I used to hate ellipticals. Nothing spoils your day like moving as fast as you can while making no apparent progress. But this past week I’ve been dealing with some tendonitis in my foot, so I opened my mind and tried it again.

I have this fancy health-tracking device called an Ōura ring. It shows me everything from my REM sleep to my heart rate during activities and everything in between. I’ve noticed that when I go for a run, my heart rate is “high” the entire time. Makes sense. But when I swim (and I just began swimming recently) or aqua jog my heart rate is “medium.” That’s about the same as a brisk walk.

But when I’m on the elliptical? It’s “high.” Looks like it’s time to give it another shot.

So on Thursday I made a playlist of Nahko & Medicine for the People (my new favorite band) and hopped on the elliptical. I held myself accountable – I wouldn’t get off until 40 minutes elapsed. At first it was boring, then I found my stride and started to feel the music.

Then around minute 25, something happened. Love Letters to God came on. I closed my eyes and my strides per minute increased by 25% (up to 250). I reached deep into the emotions I’ve been hiding for the past 4 months: getting injured, having a disappointing track season, my grammy dying, my friend dying. I was almost in tears. I kept this pace up for 6 minutes without a break.

Call it Flow State, call it The Zone, call it Feeling Yourself. I was deep in it, all because of the elliptical.

Is there a moral to this story? Maybe. To stop judging things predicated on preconceived notions might be a good start.