In the zone......

“I knew you were in the zone” said my friend at Sunday’s half marathon race. I was in the zone… the danger zone, no parking zone, no crying zone….”the zone”. That running zone where everything feels good and suddenly you have nothing to worry about you just let your feet do the running. Your body takes over and runs you at the pace it wants to go. You might last 2 minutes you might last 2 miles. But for those moments you are in “the zone”.

The race a great one and even though I have no medal to prove it (yes they ran out of medals) I’m still excited over the results. I PR’d by like 15 minutes. Wow, I know right? To some that means nothing but there are those people who understand what that means. I started this year training for another marathon. Yes I know at the 20 miles mark in November I said I wasn’t going to do it again but the challenge inside me was sparked. I’m addicted to endurance races, whether it be a triathlon or marathon. I like seeing how far I go. I find it ironic that when I first started this journey five years ago I thought a 5K was undoable. And now I can go for an 8 mile run without thinking anything about it. I crave to run. Now if I could just crave to eat healthier things would be rosy.

So what now….well I’m even more determined to continue running this year especially beyond the marathon distance, I have two planned. I would like to try an ultra. I’ve dabbled a little in trail running and I would like to try an official race. But in order to do that I know I have to tighten up on my eating and how I take care of myself. I want to do this “smartly” if I can. Because people with my addiction often are nuts to begin with and I am no exception to it but I still think there is a smart way and a not so smart way.

I feel excited about the prospect of trying something new, of getting a grip with my eating by focusing on the goal at hand rather on the deprivation that may occur. Even with our crazy life it seems easy for me to have this running hobby, this goal of longer distances. I know our life is going to become even crazier with the big kid entering high school but you know with a little planning and creativity I know it can be done. Well it just has to be done for my mental sanity and for the safety of others.

So you could say I’m in the zone……