Typical Day
Doug wakes up to the sound of the Ke$ha ringtone that he programmed in his phone his senior year of high school. That was almost a year ago. He checks the time, though he totally doesn't need to. It's 5:00AM—just like it is every day when he gets up—and still completely dark outside.
Groan.
Like a zombie, Doug, manages to stumble his way to the kitchen, tip-toeing so he doesn't wake his roommates. He pours some oatmeal and water into a bowl, then he puts a bunch of fruits and veggies into the blender. Gotta fuel up for the grueling workout that awaits him. Doug is in the middle of training, so there's no room in his diet for junk food.
Still, he daydreams about pork rinds and cheese puffs as he pours the foul-tasting green drink down his throat and absentmindedly spoons the bland oatmeal into his mouth before heading out the door.
It's time to hit the gym for some cardio and weight training. Doug drives his car down the dark, empty streets, feeling like the last surviving human in a post-apocalyptic world. Before long, though, he reaches the gym, which means only one thing: it's treadmill time.
After that pleasant little warm-up is finished, Doug heads to the weight room for some strength training to tone and bulk up those leg muscles. Years of Nordic skiing and lifting leg weights has left Doug with calves that could cut double black diamonds. On the upside, after an hour and a half of punishing exercise, Doug is definitely awake. Or at least, awake enough to go to class. He has just enough time for a quick shower, then he's off to campus.
After a pit stop for a cup of coffee and a bagel (ah, second breakfast), Doug marches into his first class of the day, Lit 101. In high school, Doug earned good grades and excelled in his science and math classes, plus he was the captain of his school's ski team. After six months of living the sweet college life, though, Doug has realized that he's no longer the hotshot scholar-athlete he was back home.
For one, classes are harder—he can no longer scrape by with minimum effort—and the caliber of talent in his college's skiing team is much higher than he expected. Still, Doug isn't going to back down; he is determined to end the year with better than a 3.0 GPA and remain on the ski team, even if it means sacrificing his social life. Completely.
Doug has three classes on his schedule today and he tries to get as much homework done in between them as possible in hopes of hitting the hay no later than 10:00PM (you know, so he can get back up at 5:00AM tomorrow and do this all over again). With about an hour between each, he manages to make a sizeable dent in the reading for his lit class, though the homework for his stats and Spanish classes remain untouched despite working through lunch.
Sadly, those suckers will have to wait.
After class, it's back to the gym for Doug. Today, he's training for the 20k Freestyle Cross-Country competition on Saturday. It's his chance to shine in front of the coach—to finally prove to his teammates that he has what it takes to be on a Division-I team.
But in order to stand out, Doug knows he needs to shave off at least a few minutes from his current time of one hour and two minutes. Although he's pretty tired, Doug knows it's time to get in the zone. Good thing he brought his trusty iPod so Ke$ha can help.
As he hops onto the treadmill (again) to warm-up, his coach stops by, motioning for Doug to remove his earbuds.
"You ready for this weekend?" he asks, peering at the settings on the treadmill as Doug keeps running.
"Hope so, Coach," Doug replies. "I know I need to get below an hour."
"Well, then you probably want to up the resistance on this machine," Coach says before nodding and moving on to check in with the next skier.
Doug feels discouraged for a moment; the resistance is already high, and for a second he indulges himself in longing for an easy day, but then he remembers how badly he wants to keep skiing and pictures how pleased his teammates will be if he can get his time down. With that, he ups the resistance, puts his earbuds back in and turns the music up, and runs like his life depends on it.
After two and a half hours of running, weight lifting, squatting, and more, Doug swings by the trainer to get his knees taped. He hurt them pretty badly a few years back, so after his afternoon practices, he always swings by so she can give them a little love and support. Then, it's back to his dorm to ditch his gear before heading to the cafeteria.
It's 7:30PM now and Doug is feeling worn down from another super long day of training and classes. After consuming as much dining hall food as his stomach will hold, Doug chugs a Redbull then heads to the library to tend to his Spanish and stats homework. Good thing stats isn't taught in Spanish.
Fortunately, he doesn't have too many math problems to get through tonight, so he powers them out before writing an essay in Spanish comparing the experiences of Mexican and Spanish immigrants to the United States.
Back in his room, Doug collapses onto his single-sized mattress. He sets the alarm on his phone for 5:00AM; down the corridor he hears his hall mates talking and laughing and making plans to see the new Seth Rogan movie over the weekend. Ah, to be a student…and only a student.
Doug turns off the lights and closes his eyes. He can't wait to hear the sweet sound of Ke$ha's voice as his alarm goes off in the darkness of tomorrow morning.