“I was just listening.”
“I grew up watching my mom deconstruct a Chopin nocturne note by note,” Zoey told me over a video call, her training gear still on, hair pulled back in a tight, functional ponytail. “She’d spend three hours on four bars. My dad would spend a week solving one angle in a robotic arm. I realized early on that excellence isn’t flashy. It’s repetitive. It’s boring. And then one day, it’s magic.” zoey di giacomo
Then she excuses herself—politely, quietly—because she has a training session to get to. She’s working on a new angle. A single, repetitive, boring angle. “I was just listening
She smiles then, a rare, full smile that breaks through her usual composed exterior. I realized early on that excellence isn’t flashy
Whether it’s soccer, basketball, or—more recently—the burgeoning world of elite obstacle course racing (OCR) that she’s helped popularize, Di Giacomo doesn’t beat you with raw power. She beats you with geometry. Her runs are calculated. Her cuts are economical. She never takes an extra step, never wastes a single calorie.