The Flow

I came home today, and I was just going to crash, I haven't been sleeping enough recently, but I was feeling the urge to run. So I went out for an 8 miler. In the bright sun. My iPod had no charge, so I got to a lot of thinking. To be honest it was a pretty bad run overall. Really hot and sweaty, the first 3 miles were terrible. But when I stopped for my water break halfway through I realized that the last mile hadn't been bad. I realized that I had gotten into the flow of the run. I start off with all my worries and concerns of the day, and am not focused on running. But a few miles in(and I've noticed this before, just didn't know how to say it) I hit my stride. I zone in, and tune out. My brain goes from a clutter of thoughts and emotions to the thump of my feet, maybe a single train of thought. But I have quit runs in the past because I was having trouble passing into the tuned in, zoned out state. So my race plan needs to be without stopping the first few miles. Anyway as I was running I saw a parallel between this and life. In life you start off slowly, learning new skills, in new places, and then you hit a zone where everything is going well. But all it takes is a loud car, or the adrenaline of a dog-chase to shake you from that zone, but if you persevere and continue on you can regain that zone.