Eat. Run. Sleep. Repeat.

In the past 11 hours I have ran 10 miles. Last night I dreamt about running. This morning I rolled out of bed at 5:30 am...to go running. I am about to eat  a big breakfast, so later I can go running. Needless to say, I am beginning to feel like running is taking over my life. When I decided to do cross country for Dixie State this year I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
It is painful, discouraging, and hard. But then there are those mornings when it is beautiful, encouraging, and rewarding. That's what keeps me waking up day after day.
Running in the morning is great because you know you are one of the few people awake at such an hour. Not only that, but you're also one of the even fewer people awake and being so productive.
There's nothing like your shoes hitting the pavement while it's still dark outside, only to keep on running until the sun rises. To keep running while more cars show up on the road. More people groggily roll out of bed. More people are headed to work, to starbucks, McDonald's... And YOU are still running.
Honestly, cross country is a love-hate relationship but it's the great days that make all the terrible ones worth the pain.
Because how rewarding would the good days be if it weren't for the bad ones? That's what you have to focus on because otherwise no one would get anywhere. You almost have to make your brain forget about the day before and focus on the present. That is something I love about running, it pulls you into the present whether you like it or not. And at the end of the day, all that really matters is that you just keep going.

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving."
 - Maurice Greene

Find your passion

This is probably the only time I will ever say this but - it's important to be drunk.

"You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.
But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."  -Charles Baudelaire

pas·sion (pshn): n. 1. A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.  2.Ardent love. 3. Boundless enthusiasm.

It has been said that passion is more potent than magic. Passion is crazy, loving, and intoxicating. It is obsession, infatuation, and serenity all blended together. Passion leaves no time for hesitation, for it is driven by emotion. It is the foundation of joy, the base of happiness. To find your passion is to live. If you have lost your passion, find it...when you do you will find yourself.

Life it too short to just go through the motions and not enjoy it. Easier said than done, I know- but it's worth a shot to at least try, right? Pain is inevitable, but suffering is not. There are too many painful experiences in life to not have a passion. Maybe sometimes pain is something meant to throw us back into a world of feeling and passion, because it's better to feel something than nothing. Being alive and living are two very different things, and passion plays a key role in which side of the fence we are on. 
It is time to be drunk.