers for comfort, a cut off t-shirt for increased mobility, shoes

made for running so my legs wont get sore, and high socks to keep dirt of my ankles. I

always listen to music when I run, and the music I listen to is Dubstep. The reason why I

listen to Dubstep is because just like running, it’s really repetitious. The beat is the same

for almost the entire song, which allows me to keep and create at pace for each song. I set

up a playlist with the best paced songs, and I even downloaded a Nike running

Application to track my run and see how long I’ve ran. Running is not just a pre-papering

writing exercise: I also run on the days I don’t work out, merely to stay in shape. Another

repetitive theme about running is the scenery. Back home, I had a set route I would run

each time I ran that was about three and a half miles long (a little over a 5k), and the

scenery was always the same: the blue house on the corner of Princeton and

Westmoreland Street that I would turn on; the intersection of Edgewater Drive and Smith

Street I would run through; the one minute break I would take at the corner Mexican

dinning restaurant called “Paxia”, and so on and so forth. When I came to FSU, I needed

to find a set route that had good mileage on it; and I did. As expected, the scenery was the

same: running through Landis green and in front of Strozier Library; next to the Ogelsby

Union, always touching the Integration Statue; a left by the psychology building to take a

peak at the tennis courts; and my personal favorite, the run leads me in front of Doak

Campbell Stadium, the place where experienced just about every emotion a human can

experience.

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Library

Now that I’m done with my run, rehydrated, put on some comfy clothes, and

packed up all my supplies, I’m ready to go to the library. The library is the perfect place

on campus to study, write a paper, or to just simply get something done. Everybody in the

library is doing the same thing you are doing, so it’s easy to stay focused. Whenever I

have a sense of urgency and feel like I need to buckle down and get my assignment done,

the library is where I go. There is just something about the atmosphere and the quietness

that helps promote productivity. Early in a dead line, I will work in my dorm to put

together an outline of what I want to focus on in the library; I also may even begin to

work on the assignment in my dorm, but I never get any good, serious work done unless

I’m in the library.

As far as Strozier goes, you have options: options on which floor you want to

study on. Each floor varies by the level of quietness.

1st Floor

The first floor is relatively social, where talking in your inside voice is acceptable.

This is also where the Starbucks is located, where students can get a coffee while they

study. Study groups are common on the first floor, where kids can sit in booths, talk, and

bounce ideas off each other. The booths are very helpful: multiple people can sit in and

around them, and they have outlets where you can charge your phone or laptop; this

comes in handy when students are in a hurry and forget to charge one of the two. When I

use the first floor, it is normally when I am studying psychology with a classmate, or

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when I am getting psychology work done. The volume level of the first floor is perfect

when I am getting these things done: it’s not too quiet, but it’s not too loud.

2nd Floor

Each floor at Strozier isn’t like the first floor: with each increase in floors, the

noise level changes. The higher you go up, the quieter it is. On the second floor, it is

quiet: quiet to where the first time I went, I was afraid to unzip my backpack in fear of it

being too loud. Although the noise level has changed, some things remain the same with

the bottom and second floor. For one, my attire has not changed. Whenever I am doing

schoolwork, I like to wear comfortable clothing: normally a Dri-Fit shirt and gym shorts.

The other thing that remains constant in the urgency in my attitude. On the first floor, I

like to work on my psychology with classmates where it’s more social. But on the second

floor, I like to work on writing papers, where it’s quieter and where I can focus. The

second floor is a lot more personal: smaller groups of more tables litter the floor, and

normally each student gets their own working space without having to share it with

another that might distract you. My best writing is when I sit at a corner table, with my

computer on my desk, objective paper next to it, Pandora piano music on my noise

cancelation headphones, phone on airplane mode, and just write. The reason for a corner

table so that I don’t people watch as they come and go, because I like to people watch.

Putting my phone on airplane mode stops incoming calls and texts, and allows me to

completely focus on my time at the library.

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Final Run

Now that my paper is done, I’ve left the library, and I’ve arrived back into my

dorm room, I feel anxious and jittery. My mind is foggy from sitting in the same spot for

a couple hours, and I need something to ease my mind. So, I go on a post-paper run. This

run is different from my pre-paper run: it is longer run, a run with no time or distance

limit, a run to simply run. Just as the other run is repetitious, some elements of this one

are too: the apparel is the same, listening to music is the same, and the urgency is the

same. Some things are different, too: the music is more “pump up”, the route is different,

and at the end, I normally don’t have much left in the tank. This run is the run that I wait

for all day. A chance to get the days, weeks, or months trouble out of my mind. The

shower after, and the deep breath as I finally get horizontal in my comfy bed.