It’s late in the day on a rainy Saturday afternoon in May. I’m in the middle of a forest, and I don’t know how I got here. There’s a pack on my back with some essentials, hiking poles in my hands, and no shoes on my feet. I can see no trail in front of me, none behind me—and no obvious sign that I came wandering through the woods to this point. I can hear no people, no vehicles, and no airplanes.

I am alone in the woods, half way up a mountain that I know well. It was on this mountain that I truly bonded with this particular passion of mine. I know this, but i still don’t know how I got here at this time.

I stand in silence for what seems like an eternity.

The woods are calm around me, and while I can’t hear any birds, deer, or other wildlife, I can feel their presence.
I stand and breathe in the silence and stillness.

I have no emotions. I am not happy, nor sad. I am not in pain, but not feeling 100%. I am not cold, nor hot. I am at emotional state zero, and have no conception of the world around me. No stresses, or fears. Just myself, the woods, and the living world. I am in my perfect state of being.

In the middle of having this thought, I heard a familiar voice—my friend Fernando snapping me back to reality. He is my pacer during this difficult running race that I am in the middle of doing (Infinitus 100). This period of time where I reached emotional state zero felt to be an eternity, but in reality was less than 3 seconds—my stop in the forest didn’t even register as a blip on my fitness tracker. It took me 20 hours, and 42 miles to get to the point of emotional state zero. And while some would be frightened, I welcomed it.

My passion is running. I enjoy seeing the new levels that my mind travel to while out on these long journeys. I run trails and pathways so that I may find the truth about myself, and the world around me. Running helps me appreciate nature and find solutions to problems in work and life. If I wasn’t able to run, then I would not want to live.