Tag: comic

OTM #36: Reflection

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My favorite class at the moment requires great amounts of personal reflection — sometimes more than I am comfortable with, in fact. Our essay prompts ask us to think of big “why” questions and reflect on what matters to us, something that is really exciting to me (but also sometimes scary). For the final draft of my most recent essay, I had to dig into my teenage experience on the harsh acne medication, Accutane, and I found it was hard to truly uncover those memories in a normal setting.

So, I created a “torture chamber” for myself: lights shut off, noise-cancelling headphones on with a selection of music I liked in high school. Instantly, I was able to transport myself into the body of my younger self, who was deeply insecure about her acne. I’ve grown a lot since that point, of course, but sometimes art requires us to enter these negative headspaces to draw out meaning, and I’ve always found that to be oddly fun. What is my joy without the past Katelyn’s suffering, you know? On that note, I hope all of you UMich students (myself included) have a lovely fall break free of suffering! Thanks for reading.

OTM #35: Marathon

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Happy Thursday and welcome back to OTM! This past Sunday was the day of my marathon relay, and it was the most fun I’ve had running in a long time. I was assigned to the third leg, starting at mile 13 (alongside the high-endurance regular marathon runners) and eager to run my eight miles. I felt like Forrest Gump, like I could have kept going forever; I felt faster than the cars I passed on the highway. However, it hit me within the first mile that I likely felt this way because I was surrounded by already-tired marathonners that had run thirteen miles while I’d only ran one. I weaved past them easily during my eight-mile leg, often turning around to offer thumbs-ups and cheers for those that looked like they were struggling. It was, in my opinion, sweet and comedic, but I also felt a little bad running past all of them. Most shockingly, it made me instinctually want to run a full marathon. I wanted to feel that burn, to feel the satisfaction of crossing the finish line after twenty-six long miles. After finishing, I realized this wasn’t just a fleeting runner’s-high induced thought; I think I actually will start training, at least for a half. That really excites me.

OTM #34: Sweating

katelynski 3 Comments

Hi everyone, welcome back to OTM! I’m happy to announce that I’ve been training for a marathon (relay) with my Michigan Daily co-writers, and it’s been such a fun experience. I already love running, but the added aspect of friendship and self-growth makes it all the more exciting. I’ll be running the relay this Sunday, so I took my last run before the race today as I’ll be tapering in the meantime.

I cut my hair short (as I usually do) this past weekend, and now I’m unable to fit all of it in my ponytail. I usually think this is a cute style, but when I’m running, it becomes a different story. As my face and hair get damp with sweat, the cold air helps to essentially freeze those two tassels of hanging hair. I was so engrossed in my five mile run that I failed to realize what was going on. “Ouch! Was I wearing big, clunky earrings when I left this morning? There’s no way,” I think to myself, only to then realize that it’s my cold, hardened hair smacking against my face. How hilarious. I feel sweaty, tired, and, strangely enough, joyous at the end of this run. There’s something so fun and cool about being so in-tune with your body moving that you fail to recall that your hair is a part of you; I guess I must be really into running. I’m happy to be back, and will hopefully provide an update on how the big run went next week! Thanks for reading.