Zen of the Zone

I ran like mad when I was younger. I started training long-distance running at 14. At the time I made the decision to see how fast I could become. I didn’t stop until after my first year of college, when I was 20. People used to ask me why I trained so hard.

To be great.

I’ve always had the desire to be great at something.

But that wasn’t all. There was that zen-like state: the zone. Any runner can tell you about the zone. You’re not thinking, but you’re fully focused. You know when to push harder and when to ease off. You have a plan that evolves as you see and react to everything around you, but you do all of this with an empty mind. The zone, that peculiar contradiction, that is why I ran.

Of course, the zone isn’t just for running…