Early Morning SRSC Visit

I want to start off by saying I love the movie Rocky because it is a story of a man who becomes a professional boxer because he has the dedication to win and be the greatest. He had to train everyday to become the best both mentally and physically. Rocky went through vigorous exercises to gain his strength and will to survive in the boxing world. In reference to that statement, I had a flashback of my own on September 1, 2009, when I walked up the stairs to the Student Recreational Sports Center (SRSC) which is about a block north of my residence hall, Ashton. I remember the scene at the end of the movie where Rocky runs up the many stairs to where the monument was located. As I was walking up the long stairs of the SRSC I felt that I was doing the exact same thing that Rocky did but without everyone following me; well there was another guy but I don’t think he was there for me though. During orientation, we were given a tour of the facility and I remember them saying it was paid for solely by parking tickets alone. To my amazement, I could see how this was possible because my first day on campus, I received a parking fine because a parking officer told me I could park somewhere that I really couldn’t.

To start off with, when I entered into the SRSC, I was once again amazed by the enormous size of the facility. I looked to my left and I saw an Olympic size swimming pool which instantly reminded me of the Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals. I began walking down the hallway where I was checked in using my student ID. Remembering my days from orientation, I proceeded up the staircase directly to the right of which the check-in counter was located. For nine months out of every year 12 years, I had to get up early for school not only because I was forced due to the educational laws, but because I wanted to. So as I was walking up the staircase at 9:00 am, I was very tired and not fully functioning to the point that I had to grab the stair railing because I almost lost my balance. You could see the treadmills from the top of the stairs so I proceeded in that direction. One thing that I had forgotten was that you had to sign-up to be able to use the treadmills but since it was pretty early in the morning, it had slipped my mind. So, I ran on the treadmill for a mile, and then a girl came and told me that she had signed-up for that half-hour block. I just didn’t understand that why she waited so long to tell me since I was about 10 minutes into her time block.

Secondly, when I was kicked off the treadmill, I decided I would go ahead and lift some weights since that is one of my favorite things to do. This is one of my favorite hobbies because I use to be overweight and as a result of my unhappiness with my body, I decided to lose 80 pounds in 6 months. I stopped regular soda pop cold turkey one day and I have not had one for a complete year now and it was probably one of the best things that I have ever done. While I was working out and losing all the weight, I joined a gym to help the weight loss process. The weight equipment at the gym I attended was very nice and made me want to work out all the time. I would go to the gym at 5:00 am in the morning and go back when I got off work around 9:00 pm. So the equipment at the SRSC reminded me of my old gym and really made it feel like home.

To sum it up, the SRSC won my heart over when I first walked up those long stairs during my two days of orientation but the fact that it is free to all students won me over the most. My walk up the long flight of stairs and the early morning tiredness was all worth it when I got the satisfaction of working out; making it feel like home away from home. I look forward to many trips to the SRSC because I love to workout but I also saw that they have a Wii that is available to be played while you relax.