Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Day 67: The Importance of Sustenance

On Day 67 I learned exactly how important food is. After getting up at the crack of dawn to get my 4.34 miles in (6.98 km) out on the cross country trails, I curled up in my desk chair to read the 200+ pages due over the next two days.

By the time I had finished my homework I realized I had studied through both breakfast and lunch, and had 15 minutes to shower and get to class. Long story short, by the time classes had ended and I was dressed and ready for the first day of softball practice I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch the day before.
At practice I began to realize what a mistake skipping meals was as my heavy limbs and light head almost refused to function. I had very little strength and as such my performance suffered greatly, on the first day of practice no less. By the time the night was out, my laps run, and the equipment hauled back to the shed, I was just glad I had managed to stay conscious through the entire practice. When I finally got back to my dorm I immediately raided the vending machine and gorged myself on chips, fruit snacks, and candy. The sugar high and cramps that followed were not appreciated, but at least I finally had something in my belly again.
The hobbits, as they began their journey, were also faced with a much smaller diet than they were used to; though their diet change was one of necessity and not of carelessness. Before they reached Weathertop, the hobbits had started to come into their own managing the day-to-day walking on a significantly less food: “Already they were getting used to much walking on short commons – shorter at any rate than what in the Shire they would have thought barely enough to keep them on their legs.” (A Knife in the Dark, The Fellowship of the Rings)
Being a self-identified hobbit, food is important to me, as it is to the hobbits of the Shire. And now I have learned my lesson, it is never good to go entire days without eating. The hobbits and I both learned a good deal about surviving on little food, but the parallel ends there since my discovery was one of absentmindedness instead of necessity.

The Road Goes Ever On and On,
 ~ Daisy Buttons

No comments:

Post a Comment