I made an executive decision to skip all my classes today and go for a run. Because, some days, other things are more important and more accessible than classrooms and textbooks.

The only other time I had run to Tuttle Park was at night with a friend I met through running club. It was too dark to see anything, except for lights in the distance which were either stationary or attached to the front of an oncoming biker. I usually couldn’t tell until the light passed.

But today I went running down that same path in the daylight and I was impressed. I thought the park system in my hometown would always be my favorite and everything else would be held to its standard, but running upstream along the river made me feel like I was running in my hometown. The paths had that dashed line down the center, which some people ignored or walked/ran/biked on the wrong side of and, consequently, ignited secret hatred in me. But today I saw no left-side law breakers.

But today I did discover that I’m horribly out of shape. Maybe it was just because I went running immediately after getting out of bed. I hadn’t acclimated to the force of gravity properly yet or remapped my nerve-muscle connections in my brain, because everyone knows that it’s a conscious process. Anyway, I ran for only 20 minutes, all in one direction. When I decided to stop at a yield sign and turn around, I walked. The whole way back. All in all, it took me an hour. An hour that I wasn’t in class. An hour producing vitamin D from the sunlight.

Now comes the real work. I have homework due tomorrow and plans with friends tonight. So it’s now or never. And food—I want food. So this is what it’s like coming back to reality, coming back to the last week of the quarter. My mind instantly starts to prioritize. And, of course, it places everything higher than homework: shower, food, homework. Mondays. What would we do without them?