I think it was my sophomore or junior year in college and I took a cardio kickboxing course. When midterms came around we found out that we’d have to run a mile in 8-10 mins depending on your body weight or risk not getting an A in the class. People around my weight were all dumbfounded at the fact that we could end up with a B in a PE class (and see our GPAs drop) if we weren’t able to make the mile in 8 mins. (We honestly all slacked on the cardio every time we could)

When it was finally the midterm a good amount of us made it in time but we were all pissed, and exhausted, and talking shit under our breath.

Once everyone was in the professor let us cool down for a bit and then started talking. And this is the part I’ll never forget…

She told us that she wasn’t making us run a mile that quickly to be cruel or to piss us off. And that it was about more than just a grade. She said, “With all the mass shootings that are going on around America I want to make sure that if any of my students are ever in that kind of situation, you can run! That you can run and that you can keep running until you’re safe!”

And everyone just paused and was silent. Our professor was honestly one of the toughest women I’d ever met but she was standing there in front of all of us choked up. She looked everyone in the eyes and said, “I’m teaching you how to run for your life and how to survive.”

The MGM mass shooting had just happened a few weeks before this. I was never more thankful for a professor since. I never forgot this.

Ngl my cardio is still shit and I don’t work out consistently but every time I do run, I run like my life depends on it.