Before I started this blog, just about anything was a good enough excuse not to workout. “I’m too out of shape to go to Zumba,” I would think. Or, “I haven’t eaten anything yet today, I’ll go to the gym after lunch,” which would then be followed by, “I’m too full. I should let this […]

Nothing beats the early-November slump like a nice visit from your long-distance romantic interest. Although it made for a lovely weekend, I imagined no one really wanted to read about romantic strolls through Falls Park in Sioux Falls. So I squeezed in a more legitimate work-out before my deadline, and between it and the encouragement […]

It finally happened — I overdid it at the gym. This would almost be a point of pride if I could manage to walk more than 20 steps without one of my knees giving out. What could I have possibly done to obliterate my leg muscles in such spectacular fashion? I have just two words […]

A couple of weeks ago, my editor was looking for someone to write about not getting burned out midway through the semester. I unceremoniously laughed in his face. I am the queen of feeling burned out. Every time I manage to convince myself to go grocery shopping or do a load of laundry, it feels […]

I think Meghan Trainor said it best: “It’s pretty clear I ain’t no size two, but I can shake it like I’m supposed to do.” I’m certainly no stranger to dancing in front of the mirror to my favorite songs, but this week I figured it was time to take things to the next level […]

Sometimes you find a good workout routine, and sometimes a workout finds you. Other times, you find yourself standing in the middle of a creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota, wondering where it all went wrong. Last weekend I tagged along on a traditional college road trip with the noble ambition of getting […]

This week I can report my first major step toward fitness — I’ve incorporated exercise into my procrastination regimen. In my defense, it didn’t start that way. Hours before my blog deadline, I realized I’d been too worried about reading and papers to even pretend I’d done any significant physical activity. Since I already exhausted […]

This week, for the first time in maybe a year, I put some air in my bike tires and hopped on for a ride. I didn’t go too far beyond campus, but almost as soon as I swung my leg over the seat I felt a rush of happy, bike-riding memories — both alone while […]

I used to think I handled stress well. This was mainly because I haven’t outright clobbered anyone or broken down screaming about whether Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire was a better Spiderman (yet). My strategy tends to be, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going to the vending machine.” It occurs to me […]