As soon as the huge, knobby tires on my Jeep touched the 405 Freeway, easing carefully ahead of, and in-between cars pushing their full throttle southbound from the 5 freeway, I smiled, feeling less than an ounce of stress, but rather a ton of excitement, because I was en route to Santa Monica to run my final “Long” run before traveling to Boulder, CO for the Ironman.

It is a good sign when an impending eighteen mile run, and not a slow one, but a fresh, new workout that involves speed changes, and swift legs, makes you giggle rather than sigh loudly and roll your eyes. I was excited, and/or a little loopy from exhaustion because this run was the finale to another huge weekend of training, and the grand finale to another Ironman build, my fifteenth, (Boulder will be #15), and possibly my most challenging to date. Nevertheless, I was primed and ready to run.

That giggly, giddy, intangible, yet absolute feeling is what the chase is all about, and honestly, I am only certain of one other occasion when I have felt it, the morning of November 4th, 2018 when I ran the New York City marathon. That race was a pure celebration of my love and gratitude for running, and I knew that this last "long" run was that and more; it was a celebration of finally accepting who I am, someone who knows what she wants, why she wants it, and works hard every single day to achieve it. However, that "it" may be surprising.

It’s not earning my pro card. (Triathlon goal).
It’s not running a sub-3 hour marathon. (Running goal).
It’s not earning another coin for Kona. (Personal goal.)
It’s feelin' the flow. (Life goal).

There is simply no better feeling in the world than running mile after mile feeling like you’re flying.

This flow-like moment was captured during a shoot I did last Wednesday for a www.smashfestqueen.com contest.

I felt that way for the first fifteen miles or so of the NYC marathon, and I felt it for sixteen out of the eighteen miles I ran last Sunday.

However, even though flow is a fantastic feeling that may be common for other runners, it takes a lot more than just running for me to achieve it.

I need to swim nearly every day, (in the pool or ocean), ride my bike, (inside and outside, hard and easy), hundreds of miles every week, and run dozens of miles, (inside and outside, uphill and downhill), day in and day out, and then maybe, just maybe I will feel good enough during one of those runs to slip into flow and cruise.

Still, there are no guarantees, it rarely happens, but every single second of effort is worth trying to reach it.

The song choice this week is a fun pop track, and slight rewind back to 2011, (I believe), from Cobra Starship, “You Make Me Feel.” Enjoy.:)